Practical Boat Owner

Published by Time Inc. (UK) Ltd 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

Sailing down memory lane with the acting editor

New E10 petrol and older boat engines don’t mix

What fuel do the marina groups sell?

Ethanol free – despite confusing stickers

Alex Thomson steps down from racing

Fatal boat capsize MAIB report

Homemade 19ft boats in transatlantic challenge

Rescue beacon registry service goes online

The real clean-up to begin

Paralympian seeks Vendée yacht

Cocaine worth €200m seized

Car and trailer driving tests scrapped

DIARY DATES

SOUTH COAST AND CHANNEL ISLANDS

WEST COAST, WALES AND IRELAND

SCOTLAND

EAST COAST AND SOUTH-EAST

Letters • Readers share their thoughts and opinions

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

I wouldn’t do it like that… • In boatyards you’ll find advice money can’t buy

Tales from the armchair • There is no sailing – the big boat is on the hard and this is no weather for dinghies

Lighting up the marina • Being a rock for the community – literally, to boost the lifeboat service

Drascombe Drifter 22 • Introduced more than 12 years ago, Drascombe’s Drifter 22 lay low for a while but has now reappeared in Mk II guise. David Harding reports

The Perfect Christmas Gift FOR JUST £41.50

Haines 320 • The semi-custom Haines 320 makes for a top quality second-hand buy and supremely comfortable river cruising. Nick Burnham reports

Surveyor’s report

Slow boat on the West Coast • When wind and batteries fail Genevieve Leaper is becalmed without an engine, but she jury rigs an alternative means of propulsion

What the experts say

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Homeward bound • Max Liberson tests his seamanship and comes to terms with grief on a single-handed voyage from Portugal to Plymouth

Lifejackets for all? • John Butler battles seasickness and rough seas in his first extended voyage while helping out a friend on a delivery trip

LESSONS LEARNED

PROJECT BOAT RESTORATION Upgrading old boat electronics • Maximus will need a rewire so it’s time to think about electronics. Ali Wood gets some advice from Raymarine’s Richard Marsden

What is NMEA 2000 and STng?

How does an in-hull transducer work?

Christmas gifts • Great festive gear ideas for the practical boat owner

New Gear • Rupert Holmes checks out the latest marine gear

Procrastinate at your peril • Peter Fernie shares an extract from an old logbook found aboard his newly purchased boat that illustrates how not to set sail…

Repairing a sail cover • After 11 years under the harsh Australian sun John Tylor’s mainsail cover was falling apart. Here’s how he brought it back to life…

PROJECT BOAT RESTORATION How to polish topsides • After a failed attempt to make Maximus gleam, James Wood calls in the experts to help with the PBO Project Boat

Time and costs

Repairing a damaged raw water pump • When Geoff Higginbottom accidentally bent the drive shaft on his raw water pump gear, drastic remedial action was required

Making vents watertight • Believing that 99% of leaks enter the cabins of small boats via the through-deck fastenings, Zoran Glozinic devised a simple, no-drip fix for his temporary mushroom vents

Going...