
Narrowboating on the Kennet and Avon Canal
by Simon Jollands | Boat Handling, Navigation
A recently cancelled sailing event I was due to take part in left us with a free weekend in the diary. Given that my wife and I were celebrating a bumper wedding anniversary and the weather forecast was for fine weather, we decided to hunt around for a last minute canal holiday.

How to cope with an emergency at sea
by Simon Jollands | Boat Handling, Communications, Crewing skills, Emergencies, Yacht ownership
A safe skipper will be mentally prepared for all kinds of potential emergencies happening at sea, including medical emergencies, engine failure, fire, a holed hull, capsize and dismasting.
Wooden Hull Repairs
While wooden boat hull maintenance is mostly straightforward, it is always a good idea to take expert advice on any repair job needed doing to a wooden boat, unless you have done the job before and know what you are doing.
Boat Engine Failure – what to check
Wooden Hulls – Part 2
It is important to ensure the essential hull maintenance of a wooden boat is done, even if you are paying others to look after your boat for you. The priority is to prevent rot from taking hold. The protective layers of paint and varnish over wood are far more critical than on GRP boats, where the topsides are painted more for cosmetic reasons.
Boat batteries
Under-sized battery banks are one of the key factors behind power failure at sea, as well as the premature failure of batteries, so make sure that your boat battery measures up to the use you want to put it to.
Weather forecasting tips
Competent crew skills: mooring lines
Capsize – understanding the risks
Essential Boat Spares for Safety
Common medical emergencies at sea
A medical emergency aboard a boat at sea requires immediate attention to ensure the safety of the casualty and the crew in general. The skipper needs to know which crew members, if any, have had medical training or have a first aid qualification. All boats should carry first aid handbooks to help an untrained crew cope with a medical emergency.
Seized fixings and fastenings
Maintaining a boat can be a rewarding experience but at times it can also be frustrating. A prime example of this is when you come across a seized fixing or fastening that refuses to budge. Read our tips on how to release and fix them:
Tacking a sailing boat
An explanation of the IALA maritime buoyage systems – IALA A and IALA B
Antifouling for leisure boats – Part 2
To prepare for antifouling, as soon as your boat has been lifted out and pressure washed, you need to check all the surfaces of the hull below the waterline, remove any remaining barnacles and check for blisters.
Wooden Hulls – Part 1
Traditional wooden boats have a plank on frame construction, a centuries old boat building method that is still in use today. Variations of the traditional method include carvel, clinker and strip planking, which all relate to the way the planking is attached to the frame.
Boat electrics
All boat owners should have a basic knowledge of electrics, both to avoid encountering electrical problems at sea and to stand a chance of solving them should they occur.
How to cope with an emergency at sea
A safe skipper will be mentally prepared for all kinds of potential emergencies happening at sea, including medical emergencies, engine failure, fire, a holed hull, capsize and dismasting.
Distress flares – which flare, how & when to use?
Boat Engine Safety Checks
Cutless bearing replacement
Cutless bearings can last for many years but if the propeller shaft is out of alignment they will wear through more quickly. If you have noticed a clunking sound when motoring then it could be a worn cutless bearing that is causing the problem.
Essential boat engine checklist
Boating Rules of the Road – International ColRegs
Galvanic and electrolytic corrosion
Galvanic corrosion is an electrochemical reaction between two or more different metals, in the presence of an electrolyte (note salt water is a good electrolyte).
How a propeller works
Have a look around any boatyard and you will notice quite a variety of propellers – some have two blades, some have three and others have four or more. While most propellers are completely rigid some have blades that fold.
Understanding tides
Repairing chips and dings in gelcoat
The gelcoat topsides of a GRP boat can be pampered and restored to their former glory relatively easily when it is ashore. Gelcoat is only a very thin outer layer of the hull, often less than 1mm thick, so you should avoid cleaning it with highly abrasive cleaners, or an-ything that could potentially damage its surface.

Welcome to the Safe Skipper website.
Safe Skipper is run by boating enthusiasts who also have a background in publishing and TV production, design and app development. As well as creating great content for the website, we’ve developed a range of popular boating apps that allow you to get safely out on the water whilst having essential information to hand, covering International ColRegs: Nav Lights & Shapes, Rules of the Road, Buoyage & Lights to knot tying, nautical chart symbols and first aid at sea – all information available to you when on the water, on your phone or tablet, when you need it.
We’re regularly adding new articles to the site, hope you’ll bookmark us and visit again soon.
Before you go, scroll down to our boating quizzes and check your boating knowledge!
Man Overboard Drill
An explanation of the IALA maritime buoyage systems – IALA A and IALA B
Boat engine basics
Boat interior varnishing
Most boat interiors have a combination of varnished and painted surfaces including solid wooden joinery, plywood laminates with thin hardwood veneers and glass reinforced plastic. When making your assessment of what you are going to do, bear in mind that the varnishing process consumes a lot of time, especially if the existing surfaces are in poor shape.
Dripless shaft seals
Dripless shaft seals are designed to completely stop water from entering a boat’s hull via the stern tube. There are two main types of dripless seals known as face seals and lip seals which many boat manufacturers now fit to production boats.
Cutless bearing replacement
Cutless bearings can last for many years but if the propeller shaft is out of alignment they will wear through more quickly. If you have noticed a clunking sound when motoring then it could be a worn cutless bearing that is causing the problem.
Rig check – how to prevent failure at sea
Repairing a leaking hull-to-deck joint
Essential Knots: Figure of eight
Saildrive maintenance
There are less maintenance tasks to carry out on a saildrive transmission than on a traditional inboard shaft drive system with its associated stern gear. However, there are a few critical things that require maintenance, as recommended in detail by the engine manufacturers, and should be adhered to.
I have just downloaded and am using ColRegs Nav Lights & Shapes app, a brilliant training and reference device
Instructor
Beautifully produced and very simple to use, a cool learning tool
Sailor
Nav Lights & Shapes app – downloaded by 1000s of seafarers worldwide. Just one of our popular boating apps to download from the appstores for Apple and Android devices.
Galvanic and electrolytic corrosion
Galvanic corrosion is an electrochemical reaction between two or more different metals, in the presence of an electrolyte (note salt water is a good electrolyte).
Essential Knots: Figure of eight
How to tackle osmosis
Seized fixings and fastenings
Maintaining a boat can be a rewarding experience but at times it can also be frustrating. A prime example of this is when you come across a seized fixing or fastening that refuses to budge. Read our tips on how to release and fix them:
A five day sailing cruise of the Solent, UK
Common medical emergencies at sea
A medical emergency aboard a boat at sea requires immediate attention to ensure the safety of the casualty and the crew in general. The skipper needs to know which crew members, if any, have had medical training or have a first aid qualification. All boats should carry first aid handbooks to help an untrained crew cope with a medical emergency.
Rudders and steering systems – Part 3
In the third of our three blog articles on rudders and steering systems, we look at how to replace rudder bearings and repair a water-saturated core.
Navigation safety: a quick-reference mobile app to learn the ColRegs NavLights and Shapes
Safety Equipment Checklist for Boats
Seacock maintenance
If seacocks are always left open and neglected they can eventually seize which will prove a serious threat to boat safety should a connecting hose fail and the seacock refuses to close. There are three main types of seacock – ball valves, cone valves and gate valves.
Diesel engine winterisation
An inactive boat engine needs to be protected from corrosion during the winter, caused by the rising humidity levels through the cold months and the salty coastal air. This applies whether the boat is left afloat or hauled out over the winter. Read here about the two important stages of winterisaton for a diesel boat engine.
An explanation of the IALA maritime buoyage systems – IALA A and IALA B
Sailing to windward – how to take advantage of wind shifts
For most sailors, sailing upwind is the most exhilarating point of sail as you tack your way to your destination. Sailing to windward is a bit like zig-zagging your way up a mountain road through a series of hairpin bends – great fun but also calling for concentration and hard work.
Boat surveys
Steel hull maintenance
A steel boat owner’s biggest enemy is corrosion. You don’t have to worry about osmosis or rotting timbers, instead rust is the number one issue that will keep you awake at night.
Sail boat rig checks – Part 1
Sailing boat rigs need to be checked regularly to reduce the risk of rig failure at sea. In part one of Sail boat rig checks we run through a series of useful checks that owners and skippers can carry out.
Passage Planning Advice & Safety for skippers
Five dangers a vessel may encounter at sea
What are the main dangers a vessel may face at sea and what should skippers do to reduce the risk of these happening?
ColRegs Nav Lights & Shapes, Rules Of The Road and IALA Buoys Apps
Steel and Aluminium Hulls
The two metals used for hull construction are steel and aluminium. These are both very strong materials and will last a long time as long as they are cared for, which primarily means protecting steel boats from rust and aluminium boats from electrolytic action.