Our border collie, Floss, is getting on in years and finds the companionway steps on our Southerly 115 Dulcibella II too steep to manage in either direction. After considering various…
Practical Projects
Charging a battery from an outboard motor
Peter Fildes builds a circuit to effectively charge his batteries from his outboard motor’s lighting coil
Make an outboard motor hoist
Bill Martin makes a budget crane to hoist his outboard motor from his dinghy to his boat
Clever socket for mounting tiller pilot
Robin Benjamin goes on a one-man mission to eliminate unnecessary holes, starting with mounting his tiller pilot using an antenna bracket
Antifouling – how to remember how far you’ve got
It is amazing how crew always seem to disappear when boat maintenance time comes. I always end up painting the black antifouling of my Hanse 311 on my own! If…
Marking a boot top line
It is very common on boats of all types to paint a boot-top or stripe around the waterline. At first glance this line may seem like a simple bit of…
Mooring line chafe protection for stony quays
Rough quays are a problem now and again and certainly something to be mindful of when mooring up for the night. It’s a difficulty that arises in both tidal areas…
Tow bar winch for easier launching and recovery
The article on launching and retrieving a trailer boat in the Summer issue of PBO reminded me of the frustration I suffered years ago when I first tried to recover…
Avon dinghy seat
When I recently purchased my Samphire 23, Nutmeg, she came complete with an Avon dinghy of indeterminate age, an Evinrude outboard and a stainless steel outboard bracket. However she no…
Easy-store telescopic boarding ladder
As I usually sail single-handed, I needed a safe way to get back on board my Drascombe Dabber if I ever fell over the side. Rope ladders are cheap, but…
Installing mast steps with rivetnuts
When we first launched our Leisure 27, Windrush, we noticed that the anemometer cups were missing. A few weeks later the Windex also vanished. My son Chris, a keen rock…
DIY sprayhood for a Red Fox
The Scottish scenery is fashioned by the weather so proper protection was essential for our planned trip there. However, I was quoted around £1,000 for a professional sprayhood including frame…
Make your own dinghy wheels
A 2.7m dinghy with a solid aluminium floor is great, until it comes to moving it around on land – it weighs more than 45kg and is quite a lump.…
Small boat waterproof chart holder
My 23ft Westerly Pageant does not have a navigation area, so I needed a waterproof chart holder that I could use in the cabin and also take into the cockpit…
DIY Outboard motor lock
When I bought my new inflatable, I did some research into the different outboard motor locks available. My conclusion was that they were expensive, and many seemed likely to corrode…
Protect your transducers
The forward under-seat locker in the saloon of the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 34.2 is of a fairly generous size, but its use is somewhat restricted due to the possibility of…
DIY rigging screw covers – make your own and save money
Rigging screw covers cost approximately £10 each, so for my Westerly Centaur I would have needed to spend around £60 to cover all six. Instead, I used a 2m length…
Keeping a cockpit locker organised
Having upgraded from a Hurley 22 to a Westerly Griffon we now have a cockpit locker that can easily swallow whatever we throw into it. The problem is, everything seems…
How to improve your emergency tiller
A boat move in the marina required me to go astern the full length of a narrow fairway between two long pontoons and turn 90° to port at the very end.…
How to refurbish an old pair of oars and make leather collars
I needed a pair of oars for my 1954-vintage 12ft standing lug dinghy and managed to find a couple of old ones – although they were not a matching pair,…