When do you lift out?

Sgeir said:
Our insurance obliges us to lift out once a year but, going from memory and without digging out the papers, the policy does not specify when to lift out or for how long. We generally lift out late in the year and go back in the water in the Spring, usually mid to late March.

We are on a swinging mooring, so obviously no shore power. If we left our last boat unheated and without a dehumidifier in the winter, we found that, even with some ventilation, black mould would develop on some of the interior surfaces. I guess if she'd been sailed regularly there may have been less of a problem, but with wet and windy winters where temperatures are often within the 0-5 degree range, these are ideal for mould and the chances are the boat will remain unused.

I recall, with much fondness, winter cruises in the early 2000s where we had sunny days but with frost or ice on the deck. However, recent winters have been mostly mild, but wet and windy.

Perhaps awol has the answer - sail, anchor or moor for "the season" and then rent a cheap pontoon berth with shore power for much of the winter prior to a brief lift out.
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There is a marina near us on the East Coast (Fambridge) that offers exactly such a deal - summer on a mooring (which may include a "valet service" to bring the boat to a pontoon on 2 hours notice), and winter on a pontoon. I don't know how common a deal that is, but it certainly exists.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
There is a marina near us on the East Coast (Fambridge) that offers exactly such a deal - summer on a mooring (which may include a "valet service" to bring the boat to a pontoon on 2 hours notice), and winter on a pontoon. I don't know how common a deal that is, but it certainly exists.
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They also offer winter berthing deals and winter lift and storage deals for boats that are moored elsewhere during the "season"
 
In all year round & has been for twenty years.All except one summer with the previous boat when I had to repair the keels.
Would'nt miss the nice winter days of which there are quite a few just onboard loafing & keeping an eye on things.

Can't afford a thousand quid to have the new one out all winter but might have her out for a few weeks in spring to tart up the bottom & tackle the stern bearing which I think has had it.
 
maby said:
I figure that I'll be lucky to be able to sail for another 20 years and the boat will survive that long irrespective of how long it is out of the water each year. It's an expensive thing to own - and the price is pretty independent of how much you use it - so I want it in the water as close to full time as I can achieve.
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Great logic, which I fully concur with. Ditto maximum number of boating days and minimum number of boat chore days - and a lot of decommission / recommission time is "waste" in terms of process efficiency terms (doing things just to reverse them a few weeks/months later).
 
Have owned yachts for six years now and have had two winters ashore. The current boat has spent five days in a yard in the time we have owned her, otherwise I beach her within walking distance of the house whenever work needs done.
 
I've purchased last year and for the first time kept her in all winter am planning to do the same this winter I move from my pontoon mooring with no power to a locked marina well sheltered and power to keep me warm
In the past I've winterised the boat to repeat the process 5 months later only to find her clogged up with leaves and nor draining cos she is never level. It appears to me she is better in the warmer water rather then stuck in a car park.
I do put a heater in to cut in at 5c
And of course I get to use her

Am I wrong?
 
For three weeks during August. Costs nowt as the marina wants my berth so give free lifts and storage , I avoid the masses who only seem to sail that month and work on the boat is much more pleasant in the sunshine.
 
Out mid-October, flight back to UK, back in mid-end April, dependent on work to be done.
No in-water berthing @ Eleftheres, you're either anchored or on the hard.
@ €1000, all in, it's an offer one can't expect in the UK.
My impression from the 3 insurers I've dealt with is that the premium is based on the length of the in-commission. So someone who sails all the year round from a swinging mooring will pay rather more, to the same underwriter, than someone who has his boat in the water for three months and on the hard for the other 9, assuming the same insured values.
 
Quiddle said:
For three weeks during August. Costs nowt as the marina wants my berth so give free lifts and storage , I avoid the masses who only seem to sail that month and work on the boat is much more pleasant in the sunshine.
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That's an interesting idea, thanks.
My usual routine is to stay in the water overwinter, with the boat spidered off between two pontoons and a dehumidifier running a couple of hours a day. Never had any problems with this, then haul out, check, antifoul etc in late March, sail away to summer mooring in April.
There are, for me, big advantages in staying afloat. I visit the boat regularly, using it almost as a holiday home in the winter. Being in the water I can use the heads, sink etc and get on board easily. One year we spent on the hard and missed all the above, plus climbing a ladder with a spaniel over my shoulder wasn't too easy.
 
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