Recent content by cat ketch

I have a very reliable Mariner 5 4/st. but I had a problem today and wonder if anyone has any suggestion. When I tried to start it it fired very weakly for 4 or 5 times and then gave like a weak back-fire and stopped. This happened about a dozen times. I was about to give up when it fired and...

I think it is a Mirror Offshore Mk.2

I have had four piggyback trailers and would never want to go back to submerging a road trailer. I had one four wheel yard trolley which I winched onto a hired car trailer. It was fine for a slow speed half mile journey twice a year. Two of the others were four wheel trolleys on purpose built...

Many years ago I found that the bottom of both tanks on my stove were developing pin holes. I lightly abraded the bottom and sides and sheathed them with glass tissue and epoxy. They were still showing no sign of failing when I sold the boat about five years later.

I think that for the best brand you should try to find out what works where you are moored - I am fortunate to be in " low fouling " area and find that cheap A/F is fine. I use a manual plaster sander with a hose taped to the handle. I would not want to use any kind of electric sander because of...

I fixed HDPE sheet to the surface of the base of the wooden keel support and this has made it much easier to slide the boat on, and means that there is none of the point loading that rollers can cause, and it only raises the boat by 8mm. I have a V shaped guide right at the back end of the...

I have had both a 22 and a 23 and both were great boats. The 23 felt a bit heavier, not just as lively an responsive as the 22, but still a nice boat to sail. The windows on the 22 are better, and look better than the 23, but the biggest difference I noticed was that the 23 had heavier masts...

Used to have a similar style of toaster which made very visually acceptable toast, however meths flavoured toast was not to my taste. Never managed to try it with alcohol or methanol fuel which might have overcome the problem.

Have found Sea-Screw to be very good http://www.seascrew.com/

I find the Hunter Liberty ( same hull as the Minstrel) the most comfortable boat of it's size for going down wind that I have ever sailed on. In particular it shows no tendency to broach, I don't know if this is because of the lack of buoyancy in the quarters or if the long bilge keel/runners...