Just about every Sunday I use Search Tempest to check out the cost of used boats under $5K on Craig’s List. It’s a cool search engine that allows one to check all the boats for sail on Craig’s List in the USA. I mention this because I keep hearing that the cost of used cars …
While I know that the overall consensus is that the best cruising dinghy is an eight or ten-foot RIB with a 9.9/15 HP engine but I’ll just have to disagree. For a long time I’ll admit that I thought the best cruising dinghy was Phil Bolger’s Tortoise as it did everything we needed it to …
Atom Voyages does their thing on a Cape Dory 27.
So, here’s the ongoing question most of us are trying to deal with: what is the most needed attribute for successful, low-budget cruising or building/refitting a boat? Is it your sailing ability? The ability to make a perfect dovetail? Having the right gear? Enough money? Maybe the correct answer is none of the above, and …
“Ninety percent of everything is crap” -Theodore Sturgeon Back when I had the great good fortune to actually meet Theodore Sturgeon and get to talk with him on a semi-regular basis I considered Sturgeon’s Law to be somewhat cynical. Now, almost fifty years later I’ve come to the conclusion that Mr Sturgeon was actually …
For me the whole budget thing is colored by something the great motion picture camera designer, Raoul Coutard, who designed the pivotal Eclair NPR said when someone asked him how to design a hand holdable self-blimped camera… “First, you start with a quiet camera.” Over the years I’ve found this bit of logic adaptable to …
Yann Quenet showing off a balanced lug roller reefing set up.
A tour of an Alberg 30 with Atom Voyager.
Most late 60s and early 70s classic plastic sailboats of the 34-foot variety are actually pretty good boats but exceptionally challenged in the cruising stowage department. It’s not that they are too small but that the long-term cruising stowage was just not part of the design brief. So if you’re looking at buying a …
I’ve long wanted to build a small canal cruiser for the time that I’m past my sailing days. Philip Thiel’s Joli Boat has always been at the top pf my list and a great example of getting the most livability into a 22’9″ X 8′ envelope. As it happens “Small Boats Magazine” has an excellent …
