annual maintenance - advice please

[ChattingLil]

I am a newbie owner and learning something new every day.

I'm just about to take my boat out for the first lot of maintenace that I've been responsible for. Might seem very basic, but I'm looking for an ideal checklist of everything I should be looking for/at. IE, one book says, "unstep your mast and inspect, inspect inspect". I say - inspect for what?! what am I actually looking for? Cracks? Fractures? obvious things or not obvious??

I have an idea of other things that I'll be looking at: skin fittings, stern gland, anodes, etc, but a checklist would be really useful.

Also, I want to give her top deck and topsides a good clean, refresh paint on the 'go faster stripes' and re polish/treatment. In what order should I do cleaning, painting, antifouling, etc, etc. I guess it's obvious to start the top and clean the decks, then paint the stripe, then polish, then antifoul, but hey... this is a boat and I'm sure there are a many different ways of approaching things...

thank you

 

[tobble]

that's not a bad start!

if you're coming out of the water, concentrate on things that you can't do a float (sounds obvious I know). haven't got a checklist myself, but a couple of things that occur are:
>prop condition - any dezincification or damage?
>grab prop and try to waggle at right angles to shaft - more than a couple of mm play indicates worn cutlas bearing (the inverse star shapped bit of rubber.
>also worth withdrawing shaft and checking for wear, apparent as worn ridges at gland location
>prop nut tight, split pin intact
>Rudder bearing ok? (again grab and waggle) (if with skeg)
>withdraw annode bolts - these can 'waist/waste' at the portion in the hull (i.e. that you can't see without moving it) - replace if at all suspect, simple job to re-seat.
>annode in reasonable condition, replace if not much left - can't remember what's recommended as minimum %, but depends when you're planing to next lift...) (some people keep the 'dog-ends' and when they've collected a few, re-cast into a full size one)
>check skin fittings are intact and unblocked (you'd notcie leaks while afloat... re-seat any suspect)
>antifouling! surprised you haven't mentioned this, presumably you're aware of the issue, but worth more than one thread in itself, has been done to death on here, use the search tool
>any obvious damage to hull, especially keel(s)

Re: polishing, beware polising straight thru gel coat, could be thin as a result of previous polishing. I like the farecla range of polishes, but lots of others are good. don't mess around with a £10 halfords 'random orbital' jobbie, hardly quicker than by hand. try to beg/steal/borrow/hire/buy a good polisher, basically a low-speed angle grinder. get appropriate polishing sponges, from screwfix or similar. Use abrasive polish appropriate to condition of surface. again, search this forum, subject has been dealt with lots before...

good luck

 

[Ruffles]

Work from the bottom up. It's amazing how fast the launch date comes up. You may find yourself anti-fouling by the light of a head torch the night before launch.

Make sure if you're going to clean the top sides that you have time to put the wax on. Otherwise it'll go yellow again in no time.

 

[ChattingLil]

ah, thanks.

That's the kind of tip I need! Any further recommendations as to the order or schedule of works would be gratefully received. (including cleaning, waxing, polishing!)

thanks again!

 

[wooslehunter]

Don't start anything you're not 100% sure you will finish in time. Bear in mind that jobs get bigger and normally take at least twice the time you originally thought.

I have a list with priorities. i.e. antifouling gets a 1. Fix the lazerette hatch hinge gets a 3. The 1s have to get done, some of the 2s get done & 3s eventually get to become 2s and may get done some time.

Also "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" is well worth remembering.

Sorry if this sounds a bit daunting but there's nothing worse than not being ready for lift in especially in my case when the club hires a man with a big crane for the weekend & all boats go in.

 

[LadyInBed]

PM me an email addr and I will send you a check list I have made up like this:

 

[flyingscampi]

Publications I've found to be very helpful were

Selden Hints & Advice

Inspecting the Aging Sailboat

Sailboat Hull & Deck Repair

Sailboat Re-finishing

I built my checklists and maintenance schedule by learning from these.

Good luck!

 

[johnpye]

After (or before) the other stuff, attend to the hull. Wash down, then polish to restore the shine and apply wax to protect it.

Polish with the finest possible grade of polish to do the job: cutting/ finishing compound for scratched areas, but a fine polish (colour and shine restorer) for dull or faded areas.

Apply a good Carnauba wax to protect it all season. Don't waste money and time on cheap car polishes - they just don't last.

Get a polishing machine to make light work of the job. The ideal machine for cutting compound and repair work is a rotary sander/polisher (£46), and you can use it with a foam pad for polishing. For just polishing and finishing, its quicker, cheaper and easier to use an orbital machine. These can't dig in or leave swirl marks and you can get a good one for £36.

Enjoy!