Practical Boat Owner

Published by TI Media Limited Practical Boat Owner is Britain's biggest-selling boating magazine, trusted and respected by all its readers. A source of useful and helpful information for both power and sail boat owners, PBO helps you get the most from your boat acting as a forum for interacting with like-minded individuals.

Practical Boat Owner

Waiting for the tide • WITH THE EDITOR

Ageing issues with bonded boat windows • News and current affairs from the world of boating

Insurance concerns over lithium-ion batteries

Stowage requirements

Surge in claims following devastating storms

Insurers’ reassurance for orca interaction key areas

Record-breaking ARC+ rally sets sail

EU waters: restriction to VHF channels

Clubs asked to hold bicentenary events

DIARY DATES

Regional news • News from your cruising area

Letters • Sharing your boating thoughts and opinions

Channel hopping • Essential monthly highlights from the world of online sailing channels with Kass Schmitt

Sentimental homecoming • Bound for an emotional shipwright reunion

Voyages to the front of beyond • High adventure by dinghy can be addictive

Trying to get aboard • Hirple, push, hirple, attempted scramble… resignation. Marsali vows to try again soon

Modified Dabber • Sailing in his beloved home port, Clive can’t resist a Dabber… or three

Boats for rivers and estuaries • Duncan Kent highlights some of the most suitable sail and power boats under 35ft for exploring shallow coastal regions

Christmas gifts • Rupert Holmes shares his marine gift ideas

Book reviews • Katy Stickland reviews the latest books for sailors

HOW TO SAIL BETTER Busy anchorages • Pip Hare shares her tips for dropping the hook in a congested spot

HOW TO SAIL BETTER Leaving a tight space • Peter Jones shares a technique for departing a pontoon with limited room for manoeuvre, against a pontoon or between rafts of boats

Keep it simple to spend time sailing • Rupert Holmes on the realities of long-term boat ownership and how he manages maintenance to spend more time on the water

The wrong sort of hats • Prolific boat owner Clive Marsh argues in favour of the Breton cap as the one-size-fits-all-conditions superior sailing headwear

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Born adventurer • Katy Stickland meets Fons Oerlemans who has sailed across the Atlantic by raft, truck and even in a giant bottle

Tackle winter jobs • Now’s the time to tick-off those jobs you’ve been putting off all season and get a head-start on the spring rush, says Ali Wood

FROST PROTECTION

STORM PROTECTION

Gel coat deck repair • Having accidentally drilled screws through the moulded non-slip surface of his boat’s deck, Jake Frith repairs the cracked gel coat

15 Things you never want to see on a yacht • Boat surveys can reveal all sorts of horrors. Ali Wood learns about some of the worst from marine surveyor Ben Sutcliffe-Davies

Best new boats • Rupert Holmes previews some of the latest new boats under 40ft that made an appearance at the La Rochelle boat show

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A cool operator • Stu Davies solves niggly Volvo Penta 2030 engine cooling problems

Solar hot water system explained • Jon Walmsley shows how to heat water without a diesel engine

Surface preparation • Mirka’s Andy Mierau shares tips on how to prepare surfaces for polishing or varnishing

Understanding electrics: boat wiring explained • Pat Manley and Oliver Ballam demystify boat electrics and explain...