Recent content by jbweston

I think it's great that they sail with you and that you're willing to sail with them. I leaned so much from more experienced old guys, even if I didn't appreciate it at the time. One of my earliest nautical memories (I was maybe 4) was at Sawley Cut aboard a boat called Kupacha (not named after...

I'd suggest looking into why the calorifier was producing water that was only warm. If the choice is between no calorifier and having one that doesn't produce hot water, then the decision is easy. If the choice is between no calorifier and one that does produce hot water, that's a different...

Yes, the bow ladder, when rigged, is pendent. From the pulpit.

I think some of the rules date back to the days when the publishers sold a lot of advertising in their dead trees magazines and then they started what were in effect online paid classifieds. They didn't want to provide free advertising on here in competition with their business. They see these...

I have one, possibly identical. I bought it in Sweden. The hooks go over the middle rail of the pulpit, one to port, the other to starboard. I found the y-piece didn't quite fit my boat so had a different one fabricated to use in its place. At many Nordic and Baltic harbours, the boat lies bow...

That could work. Or the more polite version 'Please can I have a berth with the wind blowing me onto the pontoon not off it, if you've got one available'.

I agree. Provided the width between the other boat and 'your' pontoon is not a lot (I mean more than a few feet) wider than your beam including your fenders on both sides, just motor gently in and lie against the other boat until you get your lines ashore. Be snappy with a short line from your...

I'm moving to the Dark Side - motor. I've bought a Sargo 31, now re-named Penguin, of course. At present she's in Falmouth, but I'm planning to base her on the Clyde. It's quite a change for me. I've always enjoyed sailing single-handed and decided as I'm getting older there will come a time...

I have owned a Malö 37, Penguin, for around 14 years (bought her new) and kept her for the last few years a few miles from Kungsviken where the Malö yard is located. It's on the island of Orust, and the boatbuilding community is quite a small one. I have no inside knowledge but it's been obvious...

I suppose webbing like that on lifejacket straps or as used to tie down liferaft cannisters might be better. But does it depend on what it is that caused the thinner ones to snap?

On my boat it's because tying them to the lower wire leaves the fender line in contact with the teak toe rail which would both abrade the line and the toe rail as the boat rolled the fenders back and forth and up and down against the pontoon. It might be hard to visualise the geometery, but the...

Same as you. But it does put a strain on the wire, particularly if the weather squashes the boat against the pontoon and then they move up and down relative to each other as the boat heels and bounces. Tying to the stanchion base would cure that, but wouldn't be good if the fender line then was...

I'm planning to take a new-to-me motor boat from Falmouth to the Clyde in early summer, so have been doing much the same planning as you. I second Concerto's suggestion of the Cruising Association's Captains Mate, available free to members as a mobile app or accessed at home from a PC via the...

It can be very difficult to prove ownership of anything unless a sytem of registration exists to give conclusive evidence of title. Consider a painting or a car. I might produce a genuine receipt for for the purchase price signed by the person that sold it to me - or a bill of sale for that...

If neither of the boats is registered, there is no legal requirement (in England and Wales) for any paperwork. The boats are 'chattels' - moveable personal property. Ownership is transferred at the moment you agree it's to be transferred, which is usually when the contract is made. In that sense...