Hi all, I’ve decided to remove the anodizing from the mast on my 1984 Islander Bahama 30. There is a lot of corrosion around the fittings. I’m going to pull the mast this summer, and it down to bare metal, bed the fitting with Tefgel, and then put her back up. I don’t mind the bare aluminum look, and painting is too expensive at the moment (trying to buy a house…). I’ve seen videos on how to sand down aluminum but that seems like the hard way to do it. From what I’ve read, the anodizing is harder than the aluminum so the result is uneven and the sander breaks through the anodizing and eats i ..read more

Sailboat would not start yesterday. Older marine diesel. Took a small hammer, banged on the starter, then it turned over and started no problems. I had read about that trick and yes, it did work, but why? And will it happen again? What is the long-term fix ..read more

Hi everyone, For my blogging platform I am developing a system to work with YB tracking. If someone has an active YB tracking subscription and has some time to help me, I offer free subscriptions to my services in exchange. I can't post the link of my platform here (as it's considered as spam), but you can find a link to it in my profile under "contact info" tab. Many thanks ..read more

I have an 1985 25 foot O'Day sailboat. I am taking it from Missouri to Lake Michigan this summer and want to get the trailer brakes working. It has a Shoreland'r trailer with dual axle hydraulic 10 x 2.25 brakes which have not worked for many years from the look of them. Wanting to convert to electric brakes like all my other trailers are. Lots of loaded electric backing plates available for 10 x 2.25 brakes. Has anybody done the conversion? trying to reuse my hubs which are good and just swap out the backing plates and then wire. None of the companies say they will fit or not, measurements lo ..read more

Hello All! I was planning on holding off buying a sailboat till next winter when my wife asked "Why don't we try and find one now and if we find one, just sail north for the summer to escape hurricane season?" (We live in Tampa). It got me thinking. It was not really something I considered. So I cam here wondering if anyone has any experience with this- Considering Chesapeake Bay is in the NE and the US sailing capital, I know this question might sound a little silly. However, I would like to frame this as a live aboard cruiser, and not just a weekend sailor. So I had a few questions I was h ..read more

Two small J boats near me at the marina. I don’t race, but was checking them out just for fun yesterday. Noticed strange jib sheet “winches” on them. One was just a lump (dome) of carbon fiber, and the other was a hollow rotating drum with no apparent way to insert a handle to sheet in….rotated when I turned it with my hand. Pics attached. How do they work? How can you sheet in? What good are they if you can’t sheet in under load? Attached Thumbnails     ..read more

Does anyone have any knowledge or understanding of the FL tax laws on boat sales? I am getting ready to close on the boat. We plan to store her at the yard for around 60 days. We will be doing some work on her but not sure if that will be in early May or later closer to putting her back in the water. We will be exiting FL waters well within 90 days of closing. The people managing the paperwork has recommended using the 20 day repair exemption rather than the 90 day exemption but can't really give me a reason why. From the way the exemption is written, the boat could be "worked on" for 20 years ..read more

Post title says most of it. My boat has some Navtech series 500 turnbuckles, the kind with the nut in the middle. They are mostñy hard to adjust and one is frozen unless I put a torch on it. The adjustment nut on that one is a little loose as well. I am planning to replace them all with open body Hayne turnbuckles this year but I was just thinking it might make sense to replace the frozen one now. Is a loose center adjustment nut on those a danger that could result in failure? Not the greatest product ..read more

I got a quote for insurance from GEICO for $3,600 and from Berkley One for the same coverage for $2,100. Since I generally subscribe to the adage "If it is too good to be true, it usually isn't true", I'm a bit nervous about choosing Berkley One. Can anyone provide me with some insight? Thank you ..read more

What does the BT mean in the Pearson BT boat...it's a 34 footer from early 80's. I cannot find a reference for this model online or in the Pearson site. Thx ..read more