Innehållsförteckning för April 2017 från Practical Boat Owner

with the editor We like to call it winter maintenance, but for many of us spring panic would be closer to the truth. Somehow the combination of cold, wet weather and, perhaps, domestic pressure to get on with the jobs one puts off all summer while going sailing, conspires to leave the boat gathering moss until the snowdrops remind us that the sailing season is just around the corner. That’s certainly the case with Red Dragon. I’m lucky in that co-owning the boat with my brother means that the work is at least shared, but despite having had two years out of the water in 2014-15, there still seems to be a huge amount to do. After our refit the cabin floor is looking decidedly shabby, we’ve concluded that we…

UK Coastguard has gone ‘live’ with its new telephone numbers for international and long-range communications. They do not replace the standard means of contacting the Coastguard locally under the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) but are intended to replace the long-range telephone numbers that were previously directed to the Falmouth Coastguard Operations Centre. ▪ UK Coastguard long-range point of contact: +44 (0)344 382 0025 ▪ UK Coastguard medical advice and/or assistance: +44 (0)344 382 0026 ▪ Email contact: ukmrcc@hmcg.gov.uk…

Cowes author, broadcaster, sailor and boatbuilder Steve Sleight has died aged 64 after a long illness. Sleight had an infectious enthusiasm and a passion for the latest ‘bleeding edge’ technologies, writes Rupert Holmes. He became a yachtmaster instructor and coach at the National Sailing Centre in Cowes and wrote the best-selling Handbook of Sailing, which he swiftly followed with a further five titles, as well as producing ITV’s The Boat Show series. He continued to write despite his cancer diasgnosis, and the fourth edition of his book The New Complete Sailing Manual will be published in June 2017.…

MAY ISSUE ON SALE THURSDAY, MARCH 23 PRACTICAL Restoring a Halcyon 23 ▪ An Alan Buchanan-designed boat is coaxed back to working life Plus ▪ Constructing a stainless steel pulpit ▪ Making brackets from copper pipe ▪ Fitting windows GEAR Masking tape ▪ We test miles of tape for sharp lines and weather resistance Specifying ropes ▪ Need new lines, halyards or sheets? We show you what to look for BOATS Class acts ▪ Peter K Poland talks to members of active class associations about their 34-36ft cruisers Seaward 35 tested ▪ At the helm of this rugged motorboat SEAMANSHIP Start the season ▪ Carrying out the appropriate checks prior to a shakedown sail CRUISING Voyage to the Outer Isles ▪ The lure of the Outer Hebrides PLUS 50 years…

Mad about the boat Dave Selby is the proud owner of a 5.48m (18ft) Sailfish, which he keeps on a swinging mooring on the picturesque Blackwater estuary in Essex You don’t have to spend £49,000 to sail round the world and scare yourself rigid. You can sail with me for free. Actually, make that two grand. And I think that’s a bargain. I haven’t quite thought through the business model for AAA Acme Select Sea Stuff plc – message statement: Achieve Less – but the inspiration for this truly life-limiting experience came to me at the recent London Boat Show on ‘People’s Day’. I’m not quite sure who turns up on other days, but as I’m a people I’d been invited to take the stage with other people who were…

When I crewed on cross-Channel cruiser-racers in the ’60s, a GRP production boat between 34 and 36ft was thought of as big. Any new model of this size was sure to cause a stir at the Earls Court Boat Show. And if I had been told then that a 34-footer would be deemed a ‘starter boat’ in 50 years time – while volumeproduced 60ft GRP yachts would become commonplace – I simply wouldn’t have believed it. Early British production boats came from designers such as Kim Holman and Charles Nicholson and were little more than plastic interpretations of the wooden beauties that had already made their names. Very much in the idiom of the Nicholson 32 and 36 of this era, Holman went for long keels and graceful sheer lines,…

Great ideas and tips from PBO readers Email your projects and tips to pbo@timeinc.com or write to us at the address at the top of page 5. We pay at least £30 for each one published PROJECT OF THE MONTH Like many sailors, I do not like gas installations in boats. When I bought my 1980s Jaguar 25 Beowulf a year ago, it had a two-burner and grill Plastimo stove which had seen better days, so it was always my plan to replace it. Ideally I would have liked to install a Taylor’s paraffin stove, but the price – even second-hand – was beyond what I wanted to spend. However, in an antique shop in Cambridge I found a 1944 Primus No210 camping stove, in its original tin box and with all…

Lalizas Standard bosun’s chair PRICE: £24 Contact: www.lalizas.com The Lalizas standard chair was the cheapest of all we tested. Made from nylon material, it had a good padded seat which made it comfortable to sit in when aloft. However, the chest strap was hard to adjust (the design meant that there wasn’t enough travel to really tighten it up). It gave both our testers a slight ache in the lower back, and it was easy to fall back if you weren’t careful: and if you climbed at all, the chair slipped down. There are tool pockets on each side of the chair. Plastimo Standard PRICE: £62.30 Contact: www.plastimo.com Plastimo’s cheapest model is made from lightweight polyester with a rigid board seat. It’s of the traditional ‘seat’ style, but has a…

Dock-to-Dock Autorouting for Android users Navionics has announced that Dock-to-Dock Autorouting is now available for Android users, as well as being available on iPhone and iPad. Boaters can choose a starting location and destination by tapping on the map, entering latitude/longitude or selecting a point of interest (ie marinas and moorings, fuel stations, restaurants). A detailed route is then calculated, taking into consideration chart data, navigation aids, water depth and more. The route even highlights precautions along the way such as shallow water, bridges and other hazards. The Dock-to-Dock feature makes it even easier for boaters to plan their outings via mobile device. Current Android users should update their app to v8.1.1. With an active Navionics+ subscription on the Boating app, select Route>Automatic, then tap and hold the map to…

In the 1960s and 1970s, boatbuilders loved the modern, robust material that was Formica-type plastic laminates, promising many years of impermeable service in a kaleidoscope of colours and styles. The Swedish builders of my cracking 1970s Albin Ballad, Triola, probably thought just that – and, frankly, they weren’t wrong. Here we were, some 45 years on from Triola’s birth, and she still had her original galley worktop. The many years of faithful service had started to take their toll though, with the 1970s woodgrain effect having faded greatly and the edges showing signs of delamination. The final nail in the metaphorical Formica coffin was the first mate (and ship’s cook) Elizabeth’s requirement to turn the locker under the work surface into a fridge. I removed the sorry-looking remnants of the work surface…

A. If a roller headsail jams and won’t come down, try hoisting lines on a halyard and wrap them around the sail. Or, replace the sheets with a short one, lock the drum and motor in circles, letting it flap back around the spar. B. If it’ll unroll completely, go on a beam reach to keep the flogging canvas away from the deck, and drop the sail. In high winds, some people copy Francis Chichester and dump it in the sea – then haul it in with the sheet. C. The halyard can wrap around the spar and jam it, if the halyard angle is too shallow and the top swivel is too low down on the spar. D. To increase the halyard angle, some people rig a wire pennant…

SEND US YOUR STORIES Email news editor Laura Hodgetts at newspbo@timeinc.com, tel: 01202 440825 News and current affairs from the world of boating Maiden has been through a procession of owners since Tracy Edwards and 11 female sailors finished a trailblazing second in the gruelling Whitbread Round the World Race in 1990. The 17.7m (58ft) yacht was found abandoned three years ago and left to rot on the quayside on an Indian Ocean island. Edwards said: ‘I’ve been raising funds to bring her home for the last three years, but it stopped me almost dead when I saw her.’ Edwards, who was a 22- year-old with limited sailing experience when she put together the Maiden team, plans for the boat to be a figurehead for the Maiden Factor charity, a not-for-profit…

▪ Swanwick Boat Show, 25-26 March, 10am-4pm. www.premiermarinas.com ▪ Brighton Boat Show, 1-2 April, 10.30am-4pm. premiermarinas.com ▪ Beaulieu Boatjumble, 23 April, Hampshire, PBO Experts Live! and the largest outdoor sale of boating items in Europe. www.beaulieu.co.uk/events ▪ Jersey Boat Show, 29 April- 1 May. www.jerseyboatshow.com ▪ Southsea Marina Fishing Show, 6 May, 10am-4pm. www.premiermarinas.com ▪ Poole Maritime Festival, 15-21 May, encompassing European Maritime Day and the third Poole Harbour Boat Show from 19-21 May with a marina full of exhibitors and quayside stalls. www.poolemaritimefestival.uk ▪ British Motor Yacht Show, 19-21 May, Swanwick. Featuring a line-up of British motor yachts from Fairline, Princess and Sunseeker. www.britishmotoryachtshow.com ▪ All Wales Boat Show, 9-11 June, Conwy Quays Marina, free entry to land-based part of the show, pontoon access tickets cost £5. www.allwalesboatshow.com ▪…

GILL PRO SOFTSHELL JACKET Full length YKK Aquaguard front zip with internal storm guard. Hand warmer pockets protected by YKK Aquaguard zips, and internal chest pocket. Drawcord hem and cuff adjusters. Colours: silver, graphite. ▪ Force 4 Tel: 0345 130 0710 www.force4.co.uk PRICE £74.95 (RRP £148.95) SAVE £74 6:1 PURCHASE SYSTEM 6:1 Handy Billy – the best solution for raising someone out of the water. By avoiding using winches, a single person can hoist and be on hand to assist the MOB back on board, rather than being confined to the cockpit. ▪ Jimmy Green Marine Tel: 01297 20744 www.jimmygreen.co.uk ONLINE OFFER PRICE £150 INC. VAT (RRP £187.50)…

Flotsam and jetsam Sam Llewellyn is editor of The Marine Quarterly, www.marinequarterly.com, and author of nautical thrillers. Three years ago he bought a Corribee on eBay It may or may not have been Charles I who started the first sailing club. A few choice spirits, some largeish yachts and presumably some young ladies with oranges, cleavages and special skills, assembled on the Thames for a little racing and a lot of howsyerfather. Then they all went to the bar and talked a lot and afterwards nobody could remember what had happened. Not much has changed since those heady days, though the howsyerfather has largely migrated to tennis clubs (I always thought they used rackets and it was golf that used clubs; though some say, no doubt inaccurately, that President Trump’s…

PROJECT BOAT 2 Last month, we left the boat with the deck stringers fitted, looking a lot more like a boat than she had before. The next stage was to fit the intermediate and lower stringers, and provide some support for the foredeck. The intermediate stringers sit halfway down the hull sides and were an easier proposition than the deck. For a start, they have no effect on the sheer, which we set using the deck stringers, so provided the slots in the frames weren’t too far out, these could be simply slotted in without too much fettling. Also, the transom and stem are now firmly fixed in place, so there’s no argument about where the stringers begin and end. Like the deck stringers, we opted to scarf the timber…

TESTED Dangling many metres above the deck isn’t the time to find out that your bosun’s chair cuts off the blood supply to your legs. However, most of our mastclimbing devices sit in a locker year after year, and the only time we find out just painful they are is on the rare occasion that we need to go aloft. We collected together 12 bosun’s chairs of all types and tried them out for comfort, safety and build quality on a wintry day, with some poor souls hoisting my 15 stones aloft repeatedly in each to see how they performed. They left me dangling for a while so they could get their breath back while I monitored my legs for circulation and assessed how each one felt when I was…

Spinlock Mast Pro PRICE: £91.86 Contact: www.spinlock.co.uk Spinlock’s Mast Pro harness is designed for racing bowmen, and as such is as light as they can make it. To wear, it was very unobtrusive, and I actually forgot I was wearing it – it allowed me to sit down and move around with ease. It has wide, stiffened belt and leg straps, and neoprene covers over the adjustment buckles to avoid damage to the deck or fittings. Adjustment of the straps is well thought out, with a ridged, elasticated outer for ‘ratchet’ adjustment on leg straps. When up the mast, it wasn’t as comfortable as the more padded climbing harness (Petzl) – unsurprising, as it has less padding. An excellent tool bag is also available, which is a moulded pouch that…

I am lucky that I have my father’s formidable armoury of tools, some of which are eye-wateringly expensive to buy new. Don’t be put off by this as all these tools can be hired. (Alternatively, a trip to Axminster Tools & Machinery with a credit card and some enthusiasm is a rapid, but enjoyable, road to penury.) A warning before we go any further: with all of these tools you can very easily and neatly lop off all sorts of exciting appendages, so if you are not sure how to use a tool, then refer to the manufacturer, read their documentation, or do what I did and spend much time looking over the many guides online to these tools (none of which, of course, are a substitute for experience). ▪…

Award-winning yachting cartoonist Mike Peyton has died at the age of 96. The talented artist and keen sailor, one of the founder members of the Old Gaffers Association (OGA), passed away on 25 January, just five days after his birthday. The Yachting Journalists Association (YJA), which presented him with a Lifetime Achievement award a year ago, dubbed Peyton ‘the Picasso of sailing.’ A modest, shy man, he eschewed the spotlight and seemed unaware of the esteem in which sailors all around the world held him. Born into a mining family in County Durham in 1921, he lied about his age to join the Army and was seconded to draw maps of the North African desert by the Intelligence Corps during the Second World War. Despite escaping twice, he spent most…

Eileen Ramsay, the queen of British yachting photography during the post-war years, recorded the explosion in small-boat sailing during the 1950s and ’60s, capturing not only the boats but also sailing pioneers like Francis Chichester, Alec Rose, Col Blondie Hasler and French legend Eric Tabarly. Eileen was born in Sanderstead, Surrey in 1915 and began her career as a 22-year-old receptionist to the Reading-based royal photographer Marcus Adams. When Adams was called up to help record the impending conflict against Germany, Eileen got the job of running the business while he was at war. One of Eileen’s first published pictures was of a scene on the Menai Straits taken in 1945. The picture, titled ‘Black Sails’, was selected for the 50th edition of Photograms of the Year, an annual review…

Send us your local news stories. Email PBO news editor Laura Hodgetts at newspbo@timeinc.com, tel: 01202 440825, or write to the address on page 5 SOUTH JET-SKIERS FINED Two jet-skiers who ran amok in Portsmouth Harbour have been fined for their actions – which included delaying the departure of a ferry. An MOD police launch was forced to intercept 35-year-old Stuart Roberts from Southampton and 37-year-old James Gallagher from Gosport to put an end to their jaunt in November last year. The duo were ordered to pay £365 each in fines and costs by Portsmouth Magistrates for breaching the Dockyard Port of Portsmouth Order (2005). The jet-skiers set off from Lee-on- Solent and, after entering Portsmouth Harbour, rode down the middle of the main shipping channel (reserved for large vessels),…

Email pbo@timeinc.com or write to us at the address on page 5. Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited. Test those toggle fittings ▪ Is ‘mast replacement a must’ (Ask the experts, PBO January) for reader Tony Summers? It will be if his rigging fails – especially the backstay! Mike Coates’ reply is accurate, but could be more forceful. My own experience could be useful to Tony, so I will recount it in numbered points. 1) My previous boat was a 1979 Halmatic 30, bought in 2005 with a full survey. She had a Proctor mast, and the standing rigging had been replaced in 1998 during a full refit. 2) In 2007, she was dismasted (the mast broke in two near the level of the spreaders) in a Force 5/6…

Monthly musings Yacht surveyor and designer Andrew Simpson cruises with his wife Chele in his own-design 11.9m (39ft) yacht Shindig. Read his blog at www.offshore-sailor.com Last month I wrote about replacing our anchor chain – a grievous assault on the wallet, but at least at the gain of some peace of mind. Riding to anchor always comes with concerns. Down the hook goes, and either the tide or a touch or two of astern digs it in, producing that tautening of the rode that brings a degree of warmth and confidence to the procedure. But there’s always that whiff of doubt. Has it really dug in? The chart may talk of sand or mud, but rarely in great detail. In some locations you can be reasonably confident, but even the…

In association with www.pbo.co.uk/marina-guide In our inaugural guide, we described finding the perfect home for your boat – cheap, friendly, convenient, with loads of facilities and services – as being like finding the perfect holiday destination. You’d prefer it if no one else knew about it and it remained your little secret forever. Fortunately for sailors yet to find their perfect location, the PBO Marina Price Guide shines the spotlight on 272 coastal marinas around the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Shetland Islands and the Republic of Ireland. Our regional listings of annual berths enable you to compare and contrast marina charges, as well as the facilities and services offered by each marina. We only list walk-ashore berths with mast-up access from the coast. In order to compare the prices provided…

Crewsaver Crewlift 40 PRICE: £61.99 Contact: www.crewsaver.com Crewsaver’s bosun’s chair is made from padded nylon, with a rigid seat and plenty of securing straps – a set for the thighs and a strap to go around the chest. I found it fairly comfortable to sit in – and it felt nice and secure thanks to the chest strap, which stopped me falling backwards or sliding out. It was also possible to climb in thanks to the chest strap. One shortcoming is that the halyard attachment is in the form of two webbing straps and D-rings, one from each side of the chair. I’m larger than average and found that these barely reached around my front, so that when my weight was applied the D-rings were squeezed together, constricting my chest…

The first choice you must make is which type of chair you want. The simple chairs are comfortable to perch on short-term but offer limited security, which is important at the top of the mast where a small wave can feel enormous. The bucket chairs offer significantly improved safety, and the chest and back straps mean that some will allow you to climb a little without them slipping down. The best of these are far more comfortable than the simple seats – the Swi-Tec, Plastimo Pro and Lalizas Pro were all excellent examples. For optimum safety it’s a harness every time, and indeed some manufacturers recommend using a harness as well as a chair for safety. Of the harnesses, the Spinlock was unobtrusive when not being used for support –…

To ask a question email pbo@timeinc.com and include your address. Pictures are helpful 50 of the most frequently asked boating questions are answered by our experts on the PBO website. Visit www.pbo.co.uk SEA SAFETY Keith Colwell is RNLI Community Safety Manager and author of the RYA Sea Survival Handbook BOAT BUYING David Harding is a regular contributor to PBO: his photo archive is at www.sailingscenes.co.uk CRUISING Stuart Carruthers is the RYA Cruising Manager and has sailed extensively SAILS Ian Brown of the International OneSails loft group is an expert on sails MASTS & RIGS Mike Coates worked in the spar and rigging business for many years SURVEY AND CORROSION Colin Brown runs a marine survey and consultancy company, CB Marine Services ELECTRICS Paul Holland is chairman of the BMEA and MD…

The most obvious warning that something was wrong was the water sloshing around in the stern buoyancy tank of my tender. This dinghy is my little GRP workhorse which sits on the river all year round and ferries me back and forth to my river mooring. Readers may already be familiar with it because it has featured before in PBO: in June 2014 I wrote about the repairs it needed after sustaining some bad storm damage (‘Repairing a battered tender’), and later in April 2015 I wrote about how I applied Coppercoat antifoul to the hull (‘Applying Coppercoat antifouling’). I had first noticed this water as a bit of seepage: it was sitting in the small well of the aft part of the keel moulding. The only way I could…

Reading the above, it might appear as though I had a trouble-free sail through this project: but the truth was anything but that. My first attempt had the sink cut-out too far over to port and the fridge cut-out too far over to starboard. Not only that, but when I was working on another project in the garage I leaned the ‘in progress’ worktop against the wall: my coat caught one of the trestles and brought it down straight onto the weak point of my new worktop, splitting it in half!! This is not a forgiving material to work with: however, it is very rewarding and surprisingly easy. If you can get the sheet materials for the right price, it can be a cost-effective way to make your galley look…

It’s easy to assume that systems such as these should only be used on big boats, but if you’re rewiring from scratch, they’re worth giving some thought. EmpirBus, for example, is claimed to offer savings of up to 30% on cabling weight, a significant reduction in the space taken up by cable trunking, avoidance of heat build-up in the switch panel and fewer problems with antenna interference as there are fewer high-current conductors used. The use of software in these systems makes them completely configurable. This means that if you want to repurpose a switch, just plug in your laptop and make the change. Current protection is provided via the modules and is configurable for each channel – and as it’s a current detection circuit rather than a breaker, you…