Yacht Forum UK

Most of the budget lifejackets retail from about £40 upwards. I'm in the process of upgrading to Automatic Harness type with a crotch strap. Usually about £50 each but look out for deals in the yachting press. The budget lifejackets are XM Yachting; SEAGO Yachting; Gaelforce Marine and maybe some ot...

I've just spotted that SEAGO YACHTING have released a statement saying that some SEAGO 150 and 175 Newton Lifejackets, including Junior Lifejackets, have a defect which could result in serious injury. The lifejackets are marked with a manufacture date in Roman numerals, for instance the last quarter...

Unfortunately all flares are expensive, you can try on ebay but make sure they are indate and make enquiries about shipping them - they are classed as 'explosives' !! I prefer Hansson Flemming flares as the operating system is much easier than the more commonly available Pains Wessex. With the PW on...

Hi Bob, no you don't have to have a DSC VHF radio fitted. But as you say when your radio packs up you can upgrade to a DSC one; unless you can pick up a second hand one cheap, apparently marine electrical/electronic engineers often have them which they have removed from boats which they have upgraded.

Little servicing is needed. Make sure the impellor is pumping water; if not then the water ways are probably choked up with salt and corrosion and will need cleaning out. As it's a 2 stroke, make sure you have a new plug handy and always use fresh fuel at the beginning of the season(modern petrols d...

As said, often from holes and cracks here and there. Some boats, mine included have two dedicated 4" Dia. air hoses leading to a couple of vents in the cockpit. Probably necessary as after fitting a new engine, insulation, new hatch seals and having a 'sealed' bilge compartment under the engine...

The fishermen will use PVC weatherproofs, indestructible but not nice to wear for a long time in a sailing boat and they are not breathable. Once you've used breathables you won't go back to PVC! One PVC make is Guy Cotten, made in France I believe. Look on the Gael Force website. (gaelforcemarine.c...

Go for 2nd hand, much cheaper, all the snags will have been ironed out and extra equipment will have been added by previous owners. Go to a local broker and look at LOTS of boats, not just what the broker wants to sell. If you have 20k, aim for a boat costing about 17k, then you will have something ...

Most boats of 30yrs old had 'proper' bronze/gunmetal hull fittings and were usually never all bonded together with any anode. Depends on the boat builder and current thinking. In the US the recommendation is that all hull fittings should be bonded. Here we tend to not do this particularly on older b...

If you cannot be there and you have done any work on seacocks, internal hoses etc then tell the boatyard and get them to check. I fitted a new loo and hoses a few years back and as I couldn't be there asked the boatyard to check - they found a pin hole in the inlet pipe with a steady jet of water in...

The advantage of synthetic decking is that it needs very little maintenance, teak decking is usually screwed to the deck and with repeated scrubbing eventually needs replacing at a huge cost. I've seen TekDek on a boat and it looks good.

Try a mild kitchen cleaner, or if really stubborn an abrasive cleaner line CIF or similar. Then polish. I use the Ecover Multi Surface cleaner which is good.

The secret is to not take your wife/girlfriend out in other than perfect conditions ie sunny, calm, daylight, short trip etc. Then build up to longer trips, make sure you explain exactly what you want her to do, don't shout at her, don't frighten her, enroll her on a short sailing course/competent c...

My boatyard which is a small one on the East Coast is very good, always doing what I ask very promptly, usually within the week. As most people at this yard do their own maintenance, I have always been pleased with them.
Whether this would be the same at the busy launching season I'm not sure.

Halcyon 23 is a good seaboat - I took mine all round the Thames Estuary and across to France, mainly single handed. A bit wet but any small boat would be. Make sure you get the fin keel mk2 version, recognised by the all GRP cockpit coamings. Ignore the early triple keeled version. You should be abl...