Duct Tape. WD-40. Loctite. There are some products that become the stuff of legend, items that are universally known and that no toolbox or workbench should be without. But what about on the boat? Mad Mariner contributor Lenny Rudow, who has tested hundreds of boating products, asked that very question — and came up with some answers. In [...]

In the Spring issue of DIY Boat Owner, our Success Stories feature on the back page highlighted a father-and-sons restoration of a now-beautiful little J/24. We thought you might like to see more on this project, and so we asked Roger Marshall (the “father” in this tale, and a DIY contributor), to provide some more photos. [...]

Flashlights are something all boaters struggle with. You misplace them. The batteries die. It’s always something. So the Ecolight ($39.95), a hand-held LED light that operates on solar power, promised some relief. The green plastic body, deceptively light, carries solar panels. Energy is stored in supercapacitors inside the unit, unlike most solar-powered tools, which store energy [...]

I love my 5-gallon bucket. I have tried others—smaller buckets, square buckets, canvas bags and folding buckets—but I keep coming back to my round, plastic friend. It helps wash the boat. It holds things like line and tools. It makes a great seat when I work on projects. It’s not such a great bailer—too big—but it can [...]

A proper chopping board is an item few boats have but an essential tool for preparing meals onboard. On smaller boats with limited counter space a kitchen-type board is impractical, andthere’s probably no place to stow one when underway. A sink-mounted chopping board is self-stowing, increases your work space and doubles as a trivet for hot pots [...]

If you tow a dinghy, it’s good practice to remove the outboard but where to stow it can pose a problem. On one trip, we lashed our outboard to the foredeck, on another occasion to the sidedeck, but both locations created an obstacle course every time one needed to go forward. Simple to build, this outboard [...]

Our Chris-Craft Cavalier is typical of many cruisers of its generation. It didn’t originally have a swim platform. In the late ‘60s, lots of things were free, but not the swim platform on this boat. It wasn’t even available as an option.Years later an owner added a swim platform. It consisted of cast aluminum supports with teak strips fastened [...]

This nifty seat, made of 1/2-inch (12mm) StarBoard, sits on a hatch board. To start, cut one piece, 14-inches wide by 8-inches long (35cm by 20cm), and two side supports, 14 inches by 1-3/4 inches (35cm by 4.4cm). Round the top and bottom edges of the seat and the outboard bottom edge of each support. Working on [...]

DIYers have come up with hundreds of ways to use King StarBoard, a maintenance-free polymer, to improve their onboard experience. King Plastic president, Jeff King, an avid DIY boater himself, devised this simple, yet effective dock facing for his own dock in southwest Florida. “Polymer facings offer less friction than the wood pilings themselves, so when a passing [...]

The Spring “Power Issue” of DIY Boat Owner is out! Subscribers will be getting it in the mailbox, digital subscribers can download it and it will be landing on newstands at West Marine any day now. The new issue focuses on your boat’s electrical system, including an article on how to perform an energy audit on your [...]