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

Buyers beware: new AIS MOB device rule

Oily rag self-combusts in anchor locker

Global 19ft plywood boat race begins

Free tickets

New exhibitors

YJA awards celebrate ‘outstanding British sailing talent’

Disappearance of British solo skipper

Advice and tips from CA gurus

Pip Hare celebrated with award for skill

Show gets sailors ‘hyped’ for the season

Triple amputee to sail the Pacific solo

DIARY DATES

Regional news • News from your cruising area

Letters • Sharing your boating thoughts and opinions

The Dorange and the Hare: a fable of two Vendée Globe storytellers • Essential monthly highlights from the world of online sailing channels with Kass Schmitt

New boat launches • Exciting sub-40ft boats making a debut at boot Düsseldorf

The mother of invention • Chewing on a problem yields a novel solution

Heritage dreams • Vintage is not always great, but there are fine views from Memory Lane

Voyage plan plot thickeners • Passage planning and recalling real sailing experiences add depth to detective fiction

Around UK & Ireland: a perfect challenge • Sam Steele explains everything you need to know about a circumnavigation of Britain and Ireland

Beneteau Oceanis 393 • Rupert Holmes looks at a popular model from the third generation of Beneteau’s Oceanis cruising yachts that represented a big step forward compared to earlier designs

Invicta 26 • A classic long keel yacht for the price of a good dinghy

Why Plan B is the route to success • Katy Stickland meets the founder and students at Plan B to see how boatbuilding and sailing are giving teenagers a second chance

Westons Point 27 • A semi-bespoke gentleman’s launch in cedar strip construction, the Westons Point 27 is a real head-turner that oozes traditional craftsmanship, as David Harding reports

‘Can I trust this mooring?’ • Most sailors use traditional moorings without knowing about their condition or how they’re made up. Ben Sutcliffe-Davies explains

INSURANCE ISSUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

MOORINGS: CHECKING, SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE

New gear • Rupert Holmes previews the latest marine products

SAVE 50%!*

Start the season maintenance tips • boatcare’s David Thomas has advice on how to get your yacht or motorboat ready for the beginning of the new sailing season

Rig tuning for cruising sailors • Point higher and sail faster–every yacht can benefit from an optimal rig setup. Ali Wood finds out from the experts how it’s done

FRACTIONAL VS MASTHEAD TUNING

STORM SAILING

ADJUSTING RIG TENSION

Masthead rig with single in-line spreaders

Fractional rig with single, aft-swept spreaders • Widely used on smaller cruisers and cruiser/racers, this configuration needs a different approach from a masthead rig

Fractional rig, two sets of aft-swept spreaders • With slimmer mast sections, this is a popular configuration on boats between 30ft and 40ft but is more complex to tune.

Upgrading navigation instruments • Fed up with glitches, Graham Keating replaces his 1997-vintage navigation instruments with multifunction displays

LIVING WITH THE NEW INSTRUMENTS

Propeller care • Stu Davies has valuable tips on how to maintain your prop–and explains how this...