Dear Boat Doctor, I have quite a buildup of paint on the bottom of my boat. In some places, it’s worn away, in other areas, it’s thick and peeling. I want to get it all off and start with a fresh

Dear Boat Doctor, I have a 1982 S2 5.5 Grand Slam. It’s stored on a trailer and has the original hull paint. I want to paint the bottom of it to freshen it up and to cover up the very fine spider c

Is my autopilot right for my boat?Dear Boat Doctor, I am installing an autopilot in my Compass 47, and I have some questions. I chose the Raymarine Evolution autopilot, specifically the EV400 core pac

Dear Boat Doctor, I brought my boat from the Great Lakes to the Caribbean for the first time this year and now the corrosion on my boat’s stainless steel is making me crazy.  It has gone 20 ye

Dear Boat Doctor, I am having some problems with my Raymarine autopilot. It’s an older unit and worked great right up until it didn’t. It’s a ST6000+ control with a Type 300 computer and a Typ

Dear Boat Doctor, I am setting up my boat for long-range cruising and trying to be as self-sufficient as possible. I can cover my electrical needs with solar panels. My watermaker produces all the wa

Dear Boat Doctor, I sail my Sabre 34 Mark II in an area where I very often sail directly upwind or on a very deep reach. My boat is not set up well for either point of sail, with a roller furling 125

Dear Boat Doctor, I have had a few close calls with accidental jibes, and I now typically use a preventer when sailing downwind. I just use a spare line and tie the boom down the to rail at the point

Dear Boat Doctor, I recently replaced the original standing rigging on my 1968 Islander 34. I wanted to make sure everything was correct, so I confirmed the wire sizes with my own righting moment cal

Dear Boat Doctor,  I have read a lot about regular inspections of my boat. This seems like a really good idea, but I don’t know what to look for. What am I supposed to be looking for? Rob R

Dear Boat Doctor, I just got a new-to-me boat and I have a charging problem: the house bank won’t stay charged when I run the engine. When the engine is running, there is 13.5 volts at the alternat

Dear Boat Doctor, I am interested in improving my onboard emergency gear. I have carried a personal EPIRB for years, but it feels inadequate. I have been looking at shipboard EPIRBs, but maybe I shou

Dear Boat Doctor, I am struggling with the fuel system on my Hylas 51, which seems to have a lot of small issues that add up to a bigger annoyance. First, I don’t have enough tankage and no good wa

Dear Boat Doctor, I am having some problems with my Yanmar 4JH2DTE, and I’m embarrassed to say I may have created one of the problems myself. I installed a new Balmar alternator and an AltMount ser

Dear Boat Doctor, I am having a problem with my engine, a Yanmar 4JH2DTE.  It has always worked well, but recently I have not been able to get it to run over 2,200 rpm. I checked the Racor and t

Dear Boat Doctor,  I am taking my boat to Grenada and would really like to be able run an air conditioner. I have read about the new efficient air conditioners that you can run from an inverter.

Dear Boat Doctor, I am doing some maintenance on my old electric Barient winches. I have taken down the manual parts of the winches, and I am pretty clear on how to clean and lubricate those parts. I

Dear Boat Doctor, I own a Caliber 40 and have been working my way down the Windward Islands, planning to spend hurricane season in Grenada. The trip has been great, but we’ve been caught a little o