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

Boaters warned to mitigate against “shocks and impacts” in small vessels • News and current affairs from the world of boating

Eight bells for a small boat legend

Sister finishes brother’s odyssey

Visionary man

New era for Scorpion RIBs

Teen skipper completes electric boating round-Britain challenge

Charter website boss “taken too soon”

Companies face sewage spill fines

Tributes paid to Sharon Geary Harwood

Pearl anniversary flag visits 60 stations

DIARY DATES

Regional news • News from your cruising area

Letters • Sharing your boating thoughts and opinions

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

Marina mind mush malarkey • A bad case of MMDHD–Marina Memory Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The kindness of strangers • A brief account of the joys, perils and obligations of hospitality at sea

Racing again • Finally, after 40 years of being the only Aith boat at the regatta, a victory of sorts

SeaHawk 17 • Can’t choose between a bilge keel, fin keel or drop keel/centreplate for your boat? Then why not get a yacht that has all three…

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Contessa 32 • Rupert Holmes analyses this extremely seaworthy classic and suggests a dozen other viable lower-cost alternatives

Other alternatives

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Cap Camarat VS Merry Fisher • Jeanneau has launched two very different motorboats of a similar size. Rupert Holmes put both through their paces

Tried & tested • The PBO team tests Dometic GO storage and new sailing clothing

New gear • Rupert Holmes previews the latest marine products

STAYING CONNECTED • With Starlink’s high-speed internet, do sailors still need satellite phones on board while at sea? Ali Wood looks at the pros and cons of the different systems available to cruisers

Office at sea

Going electric? • Rupert Holmes takes an in-depth look at the practicalities and pitfalls of choosing electric propulsion, or even an all-electric boat

ELECTRIC OUTBOARDS

DIY conversion to an electric motor • Norman Rubenis gets ‘Thunderstruck’ when he ditches the diesel and converts his Contessa 32 to run on a 10kW electric motor

How I got insurance for my DIY eBoat • Qualified marine electrician Jamie Marley shares how he finally managed to insure his home-built electric power catamaran

Stern shaft seal replacement • Getting to grips with replacing a stern shaft seal on a Contessa 32, Ben Lowings explains how it can be done with the boat in the water

End of the season maintenance tips • The experts at boatcare share how to prepare your boat for winter

Tensioning the engine’s V-belt • Every boat owner should know some basic engine maintenance. Stu Davies shares how to tension the alternator drive belt

Changing a leaking portlight • Roger Hughes shows how he replaced a broken cabin window

A first transat • Ben Good, 60, swaps Drascombe pottering in the Suffolk estuaries for a “proper 60ft offshore yacht” to cross the North Atlantic

LESSONS LEARNED

Expert response

Muddy encounter • Charles Beddingfield gets all fired up for battle during an unintentional role as an extra on Welsh TV history show...