DIY Boating
Article
Ponsonby Cruising Club hosts a rare look into plywood performance and racing history: Spencer’s radi...
From tomorrow (24 July) to 14 August, Ponsonby Cruising Club invites members and visitors to step back into a golden era of Kiwi yacht design with Har...
Article
Form & Float: Building boats, building memories
From backyard builds to weekend adventures, this Kiwi-made kitset boat company is making waves with hands-on boating for everyone.
Exclusive
Kitset boats: Rekindling a culture
Want a simple, inexpensive pathway to becoming a boatie?
Consider building a kitset vessel. It’s an easy solo project but will bring greater rewards...
Feature
BYO Elliot 1150 Tourer: The perfect yacht
Every so often
I hit the self-destruct button and decide to build a boat, well aware of the commitment in time and money. That’s because
the boats...
What a hoot! Tai Mate: A whimsical dinghy with a retro twist
You're not imagining something out of a children's storybook. This quirky vessel, owned by retro-boat enthusiast Barry Anderson, is a 9ft (2.7-metre) ...
Wash it off: DIY Anchor and Deck Wash System
Once an anchor digs through this stuff it will usually hold well; the trouble is, upon weighing, half the bottom usually comes up as well, glued to th...
Re-propping my outboards
When it comes to choosing propellers for any boat, a fair amount of trial and error is required to get the performance you want.
DIY Descaling
An overheating secondhand outboard needed descaling and flushing to unclog its cooling passages. Norman undertook the task himself.
DiveCat relaunched
“Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are busy doing it” – George Bernard Shaw
New antifouling
The marine environment generally contains a profusion of life. Nothing can be left immersed in salt water without it quickly becoming covered in marin...
New antifouling
The marine environment generally contains a profusion of life. Nothing can be left immersed in salt water without it quickly becoming covered in marin...
Flooring decisions and application; Covering the sole
One of the last major interior decorating decisions I have made is choosing the most appropriate floor covering for the main cabin – the ‘sole’. Optio...
The freshwater system
Last issue we covered the installation of the toilet and holding tank, also known as the black water system. The final plumbing project is to implemen...
Rewiring your boat
Fully rewiring a boat is an expensive exercise, as I am discovering during my rebuild project. Even a modest amount of new cable can cost a fair amoun...
Getting into hot water
A few months ago, I wrote about the design and installation of a new galley layout for my boat Divecat. During that process I installed a new hot wate...
Article
Drumming up an anchor
Every boat, regardless of its size or purpose, should be equipped with a reliable anchoring system. This ensures safety and stability when the vessel...
Galley design & construction – Designing a galley: Sink, hob and hot water supply
One of the benefits of being a part-time boat reviewer is that from time to time I get to experience other people’s boats, and I get to see the latest...
Heald trawler yacht
Designed for a couple, with a large workshop for Brad and a dedicated writing nook for Sapi, it will be their forever home.
Marine Refrigeration: Chill out
Almost every type of boat-use story has some requirement for keeping stuff cool.
Seeing clearly – Part II
Last month we replaced the front windows of Divecat, using extruded aluminium window frames and the original toughened glass windowpanes held in by nu...
Seeing clearly
The design of recreational boat windows has evolved over the years, as have the materials used.
Steering in the right direction
Now that we have fitted the two replacement outboards to Divecat, together with their Vibrastop anti-vibration system, the next item on the agenda is ...
Sticking it to aluminium
Epoxy and aluminium are not usually good bedfellows. Enter Belzona with its range of specialist products. Even stripped threads can be repaired.
No more bad vibes
One of the advantages of an aluminium boat is the rigidity of the hull. While there may be a small amount of flex, depending on the design, for the mo...
Getting hot under the collar
An overheating boat engine can have many causes, but one of the first things to check is the health of the heat exchanger.
The hull cleanup
Cleaning off old coatings from a boat’s hull is no easy task, especially if they are years old, made up of a variety of materials and several layers t...
Fitting a shower cubicle
One of the benefits of stripping a boat back to the bare hull is that you can redesign the layout to correct any annoying shortcomings in the previous...
Bilge pump disaster
Is you bilge pump installation up to moving a large volume of water out of your hull should the need arise?
Dealing with calcification
Last issue we covered the affliction of corrosion, but boats that remain in the water for long periods suffer from the reverse problem – calcification...
Rust never sleeps
According to the musician Neil Young, “Rust Never Sleeps”. Young must have been a boat owner, because certainly rust, or more generically corrosion, n...
Fitting a steering indicator
One of the useful, but not necessarily essential, gauges on the helm of a boat is an indicator showing which way the rudder is pointing.
This is of ...
Fitting a gauge to your water tank
Take the guesswork out of estimating how much water your boat is carrying.
Most boats with an underfloor fuel tank will have a fuel gauge. Which is a...
Working with plastic
Historically boats were built of wood, although various forms of metal (iron, steel then aluminium) became more common during the industrial revolutio...
Many ways of steering
Every watercraft built since the dawn of time had to be steered in some way.
In ancient times steering gear was usually some version of an oar that w...
Knowing your ropes and rode
Let’s get the first question out of the way: When it is ‘rope’ and when is it ‘rode’?
When you go to the marine chandlers or even the hardware store,...
Boost your phone
Boaties venturing offshore know how quickly a phone loses signal bars – and data apps become patchy at best. The combination of poor signal strength a...
The case for AIS
Retrofitting an AIS (Automatic Identification System) to your boat is relatively inexpensive and easy, and it might make a significant difference in a...
Caring for your anchor rode
When did you last wash your anchor warp? Not a common maintenance item, but something that may be worth considering, especially if your boat’s more th...
ENGINE COMPUTERS: A curse or a blessing?
Everything seems to be controlled by a computer these days, including boat engines. Those of us with more than a few decades under our belt will remem...
BBS Timber LTD
NZ owned and operated, BBS Timbers are dedicated to supplying a comprehensive range of high-quality timber and panels to construction companies, architects, designers, builders and individuals all o...
Boat Fix New Zealand
Steve Pennington and the team have been repairing boats in and around Auckland for more than 20 years.
With an excellent reputation for all aspects involved in keeping your pride & joy in...
LATEST NEWS
1977 Firecrest Half Cabin
Well cared for and recently upgraded, Sea’s The Day is a classic 4.8m Firecrest Half Cabin—trailerable, powerful, and affordable.
1946 Jack Guard 35
Step aboard Gipsy and step into a living legacy. At 35 feet, built from heart kauri in 1946, this classic launch isn’t just another pretty hull – she’s a rare survivor from a golden era of Kiwi boatbuilding, and a direct link to one of New Zealand’s most storied maritime families.