My Boat Works

Nautical terms are explained here. Don’t know what something means? Ask and I’ll publish it here!

Thanks for the great lesson yesterday. How can you tell your sails are set correctly without looking at the tell-tails or mast head fly?

Scams and deceptions involved with selling anchors exposed and disproved

A common-sense, forthright, professional discussion of the primary four  legitimate ocean anchor types, with framework of understanding their purpose, benefits, problems.

Most marine industry sales people often don’t recommend the right size and types of anchoring equipment because it’s hard to sell to uneducated boaters.

Anchor chain transfers the boat’s pull to strictly horizontal force that allows the anchor to dig in. Line needs to be long and strong enough to pull from a low enough angle to not dislodge the anchor and not break under huge loads. Anchor rode is not the toy retailers try to sell.  Here is how anchor rode works.

How to set an anchor, what to feel when setting and why anchors, chain and line work the way they do; why anchor rode has to be so long and how to calculate it.

In a real blow, only commercial fishermen and highly experienced, well-equipped sailors stay put.  Why do so many – Perhaps 90% – Not know how to anchor safely?

In this series of brief articles, I’ll show you how anchors work, why it’s important to make good choices, how to select them and what nonsense to avoid.

How does prop walk effect the handling of my boat?