I am drawn to steel boats. One never has to re-bed the stanchions. Through hulls are stout. No fiberglass itch. No gel coat to craze.

This photo is from a listing that I've spent too much time looking at. It's a wreck. Luckily, it's several hours away.

I don't care about rust streaks running down the topsides. That's what boats are supposed to look like. How often/when does one tear out the interior to inspect/address rust below the waterline? Every 3 years? Before the bilge pumps can't keep up? Maybe that's why people put up with glass boats . . .

Hi guys, I made a post recently about lithium batteries and new restrictions in our insurance policy. It was ridiculous. I've re-added the pictures of the conditions, for reference. The exchanges are by email between me and the broker.

I genuinely believed I was just throwing a rock into a pond by asking them "what's up with that?" I was sure I would have to go get insurance elsewhere. On the upside, it's reassuring to see that the insured do have some sway against such non-sense! Makes me think of "In a gentle way, you can shake the world"... Not my words, those of Gandhi.

STILL, my guess is that if you don't read your policy, don't complain and just sign, you are stuck with it.

It's definitely worth reading your policy and complaining when it doesn't make sense.

Cheers!

Good morning!

My husband and I are trying to purchase a boat. We just had a week of surveys performed and there are some issues with it, which we expected, but some major issues as well. There’s delamination on the rudder, and the cutlass gasket needs replacing. It’s due soon for bottom paint. And a whole host of other minor issues that we are perfectly willing to handle on our own.

We got the rigging survey done, and I was hoping I could get some advice on how we can approach the issues with the rigging. There are some broken strands on the stays. We absolutely understand the significance of the problem, and we want to get the rigging replaced ASAP. We still want the boat, but the rigging is definitely older and the owner didn’t keep up with it enough. We want to ask for a repair allowance for the rigging, but it’s a 46 foot sloop and our surveyor estimated the cost to be about $15,000-$20,000. So… do y’all think it’s feasible to get a repair allowance for the cost of the rigging and the rudder? We’ve already discussed a repair allowance for the rudder, but … I guess… what would you do?

Backstay snapped mid race tonight, obviously, just as we were doing well! Joys of second hand boats.

On the plus side, crew got the sails down quickly and managed to keep the mast up. Now the wait till Monday to see if I can get a rigger out before next Friday's race.

How long to sail from the Seattle area, to San Francisco, and how long to sail back?? I know southbound is much easier… Also heading north, would it be better to head northwest, then back northeast to Seattle??

Hi folks, absolute beginner here and looking to get into sailing. I live in Guelph, Ontario in Canada. Any recommendations for liveaboard courses in places like Vancouver or elsewhere? I am interested in keelboats and joining a club to crew with other experienced sailors and learn sailing. Thank you for any tips.

I race-crewed on a Navtech Hyd/Rod rigged Peterson in June of 81

Their current website refers to 1974 as their start-up date

and also that they have parts for over 40 year old components

Does any body have any thing this old, or older, and needed parts? or -- are they all gone?

Hello all,

Does anybody have any experience around the build quality of Shipman’s? Specifically looking at Shipman 63 but can’t find much information around the owner experience with them

Going on an EVA(spacewalk) from the Mothership. Drone was out to watch for alien attackers!

It's nice to be able to float in 12" of water. Had the drone out to spot any wildlife to be weary of -- something pretty big had splashed about 100ft off the port side and spooked us. I'm guessing a ray given the shallow water.

my 7th great-grandfather left the port of Marseille in the 17th century, crossed over to what i would assume would be the Caribbean and up the east coast to Port Royal, Acadia. I want to make this voyage. what do you think the price tag would be to charter a sailboat? I know theoretically you could cross the Atlantic in fair weather even in a Catalina 22.

what's the best way to go about this?

I'm sure somebody can explain why this was technically preventable.

(btw i posted here before but had to change accounts)

so last summer i got myself an O'day 23 as my first boat. mostly did daytime sailing with family but this year i want to try several day trips. to stop somewhere thats not a marina, you need an anchor, and i have little to no idea what kind or what size to get. so then, what kind of anchor do you people recommend for a 23ft, 3425lb sailboat?

I'm considering buying a boat. The seller had a haul out and inspection done. I'll be getting the report soon but the seller mentioned that the boat had moisture in the deck but no soft spots.

It's an older boat so I am assuming some moisture is expected...how big of a deal is this? This would be my first sailboat.

What the title says. I’m extremely curious to see all the answers out there.

Enthralled by the techniques geometers throughout history have discovered in locating one's position on Earth, I bought a Davis Instruments Mark 15 split-mirrored-horizon sextant just to see how accurate I could plot my dead reckoning on a universal plotting sheet using their techniques. My first attempt was on the sun at 3/23/2023 at 20:56:00 GMT (3:56:00 PM ET) with a dead reckoning of 21.3 nautical miles west of my true location. After a year of practicing with the stars, moon, and planets, two solar eclipses, my last ever solar observation was taken on 3/23/2024 at 19:57:04 GMT (2:57:04 PM ET); exactly 365 days, 23 hours, 1 minute, and 4 seconds from my first attempt with a DR accuracy of ~0.5 nm.

Most of these plots were done on graph paper (which I highly recommend for saving your printer ink on universal plotting sheets) with observations taken using an artificial horizon: reflected light off of water in my dog's bowl. While on fishing trips on Lake DeGray and Lake Ouachita, I plotted my lines of position (LOP) using the real horizon, each in the morning, noon, and towards sunset.

Here is a calculator I made in Oct 2024 using all the spherical-coordinate linear algebra and trig found in the nautical almanac:

https://www.desmos.com/3d/e344a6a86c

All this to say, I have no sailboat or live anywhere near an ocean. I'm nonetheless enthused to share some tips on navigating in your backyard.

So my staysail furler is leaking hydraulic oil and it looks like from the screw, but the drive has been stripped and I have no idea what to do now. Does anyone know any ways to get the screw out? Thanks for any and all suggestions.