Blogs

The appearance of the forward hatch on my boat was looking a bit tired. Even though the varnish gets refresher coats, I am always bummed at how quickly the gloss fades and if left alone too long, you're looking at stripping back to bare and starting over. I wanted to take the hatch off and...

Every proper cruising boat needs a windvane self-steering gear. Right? This is one of those things I thought I'd go full-mad-scientist on, some time in the future when other needs were taken care of. Those things are expensive, but plenty of people have successfully brewed up their own...

It’s been five months since we learned of our parent’s diagnosis. We’ve dealt with many changes in that time. Obviously the biggest change was our parent’s move to a long-term care facility. As we’ve visited over the last few months, there are good days and not so good days. Another big change...

In early December of 2021 we hauled out our ‘72 E27 at Eddie’s Marine in Wilmington, California. Work performed by me: Replacement of gate valves with Forespar 93 Series seacocks. Installation of seawater strainer. Re-packing of stuffing box. Re-greasing/shimming of rudder post. Work performed...

I've begun to think that a good part of "seamanship" might is based on being able to pick the least-bad option out of a spectrum of sucky choices... I spent a lot of time on Makana in June un-doing the effects of a very wet winter. Partly because it needed doing and was normal - albeit late in...