One of the scarier things about navigating by sailboat is dealing with cargo ships and cruise liners. As you’ll see in our avoiding ship collisions video we offer a situation where things didn’t go to plan. If you have an AIS system on your plotter navigating is easier because you know the CPA, or Closest[Read More]
How To's
Avoiding Ship Collisions
Did you know that there are several steps you can take to ensure that you’re not bulldozed over by a ship while out sailing? Avoiding ship collisions is an important part of being a confident sailing cruiser. Quite a few new sailors get nervous when tankers or cruise ships are in the area. Tankers are[Read More]
How To Tie Onto A Cleat
One of the first things you’ll learn when becoming a sailor is how to tie onto a cleat. Like most things in sailing there are options. There are two main recognized knots used for fastening a line to a cleat. The first is the cleat hitch and the second is called the OXO method. American’s[Read More]
How To Make Your Boat Shine
Here’s how to make your boat shine – we demonstrate the best way to make your metalwork sparkle, remove rust from your Gelcoat, and make your engine nice enough to eat off of! How To Make Your Boat Shine Video Links to Products Mentioned in the Video Autosol Marine Products (From Autosol) Star Brite Rust[Read More]
How To Fix A Leaky Mast
Boats leak from a variety of places, the mast being one of them. In this video, Simon will demonstrate how to fix a leaky mast using amalgamating, or self-bonding, tape. You can purchase this kind of tape on Amazon, at a boat chandlery, or any hardware store. The great thing about self-bonding tape is that[Read More]
Overnight Sailing Trip
One of the initial worries that new sailing cruisers have is tackling their first overnight sailing trip. Our recommendation is to either sign up for a few night sailing experiences or, if you already have a boat, hire a professional skipper that can join you on a long voyage or two. Sailing at night can[Read More]
What Tools To Have On My Boat?
We often get asked by aspiring sailing cruisers, ‘What tools to have on my boat?’ One of our guests wanted to bring his land-based man cave with him. He spent his life building up his tool collection and felt very attached to it – especially his lathe. This is totally understandable but ultimately not practical.[Read More]
Marine And Boat Refrigeration Temperature
The secret to having a successful sailing cruising lifestyle is maintaining a routine of checks. Things break on a boat all the time when you first start out. Over time, however, you start to discover ways and means to prevent a majority of breakages – even checks concerning marine and boat refrigeration temperature come into[Read More]
Installing A New Marine Diesel Engine
What’s it like installing a new marine Diesel engine? Is it a small job or a big one? Well…any job on a boat seems to take far longer than intended. But what’s involved in an engine swap out? When my husband Simon said he wanted to replace our Westerbeke 7.5 kW with a Northern Lights[Read More]
The Importance of Using a Sailing Safety Tether
A sailing safety tether is used in conjunction with a life jacket to effectively attach oneself to a strong part of the boat. Using a safety tether can be a lifesaver. Some arguments have been made that the tether is one of the most important bits of safety equipment – if you don’t fall off[Read More]
