Have you noticed that it’s almost impossible to find a new manual anchor windlass? Or, if you do it’s more expensive than a powered one? When you do find a good manual windlass the cost is often right at the cost of a brand spanking new electric windlass. Is that nuts or what? The Islander …
Yeah, not bad for $100 dollars! Seriously, drilling 316 stainless with a battery powered hand drill is so not going to happen ever again… While, no stranger to stationary tools in the workplace, I’ll have to admit that a drill press is a very handy tool aboard. Admittedly finding a dedicated storage place on a …
and in the “Should of bought one years ago” department… Read More »
The funny thing about most boat projects is that the initial plan seldom resembles the final outcome. This can be good if your plan evolves in a positive way or all kinds of bad if you lose control of your plan and find yourself with an out of control budget. For me, the central concept …
A good portion of yesterday’s toil aboard the Islander had to do with the AC electric side of things which left me hot, sweaty, tired and perplexed. Perplexed because I’ve always been a minimalist where AC on boats is concerned so making sense of a non-traditional AC system of the previous owner’s design left me …
I’m not a big fan of electronics in the cockpit as a wet and UV-rich environment is really not a great place to mount them. Sure they all say they’re designed for the wet and have covers to deal with the UV issue but, at least in my personal experience, the instruments start showing their …
A DIY watermaker on a budget.
I’ve always liked Colvin’s junk rig boats as they were in a sorta/kinda evolutionary step that never really made the jump to the next stage and, as a result, have a lot to tell us about sailboat design. Someone has an idea for a boat or rig and designs a sailboat based on that idea. …
Practical Sailor just put up an excellent article on windlasses that you really should read which touches on the subject of planned/premature obsolescence which happens to be a big part of why I’m promoting the whole VolksCruiser thing. It’s not just a cost thing. Sure the driving force for most folks is about affordability but …
I’ve always liked this windvane self-steering gear… Back in the day it worked very well for a lot of cruisers. Sure it can be improved by making t more complicated but for a well balanced boat and a sailor who knows what they’re doing it does the job just fine. Pretty much anything you need …
Two exercises in simplicity that won’t cost you $5K… Read More »
