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Hi Folks, My furling line is starting to slip a bit through this gadget on my Beneteau 24. I want to replace the cam and the spring, but I can't read the maker's name anywhere on it. And actually I don't even really know what the thing is called. A cheek block with a jammer built in? Any...

Hi All, I wear a simple harness and tether while sailing as I'm generally on my own, and since I wear the thing a lot, and I'm a bit prone to back pain, it seems worth the effort to optimise it for comfort. To this end I've removed the pass-thru buckles on the leg loops and sewn them to fit me...

Hi Folks. I'm replacing my 3 sheave deck organisers with double stacked ones as I need more lines and I don't have the deck space for a pair of 6 sheave ones. The existing ones aren't through bolted to the deck because they sit atop the part of the deck where there's a lot of mast support on...

Hello fellow sailors, As a back sufferer I've always disliked wearing even the lightest and best fitting pcd/harness for any length of time as it starts to feel like a yoke on my shoulders compressing my thoracic spine. For the same reason, I never wear a rucksack when hiking, preferring to...

Hello fellow sailors. How can I determine which sail slides are right for my mast? I have a 1986 Beneteau 24 which the previous owner had bought with no sails and set up with a nice set of new ones and then more or less immediately sold to me. Not wishing to impune the chap, but it's possible...

Hi Everyone, My Beneteau 24 has triangular stanchion bases, (see pictures) weirdly, 6 of them are made in aluminium, whereas 2 are some kind of black plastic and are both cracked and useless. I think perhaps they were all plastic originally and someone replaced 6 of them as they broke, because...

Hello All, I have the less popular fin keel version of the Beneteau First 24, and in the middle of the saloon, the dining table seems to be built around the same grp inner moulding that houses the keel box in the swing keel version. (see pic) I never actually use the table and would enjoy the...

Hi sailors, My new (to me) boat, came with a partially fitted newish Cobra MR F57B E vhf radio which has yet to be fully commissioned (not yet entered the MMSI number and no connection for the gps data) The vhf aerial is connected, but for DSC functionality it needs a gps input. The manual...

Hi Sailors, I've bought a Beneteau 24 which has no fitting on the mast for a whisker/spinnaker pole, and riveting a pad eye to it is complicated by the fact that the mast seems to be designed with a kind of 'T track' built in to the extrusion as though the idea is to use a sliding car with...

Hello All, I've been looking for my second boat having outgrown my little daysailor. I'm surprised to find that quite a high proportion of the boats I've considered do not have the lines led back to the cockpit. My little Pandora had this feature and I don't really see the downside. Why...

Hello fellow sailors. I'd like some advice on a boat purchase if you have a mo. I'm planning to buy a sailing boat for around 10k on which I would live for one week per month throughout the season, whilst I AirBnB my flat to pay for mooring fees and maintenance. The 8m limit is based on the...

Hello all, Are flopper stoppers less effective on a light boat? (a 1200kg Pandora in this case) I like to anchor up just off the beach of an evening and I'd like to damp out some of the roll. Before I knock up a couple of flopper stoppers to this end, I thought I'd check I haven't missed...

Hi All, My Clipper Duet depth/log has stopped displaying speed (it shows 0.0knt) Handily I was able to remove the impeller without any water coming in and it seems to turn, although perhaps not all that confidence inspiringly, is there any way to test it before I buy a replacement? Is there...

The cockpit locker which houses, amongst other things, my outboard's remote petrol tank, tends to collect a couple of inches of water in the bottom after sailing in strong conditions, although not if left on the berth. I'm unable to find the leak, so I'm considering fitting a bilge pump, but I'm...

Hi All, As I belatedly start my second season sailing, it occurs to me that I have no record of my hours and experience. In the future, I may decide to pursue an International Certificate of Competence and need to be able to show all the sailing I've done. So, my question is; would a collated...

Hi Seafarers, My 23ft sailing boat has an outboard which lives in an outboard well in the cockpit. Because I'm paranoid I've bought a backup motor just in case the main fails me at an awkward moment. There isn't really anywhere practical to store the backup engine besides in the outboard locker...

Hi Folks, I'm sanding the hull of my sailboat in preparation for antifouling and I've noticed that the groove between the hull and the keel has the remains of some kind of sealant in it. It could do with renewing, so what would people recommend (if anything) is used. Thanks Simon

Hi All, I want to remove the skeg hung rudder on my Ridgeway marine Pandora 700 so I can recondition it and replace the bushes at the same time, but getting it off is proving difficult. The skeg has a metal casting at the bottom which supports the rudder tube and it appears to be screwed into...