Tag Archives: maintenance
Quick Tips for Tuning a Sloop Rig
A sailboat’s rig is a dynamic thing, even though it appears to be fixed in place with stays, shrouds, turnbuckles and pins. Wire stretches, decks shift, sails change shape and halyards stretch. To make sure your rig is safely set … Continue reading
Time to Be Green: The Argument for Aluminum Anodes
When it comes to making environmentally friendly choices, the tradeoff is not always paying more for something that doesn’t work as well. Boat owners seeking a ‘greener’ sacrificial anode have an option that works better than the old, familiar zinc … Continue reading
Take Time to Service Your Boat’s Winches
Looking for a productive winter maintenance project? Service your winches… The winches aboard our sailboats are the great power machines that allow us to efficiently trim sails, raise halyards, tighten docking lines and much more. And like all mechanical devices, … Continue reading
H2Out Air Vent Dryer Prevents Fuel Contamination
H2Out Air Vent Dryers prevent water vapor from entering the fuel tank, eliminating water condensation from contaminating the fuel and saving you money from damaged fuel systems, clogged filters and possible engine failure. All engineers will agree that water in … Continue reading
Protect Your Costly Sailing Rope from Serious Damage!
Captain John of www.skippertips.com offers us great solutions on how to prevent wearing down one of our boat’s most essential elements. What one piece of sailing gear could save your boat in a howling gale inside a slip or in … Continue reading
The Lowdown on Bottom Paint
The following article by George Day and Tony Knowles is from the special DIY section of the April BWS issue on newsstands now. Many production boats have cast iron keels, which have the bad habit of rusting once water has … Continue reading
Seven Steps to Survey Your Sailboat Diesel Engine
There are few things worse than not having a clue as to where to look to find a problem whether it be mechanical or electronic. But with these seven tips brought to us via Captain John of www.skippertips.com, you can … Continue reading
Posted in Boat Rat's Tip of the Week
Tagged diesel engines, maintenance, repairs, Skipper tips
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NMMA Introduces Fred’s Shed at Boat Shows for the DIY Boat Owner
We know there are a lot of thrifty (by choice or not) boat owners out there who are doing a lot of maintenance on their own, and we think this program could be helpful to many of them. If you … Continue reading
Rust Not Want Not
Sailors in less temperate climates are used to putting their boats to bed for a long winter’s rest. Putting the engine up for this relatively short storage period is pretty straightforward: change the oil, spray some fogging oil in the … Continue reading
Boat Rat: Iron Keel De-Rusted
A lot of production cruising boats have iron keels. While lead has traditionally been considered the material of choice for keels, iron works fine and helps builders lower the cost of their boats. But iron rusts, which can make it … Continue reading
Posted in Boat Rat's Tip of the Week
Tagged boat maintenance, keel, maintenance, paint, repairs
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