Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

Contents

BRITAIN’S BEST-SELLING BOATING MAGAZINE No. 596 FEBRUARY 2016 • £4.

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ED DUBOIS DESIGNS

From Westerlys to superyachts

MAINTENANCE · PROJECTS · GEAR REVIEWS · SEAMANSHIP · CRUISING

SHORTEN SAIL

THE EASY WAY

In-mast reefing systems compared,

plus expert advice to help get the

best from your furling mainsail

TRICKY LEAKS

Top tips to help find

those elusive drips

SARGO 31 TESTED

A quality finish from the Finns

PLUSfor an ocean passage How to prepare

Replacing a boat fridge

Curing rudder play with new bushes

Around Ireland

in a Drascombe

Adding engine info to your plotter

5 Waiting for the tide
The editor’s welcome to this month’s PBO

6 News
Could Cherbourg become ‘the next
Calais?’, cannon repatriated... and more

10 Regional news
Proposals to create shellfi sh fi shery in
Menai Strait, yacht club fraud... and more

12 Readers’ letters – your views

14 Dave Selby
The best kind of lock-in

16 Sam Llewellyn
Extracting gold from junk

18 Andrew Simpson
Sailing into history

29 PBO products and services
Books and plans from the PBO Shop

32 Ask the experts
Tackling paint loss around skin fi ttings,
assessing prop size and hull clearance,
plus more reader queries answered

REGULARS BOATS

CRUISING

26 Tricky leaks

Top tips to help fi nd those elusive drips

49 To vent or not to vent

Is ventilation a viable alternative

to dehumidifi ers?

51 Replacing a boat fridge

Head-scratcher: fi tting an 87lt fridge into

the space left by its 61lt predecessor

67 Curing rudder play

with new bushes

Fitting a new rudder bush to a Westerly

78 Onboard diesel polishing

Fitting a fuel polishing loop to

a Moody 34

SEAMANSHIP

71 Shorten sail the easy way

In-mast reefi ng systems compared, plus

getting the best from your furling mainsail

77 Casting off single-handed

A simple and useful technique

90 Chain of events

Avoiding a series of potential calamities

20 Ed Dubois designs

From Westerlys to superyachts

62 Sargo 31

A quality fi nish from the Finns

86 A blaze of glory

The story of RNLI lifeboat Guy And

Clare Hunter and her intrepid crew

35 How to prepare for an

ocean passage

PBO gathers tips from sailors preparing

to embark on the 30th ARC rally

44 Southwold and the River Blyth

The myriad attractions of ‘the

quintessential English resort’

80 Around Ireland in a Drascombe

Two brothers undertake a circumnavigation

during the stormiest summer for 41 years

92 Brits helping Brits in the Ionian

Ex-pats who offer practical help and assist

with local relations for visiting cruising boats

SAVE

MONEY AND

SUBSCRIBE!

Great offers on

page 50

GEAR

40 Adding engine info to a plotter
Three engine data converters and how to
link them to a plotter with NMEA

54 New gear
PBO looks at the latest marine products

PRACTICAL

Cover photo: Westerly Fulmar by Sailing Scenes

44

Southwold and

the River Blyth

20

Ed Dubois

designs

Welcome to the February 2016 issue

40

67

51

35

80

71

20

26

62

106 Reeving new halyards

Hints and tips from the PBO Sketchbook

51

Replacing a

boat fridge

67

Curing rudder play

with new bushes