Our Old Cal 29
A cruising sailboat
Mid-boom sheeting, cuz she’s a cruiser now
So I've read every online argument for and against mid-boom sheeting, and decided we simply had to get the traveler out of the cockpit. Mostly because my wife and daughter have claimed the seats up against the cabin where they are out of the wind, but in the way of...
Repowering sounds cooler than “swapping the engine”
OK, so we bought a really old sailboat, and the engine worked fine for months, but one day I noticed that she was dripping oil at a rapid rate into her bilge pan. I tried mirrors and phones and video cameras, but I couldn't find the leak. The engine would always start...
Stitching a leather cover for the wheel
So I decided a larger wheel is needed, so I bought a cheap one online, and went down with it to our nearby, wonderful store Tandy Leathers. This place is so wonderful (especially the one in Seattle on Aurora). With no knowledge of leather working at all (except...
The wood boat is taking too long: let’s buy a plastic one!
OK, as you may have figured out already: I'm not a purist. I'm not steam-bending oak frames and hand-planing fir planks and building hollow spars of sitka spruce. I'm building a plywood cruiser in a garage I refer to as a boat shop. So when my wife pointed out that...