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Luke Powell tells the tale of developing his business building and renovating/refurbishing traditional pilot cutters, and the trials, tribulations and triumphs along the way. Richly illustrated with very many high quality photos of such boats under sail, under construction, detailed features...

And is it? Every Tuesday the Met Office publishes on YouTube a 'Deep Dive' - a 20-ish minute discursive and detailed look at the emerging weather for the next week or so, delving into and explaining some interesting/obscure aspects of the current situation or particular weather features or...

A different way of looking at tides:

I would like to fit a battery monitor - nothing fancy, just to keep track of battery charge/discharge. Money is tight. I have available such a monitor (Blue Sea, if I remember correctly - can't lay my hands on the documentation just now) and shunt. The shunt is rated at 200 amps. Most of my...

Bradwell - Ramsgate - Dunkirk - Oostend - Dordrecht Canal - Rotterdam - Hook of Holland - Bradwell, undertaken in a botter(?). Interesting to see how things have changed!

As someone wisely said to me, it's not the job that takes the time, it's the complications! I'm sure we have all been plagued at times by stuck fasteners that turn an apparently straightforward job into a time (and knuckle) consuming ordeal. Take heart that we practical boat owners (surely a...

Anchor sizing charts usually depend on the boat's LOA and displacement to determine the recommended size. LOA is, I assume, a proxy for boat windage. What is the significance of displacement? Is it a further proxy for windage, or something else, or is the weight itself of significance and if...

"Typhoon Koinu brought wind gusts of up to 95.2 metres per second, or 342.7km/h (212.9mph) when it crossed Taiwan’s outer Lanyu (Orchid) island on Wednesday night. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) told the Guardian it was the highest wind gust recorded in Taiwan since the organisation...

It is difficult to pull my boat out of gear, to the extent that you have to pull so hard on the control lever that when it finally releases you tend to overshoot neutral and end up in the opposite direction gear, then have the same problem getting out of that one (all of which makes close...

'Shortly before he was killed, Lance Venn, a former fisherman, had bought a boat, although they already had four in the yard, indicating his worsening condition.' This was among the evidence a court heard in a tragic case reported in the paper about a woman who has just been convicted of...

First six minutes of this vid has some interesting craft. I'm not convinced by the provisions carrying capacity of the first lot, but I'm liking the idea of an amphibious tender that you can propel up the beach/mudflat to the car park, chandlery or pub.

Apparently if I upsize from my present 27 footer to anything over 250 foot I won't be able to berth in Naples. Whatever happened to human rights? ;) Billionaires ‘disappointed’ after superyachts banned from Naples port

Following the recent thread on the ECF forum re unhappiness at Walton*, the proposed changes there and elsewhere are hitting the national press. ‘Putting lives at risk’: UK coastal towns revolt against smaller lifeboats (*Not Waltion, but can't edit the title.)

I’m replacing the lazy jacks cordage. Those that came with the boat appeared rather thick to my eyes. They seemed to measure as 5mm to a firm material, but being old the surface was roughed up making them look more like 6mm. I was thinking of going for 4mm, but is this likely to be adequate...

I have had a bow thruster fitted (wired but not yet connected to batteries) and also intend to install a VSR. I am concerned that the bow thruster (Sleipner SE40, nominal current draw 315A) could potentially fry the VSR, especially if the domestic battery bank to which it is directly...

How have people found eroding anti-foul performing - or not - when the boat was not immersed within the time specified - whether months or years? p.s. - should have said eroding antifouling.

Have you ever mutinied? Or had your crew mutiny? I thoroughly agree that, in principle, every boat must have a skipper, and the crew must defer to the skipper's judgement. Otherwise chaos and confusion will reign. But there are times when one cannot bear to stand on principle! Writing in...

Is 'contamination' of diesel fuel with a small amount - say maximum 5% - of standard mineral engine lube oil likely to be problematic? Does it have the potential to either harm e.g. injectors, or badly affecting engine running? The background is that I'm contemplating draining my boat's...