How to protect your boat in a storm in harbour, Essential checks for liftout, Second hand boat focus on the Bavaria 34, How to install…
Practical Boat Owner
December issue – 24 October
Monohulls vs multihulls: which one is best? Sailing downwind: how the pros do it, Where is the best place to stow your liferaft? Staying warm…
Maximus sets sail – Chichester to Poole shakedown
The day was finally here; time to take Maximus, our Maxi 84, from Chichester Marina to her new home in Poole. After many sleepless nights, last-minute trips to Force 4…
Passing planning for a shakedown voyage
With Maximus, our PBO Project boat ready for her shakedown voyage from Chichester to Poole, I turned my attention to passage planning. I dug out my old logbook and realised…
New electronics on the PBO Project Boat
The day was approaching for Maximus’s shakedown cruise, a two-day voyage from Chichester to her new home at Cobbs Quay Marina, Poole. Before then, however, we needed to understand our…
Launching the PBO Project Boat
Chichester’s Dell Quay boatyard had been Maximus’s home for two years – and felt like our second home too, since we’d acquired the Maxi 84 project boat. We’d spent long…
Upgrading electronics on the PBO Project Boat
Upgrading electronics on Maximus seemed like a huge leap in the first weeks of ownership. We were still discovering new leaks and lockers, choosing antifouling and scraping the bottom. I…
What is an in-hull transducer?
On our PBO Project Boat Maximus we need sonar simply for measuring depth, but the advanced electronics of fish finders and forward-looking sonar can show shoals of fish and give…
What is NMEA 2000, SeaTalk 2, STng, Simnet and other systems?
NMEA 2000 uses the CAN (control area network) designed originally for the automotive market, but adapted for the marine industry. The older version, NMEA 0183, allowed a GPS or chartplotter…
‘Orcas are playing with the yachts’ – experts’ theories after sinking
Marine biologists say evidence suggests that orca interactions with yachts are ‘playful’ rather than aggressive, but at risk of becoming ‘learned behaviour
Best British cruiser-racer boats: Our pick of the secondhand market
Many sailors tend to steer clear of yachts dubbed as cruiser-racers when they’re browsing classified ads or brokerage lists in search of their first (or next) cruising yacht. I often…
Two pilots rescued from liferaft after plane crashes into the sea
Pilots Paul Clifford and Duncan Laisney were rescued from a liferaft after engine failure caused caused them to ditch their light aircraft in waters off Jersey’s south-east coast. All three…
Video footage of shipwreck identified as steamship Virago
Six divers from Guernsey are celebrating ‘the discovery of a lifetime’ after identifying a wreck as steamship Virago that disappeared 140 years ago.
Channel Hopping: Outer Passage – formerly known as Sailing Panda
Our resident YouTube aficionado Kass Schmitt ponders if “as seen on YouTube” charters could be a new trend.
90 boats, 400 crew and a cat set sail across the Atlantic
PBO was at the start of the transatlantic rally to wave off the boats in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria as they set sail for Mindelo, Cape Verde. “It’s the perfect…
Transatlantic joy as Sweet Dreams sails again after tragedy
“John’s death was very sudden and unexpected,” says Roz Preston, a former special advisor to Tony Blair. “The first time someone asked me what I’d do with the boat, I…
Zeasar: the sailing cat
Cats have long enjoyed a relationship with sailors; living on trading, exploration and naval ships to control vermin, but it’s not often you see them on a 47ft yacht. Weighing…
Boat power management: How to keep your batteries topped up
Now we’d decided on batteries for Maximus the next conundrum was how to keep those batteries charged. Premier Marinas had kindly offered us a berth at Chichester Marina for the…
What battery capacity? Working out your boat’s power requirements
In order to work out your boat’s battery capacity you need to know how much power you’re going to draw, and this requires you to get your head around three…
Boat batteries 101: Which battery is the best choice for my boat?
We’d borrowed a lead acid battery from our marine electrician, Adam McMenemy, which would get the Maxi 84 afloat and through the lock to Chichester marina. However, now she was…
Best boat battery: The pros and cons of the 5 different types of marine batteries
Sometimes (though not on Maximus) there’s a third set of batteries for high power items such as a bow-thruster or electric windlass. Wet lead acid Batteries that have liquid electrolyte…
Musto MPX offshore jacket 2.0 review: As comfortable as it is stormproof
The base fabric has a new generation three-layer Gore-Tex Pro membrane, while recycled nylon used for the face material. This results in an efficient, but impressively lightweight and comfortable, garment…