DIY Boating
Article
Article
Getting Saucy
Saucy Jane is the name of Bill Hamilton’s first successful jetboat, now lost to history, and of Jim ...
Article
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 ba...
Article
Article
Form & Float: Building boats, building memories
From backyard builds to weekend adventures, this Kiwi-made kitset boat company is making waves with ...
Exclusive
Exclusive
Kitset boats: Rekindling a culture
Want a simple, inexpensive pathway to becoming a boatie?
Consider building a kitset vessel. It’s a...
Feature
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 commit...
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-boa...
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, hal...
Re-propping my outboards
When it comes to choosing propellers for any boat, a fair amount of trial and error is required to g...
DIY Descaling
An overheating secondhand outboard needed descaling and flushing to unclog its cooling passages. Nor...
DiveCat relaunched
“Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are busy doing it” – George Bernard ...
New antifouling
The marine environment generally contains a profusion of life. Nothing can be left immersed in salt ...
New antifouling
The marine environment generally contains a profusion of life. Nothing can be left immersed in salt ...
Flooring decisions and application; Covering the sole
One of the last major interior decorating decisions I have made is choosing the most appropriate flo...
The freshwater system
Last issue we covered the installation of the toilet and holding tank, also known as the black water...
Rewiring your boat
Fully rewiring a boat is an expensive exercise, as I am discovering during my rebuild project. Even ...
Getting into hot water
A few months ago, I wrote about the design and installation of a new galley layout for my boat Divec...
Article
Article
Drumming up an anchor
Every boat, regardless of its size or purpose, should be equipped with a reliable anchoring system. ...
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...
Heald trawler yacht
Designed for a couple, with a large workshop for Brad and a dedicated writing nook for Sapi, it will...
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 ...
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...
Sticking it to aluminium
Epoxy and aluminium are not usually good bedfellows. Enter Belzona with its range of specialist prod...
No more bad vibes
One of the advantages of an aluminium boat is the rigidity of the hull. While there may be a small a...
Getting hot under the collar
An overheating boat engine can have many causes, but one of the first things to check is the health ...
The hull cleanup
Cleaning off old coatings from a boat’s hull is no easy task, especially if they are years old, made...
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...
Bilge pump disaster
Is you bilge pump installation up to moving a large volume of water out of your hull should the need...
Dealing with calcification
Last issue we covered the affliction of corrosion, but boats that remain in the water for long perio...
Rust never sleeps
According to the musician Neil Young, “Rust Never Sleeps”. Young must have been a boat owner, becaus...
Fitting a steering indicator
One of the useful, but not necessarily essential, gauges on the helm of a boat is an indicator showi...
Fitting a gauge to your water tank
Take the guesswork out of estimating how much water your boat is carrying.
Most boats with an under...
Working with plastic
Historically boats were built of wood, although various forms of metal (iron, steel then aluminium) ...
Many ways of steering
Every watercraft built since the dawn of time had to be steered in some way.
In ancient times steer...
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 t...
Boost your phone
Boaties venturing offshore know how quickly a phone loses signal bars – and data apps become patchy ...
The case for AIS
Retrofitting an AIS (Automatic Identification System) to your boat is relatively inexpensive and eas...
Caring for your anchor rode
When did you last wash your anchor warp? Not a common maintenance item, but something that may be wo...
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