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 [...]

Performing an energy audit on your boat — listing all your gear and the energy is draws or creates — is a strong idea. It will tell you how much energy you use, how much you generate and keep you from waking up to a blackout. You can read an article with detailed instructions and a [...]

Part of the utility of King StarBoard is that it will bond to fiberglass, aluminum, steel, wood, plywood and itself. There are several options when gluing StarBoard, including 3M Scotch-Weld Structural Plastic Adhesive DP-8005 and 3M 5200 adhesive/sealant. There’s was a StarBond glue on the market, a special adhesive made for use with StarBoard, but it was expensive and [...]

King StarBoard is a soft material, more akin to the pine family than its acrylic or Plexiglas cousins. It’s easily cut, routed, shaped and drilled with standard woodworking tools. It doesn’t rot and it requires no finish. That makes it perfect for projects all over the boat. But it does behave differently from wood and other [...]

It has been awhile in coming, but DIY Boat Owner’s Solution Center blog is now publishing daily. Well, almost. Our goal has always been to give you something new to read about repairing or upgrading your boat five days a week (the weekends are for projects). Now, we’re ready to shoot. To kick off our launch [...]