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.

Stay informed, not influenced

Practical Boat Owner

Waiting for the tide with the editor • To receive the editor’s monthly email newsletter, go to our website: www.pbo.co.uk

Blaze leaves boaters heartbroken • News and current affairs from the world of boating

Ben’s fire-prevention tips

Gruelling start for GGR sailors

Fair winds to Her Majesty The Queen

UK circumnavigation with expert guides

Yachtsman leaves 16 classic cars to charities including the RNLI

Rupert Holmes has been busy

Pioneering transfer vessel

Turner twins’ UK sailing tour

Step to ‘mainstream electric boats’

DIARY DATES

Regional News • News from your cruising area

Letters • Readers share their thoughts and opinions

A brilliant mash-up • Essential monthly highlights from the world of online sailing channels with Kass Schmitt

Scrubbing your bottom • Have I mentioned that the land and sea around Maldon is mostly made of mud?

Inflatables rule • How rubber tenders have changed the world

Time passes… • ‘Summer’ in Shetland means still days need to be seized for onboard maintenance

Broads boating • Prolific boat owner Clive Marsh discusses three different ways to enjoy sailing on the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads

British-built cruiser-racers • Cruising sailors who avoid racing designs could be missing out on the extra pleasure that comes from a boat that sails superbly in light or heavy winds, with or without a full crew

Undertaking an offshore passage • Steve Hodges experiences high highs and low lows, and not just on the barometer, during an RYA Yachtmaster Ocean passage attempt

Anchoring tips AN UNDERWATER PERSPECTIVE • US scuba diver and skipper Lada Simek shares some hard-earned advice

Solo delivery • John Willis sails his Francis 34 Pilot House on a farewell voyage from Guernsey to the Clyde

New Gear • Product highlights and reviews with Rupert Holmes

Yellow fellows • A brand-new marque in adventure powerboats reminds Jake Frith of vintage tobacco advertising

PROJECT BOAT RESTORATION Investigating a faulty alternator • Ali Wood gets to grips with Maximus’s faulty electrical system after some unexpected failures made an appearance on passage

Refurbishing the alternator • James Wood removes Maximus’s alternator and gets it repaired

Building a boat during lockdown • Kevin Blake uses his time to work on a homebuilt classic motorboat

Control turret for a Westerly cockpit • Pierre Mérat designs a novel solution for a common problem

DIY lithium battery passes test of time • Two years after he built it, engineer Andy Pag shares some surprising lessons about the performance of his lithium domestic battery setup

Inflatable tender reconstruction • There’s no need to send an inflatable tender to landfill when the floor or transom comes unstuck. Jake Frith explains the repair solution

Signalling test • Steve Hodges hatches a plan with the RNLI Eastbourne Lifeboat crew, hoping they don’t get a shout and that his girlfriend knows her flags

Nerve-shredding Channel hop • Conrad Ryle and Gaynor Hartnell’s first Channel crossing in their Westerly Konsort, Sika, was a lesson in engine maintenance

A watermaker to be proud of • In his most ambitious practical project yet, liveaboard Aussie boat owner Owen Moorhouse...