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Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner

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The Garmin chartplotter + 7 other options

How to install a boat inverter

Skin fittings and seacocks explained

A man repairing a hull plank on a clinker-built boat

Clinker-built boat repair: step-by-step

A Mediterranean monk seal swimming

Sailors urged to help protect the Mediterranean monk seal in Greece

A person using a chartplotter on a boat

A beginner’s guide to the chartplotter

Read more top stories
Boats moored in an anchorage using a shore line

How to use a shore line to secure a boat at anchor

Genevieve Leaper explains why, in some circumstances, using a shore line to keep the boat secure makes perfect sense

A boat bow thruster motor on a workbench

How does a boat bow thruster work?

How does a boat bow thruster work? Mike Attree explains, and shares how he repaired this handy bit of kit on his own yacht

Solo sailor Jazz Turner, first disabled person to complete a non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland, smiles at the voyage finish at Brighton Marina. Credit: Fergus Kennedy

“I crawled 50m across rocks with an anchor on my back”: Jazz Turner’s record voyage

Jazz Turner reflects on her circumnavigation achievement of being the first disabled person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the UK and Ireland

Read more

Boat maintenance

A man using marine sealants on a boat

Best marine sealants and adhesives for boat jobs

A cockpit cushion on a boat

How to make cockpit cushions

A sailboat forestay before and after it was fixed after a knockdown

Fixing a sailboat forestay after storm damage

Wiring a marine dashboard panel on your boat

A person painting wood oil on steps on a boat

Moving from varnish to wood oil

Defeating the Diesel Bug: One Tank, Two Clarke Pumps, an Inspection Hatch and a Lot of Elbow Grease

Read more how to articles...

Maintenance

How I found the right electric engine for my boat after spending £25k

An electric engine on a boat

Felix Marks explains how he turned around the disastrous electric engine installation on his Tofinou day-sailer

Why rebuilding your self-steering gear will change your cruising game

a woman standing next to windvane self-steering gear on a boat

Dena Hankins and James Lane explain how rebuilding your self-steering gear changes the cruising game

How to replace a worn teak deck

Two men laying a teak deck on a yacht

Genevieve Leaper explains how friend Sokratis Kavallieratos laid a new teak deck on his Najad 320

DIY engine replacement saves boat owner £1,500

Boat owner Richard Reed with his Seven Summers, a Cruiser Kits Santa Barbara 32 on the hard

When his Bukh DV20 engine fails, boat owner Richard Reed saves cash by installing a ‘new’ second-hand Beta 28 and doing a DIY marine engine

More

Amazing adventures

Sailing in a hurricane: How I escaped Hurricane Beryl

Craig Wood on his solo Pacific voyage. Credit: Craig Wood Sails

Craig Wood completes solo, non-stop and unsupported Pacific voyage

A boat sailing on the Broads during an inland charter holiday

Boat charter holiday destinations in the UK and Ireland away from coast

A sail plan for the yacht, Spray which belonged to Joshua Slocum

Joshua Slocum: Is the Spray legend fact or fiction?

Read more

Gear tests

How I switched to electronic charts

Contessa 32 Coppelia in the yard ahead of for Halyard Aquadrive installation

How to install a Halyard Aquadrive in a Contessa 32

A display screen before and after the film was replaced

How to replace polarising film on your instrument screen

Two yacht sailed past the coast as part of a yacht charter in Europe

I’m a commercial skipper and this is my onboard essentials list for a Mediterranean Yacht Charter

Can VHF and AIS run on the same aerial?

Fire crews tackle fire at boatyard in Tipner Lane, Portsmouth. Credit Ashley Simmonds

‘I smelled burning plastic and realised my plug was melting!’

Practical Projects

Great tips and ideas to improve your boat from PBO readers

Contaminated fuel problems: keeping your marine diesel clean

A boat hatch

Boat hatch repair: how to stop the leaks

A boat boarding step on a yacht

Make your own boat boarding step

A homemade rigging vice

How to make your own rigging vice

Part of a boat engine

Moving a diesel engine air filter

A chewed hole in an inflatable tender

Repairing an inflatable dinghy: fixing holes

More practical projects

PBO Project Boat

What does a sailmaker do?

Shortly before the Round the Island Race, one of the largest yacht races in the world, it’s all go at…

A man inserting an adaptor in shore power supply at a marina

Shore power: solving tripping problems

Ali Wood gets a crash course in reverse polarity and smart charging when Project Boat Maximus’s shore power gets trippy…

Sail design – using 3D software and laser technology to cut new sails

During the survey of our Maxi 84, the PBO Project Boat Maximus, we were warned by a marine surveyor that…

How to measure your yacht for new sails

Measuring your boat for new sails is a job for the sailmaker, so when our PBO Project Boat Maximus needed…

A man installing a restored Sailor radio on a boat

Restoring a vintage Sailor radio

Ali Wood’s Sailor radio is given the VIP treatment

silicone-antifoul-review-PBO289.prac_project_boat.img_4737

Seajet Bioclean silicone antifoul review: Our verdict after one year on the water

Does silicone antifouling work? It’s not flying off the shelves yet, according to suppliers, but the results from our Project…

Feeding a mast cable up a mast

Securing mast cable on our Maxi 84

With the help of ACM Marine, Ali Wood goes about securing mast cable on the Maxi 84 PBO project boat

sailing safety gear - children wearing lifejackets

Family sailing safety gear: TESTED!

Ali Wood discusses the sailing safety gear she chose for their first family cruise on board their Maxi 84, and…

Read more

Read PBO on tablet · phone · computer

Promo for PBO Digital

Get every issue of PBO on Android, iPhone, iPad or desktop

DIY at home

Before and after of rubbing strake refurbishment

Rubbing strakes refurbishment: step-by-step guide

Two men using a drill to fit a new toerail to a yacht

Fitting a new toerail or grabrail on your sailboat or motorboat

See more DIY at home ideas

Latest news

Jazz Turner requires a wheelchair ashore, but her adapted Albin Vega 27 gives her greater freedom at sea. Credit: Tom Pilston/tompilston.com

Jazz Turner becomes first wheelchair user to circumnavigate Britain solo

At around 13:45 on Monday, 30th June, Jazz Turner, a GB para-athlete and engineer from Seaford, East Sussex, has become the first wheelchair user to sail solo, unassisted, and non-stop…

Japanese sailor Minoru Saito aboard his beloved yacht Shuten Dohji II. Credit: Takashi Ichige

Eight bells for Japanese sailing legend Minoru Saito

  • June 24, 2025
Fire crews tackle fire at boatyard in Tipner Lane, Portsmouth

Five boats destroyed by fire at Portsmouth boatyard

  • April 23, 2025
People at the British Motor Yacht Show

2025 British Motor Yacht Show line-up announced

  • April 15, 2025
Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson Ltd (Imray) nautical paper charts and books

Plan to secure future of nautical publisher Imray paper charts

  • April 8, 2025
Boats leaving Panama bound for Fiji in the Mini Globe Race

Next stop Fiji! Mini Globe Race skippers start Leg 2 amid gear issues

  • March 28, 2025
Read more news

Seamanship

A yacht anchored in a bay

Summer sailing: how to have the best time afloat!

A boat secured using pile mooring pick up lines

Rigging pile mooring pick-up lines

Tidal races, overfalls, and headlands: how to prepare for challenging waters

A couple trying to deal with a fouled anchor on their boat

How to free a fouled anchor

More seamanship articles

Latest issue

August 2025 issue of Practical Boat Owner

August issue – out on 3 July

Everything you need to know about trailer-sailing; How to spray gelcoat; Improvements on the continuous splice; Retrofitting a £1 mast; Tips for avoiding collisions;  Enduring appeal of Hunter Ranger 265 and MORE! Order the August 2025 issue online now Buy a single issue delivered to your door! OR buy a single issue to download now · Buy a back issue · Subscribe to get future issues delivered to your door:…

Promoted

Navigate Your Way to Financial Freedom

If you could summarise Raisin’s philosophy In sailing terms, then it’s about keeping a steady hand on the tiller and staying on course. Racing sailors…

Videos

How to get a crew place sailing around the world

If you don’t own a boat but want to sail around the world, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), which…

Screenshot from WindedVoyage YouTube channel, Don’t Count Out This Sailor,Season 6, Episode 39

Channel Hopping: Winded Voyage Sailing – don’t count this sailor out

PBO's resident YouTube aficionado Kass Schmitt begs a YouTuber she's never met to help a friend with wonderful results

Happy reunion and podium finish for transatlantic yacht Imi Makani

Canadian yacht Imi Makani, who PBO captured arriving in Grenada last week, was one of the ARC+ yachts to take…

More videos

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