Wintering afloat - leave sails on OK?

For Dec Jan Feb I'd definitely remove the sails. Even with a sail cover on the main, rain will ingress and all that's contained in the rain, usually resulting in brown / rusty blotches on the sails. It doesn't take so long to fit a pair of sails and it also allows you to check everything.
 
prv said:
If you know you're not going to sail in winter, it's always good to get the sails off even if that's just to stow them below (we rinse ours off and my dad takes them home to stow in his dry garage). But if you're planning to sail, then I don't think it's that big a problem to leave them on. We're planning to do exactly that this year, as for the first time I don't have any big refit projects planned that render the boat unusable for months at a time.

I would recommend a lashing around the genoa, through, to prevent it coming unrolled and flogging itself to bits if the furling line fails. You can quickly remove this when going out.

Pete
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A sail tie round the genny is always a good idea..
 
capnsensible said:
Really cannot see the point in leaving sails on anytime the boat is not in use for a few weeks. At several hundreds of pounds, if not thousands, the only point of leaving them is if you are lazy!

Only takes 20 minutes or so and lets face it, if you are in a hurry you would hardly use sailing as a means of transport.
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I'm guessing you don't have a fully battenend mainsail and do have someone to help you every time you want to go for a sail....

To the OP if you are definitely going to sail through the winter leave them on, if you're doubtful taken them off. The same goes for your spray hood. Most canvas work will go green with constant damp and fresh water that winter brings.
 
Personally i would consider myself a bit lazy if I left them on. But to each his own
As for refitting main & stack pack why not just put the main back on the boom for that odd sail ( which will be nowhere near as often as you imagine I expect)
People managed for years without them.
If you want the lazy jacks then tie a line tight from end of boom to gooseneck & attach the lazy jacks to that so it catches much of the sail
leaving the main & stack pack on all winter will also shorten the life of the canvas & leave the main sail liable to mildew dirt etc

Not only do i take sails home or to sailmakers for service & clean, but I take just about everything else from cushions, electrics ropes nav gear tools etc home.
It is a good excuse to clear all the junk that builds up over a season & makes that start of season clean up easier

How do you intend to deal with antifouling if the boat is wintered in the water?
 
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Jim I use some of those Velcro retainers that are designed to hold skis together when carrying them for putting round the furled genoa. Takes literally a second to put on and off, and if they are fluorescent pink or something, you can't forget they are there.
 
My boat stays in the water all year round, and the sails stay on. Even in the middle of winter you can get nice sailing days. I have fluorescent green rubber stretchy ties and I always put one round the genoa, since I hoisted the main and found a birds nest, I always put one round the open end of the stack pack as well.
 
snooks said:
I'm guessing you don't have a fully battenend mainsail and do have someone to help you every time you want to go for a sail....
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Have rigged different types of mainsails on my own. Lots. And lots! Its easy. Would also have thought that the more complex the sail, the more you should look after it......
 
capnsensible said:
Have rigged different types of mainsails on my own. Lots. And lots! Its easy.
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It isn't easy on my boat. The stackpack and sail have to be simultaneously fed along the boom with the central section of the stackpack passing round and under the bolt rope. I take the boom off the mast to enable getting a straight feed into the boom. It needs two people: one feeding the sail + cover in and one pulling from the clew end. Usually I'm on my own so it's virtually impossible. I've tried various dodges and gallons of Sailkote. Even fitting the genoa single-handed isn't easy: I can't simultaneously pull the halyard and feed the luff-rope into the foil so it has to go up in a long series of short increments.

Given the foregoing, if I can't leave the sails on I won't be doing any Winter sailing. Looking back over the responses to my original post (for which much thanks) opinions are pretty evenly divided between OK and not OK. I'm going to give it a go. I'll check the sails from time to time to see how they're surviving. As advised I'll put lashings on the genoa and some kind of closure on the aft end of the stackpack. It may help that the pontoons at Whitehaven are exceptionally well-sheltered, as they need to be.

Whitehaven storm 2.jpg
 
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JimC said:
Even fitting the genoa single-handed isn't easy: I can't simultaneously pull the halyard and feed the luff-rope into the foil so it has to go up in a long series of short increments.
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Can you not pass the tail of the halyard around a mast winch or something (even a snatch block temporarily positioned for the purpose) and pull it from the foredeck? That's what I do.

(I'm in the "sails left on" camp if there's a realistic prospect of going sailing, though.)

Pete
 
prv said:
Can you not pass the tail of the halyard around a mast winch or something (even a snatch block temporarily positioned for the purpose) and pull it from the foredeck? That's what I do.

(I'm in the "sails left on" camp if there's a realistic prospect of going sailing, though.)

Pete
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I pass the halyard round a block at the foot of the mast like you suggest so I can pull it from the foredeck, but even so I find I need both hands to deal with the heaped sail and feed it bit by bit into the foil. Then I haul on the halyard and maybe the sail will get a foot further up the foil before it jams because it's no longer entering the foil straight or the material has rucked etc. So I have to cleat the halyard to stop it slipping back and clear the jam. With two people it's a doddle of course.
 
JimC said:
I find I need both hands to deal with the heaped sail and feed it bit by bit into the foil. Then I haul on the halyard and maybe the sail will get a foot further up the foil before it jams because it's no longer entering the foil straight or the material has rucked etc. So I have to cleat the halyard to stop it slipping back and clear the jam.
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Fair enough. I find I can pull with one hand and feed with the other, and there's enough friction in the track that it doesn't really want to slide back down while I grab the next armful of line, but obviously each boat will be different.

Pete
 
Ideally swap to the older sails, if you have my, for the winter

But if not just ensure carefully stowed. We had our (old) sails on every winter for the past 9 years - and survived at least 2 if not 3 F10 storms without problems.
With the jib ensure very neatly stowed - and keep furling so that at least three turns of jib sheets wrapped round. Then if you want add one sail tie through clew.
Most of the issues with ripped or unfurling sails are ones that started by not being sufficiently far furled

Enjoy your winter sailing

PS I am also in the camp that finds it needs two people and a lot of back breaking effort to remove and refit sails (including battens etc). Just had to remove the jib today for servicing - and very heavy to fold and needed spinnaker halyard on winch to lift Onto pontoon. But others have stronger backs perhaps
 
JimC said:
It needs two people: one feeding the sail + cover in and one pulling from the clew end. Usually I'm on my own so it's virtually impossible. I've tried various dodges and gallons of Sailkote. Even fitting the genoa single-handed isn't easy: I can't simultaneously pull the halyard and feed the luff-rope into the foil so it has to go up in a long series of short increments.

]
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Do you not use a sheet feeder for the genoa??
 
Left everything on last year. Probably a more exposed location than the OP. Lots of green mildewy growth, some chafe damage- the front cover off the stack pack was in tatters by this spring. All for three short day sails.

It's all coming off this year- in fact that's tomorrow's job.
 
jwilson said:
Make sure there are no nice little gaps in the stackpack at the aft end of the boom for small birds to roost in.
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This happens to you too? Thought I was the only one!

The other embuggerance is the 10,000 flies who decide that a great place to hibernate over winter is inside the stackpack. Still haven't managed to solve this one...
 
Most often the stack pack has a zip on top... easy for sail handling, but not waterproof so the main wil fill with water...

Not good.

Put a simple rectangular canvas cover over the stack pack and hold it down with sailties.
 
I left mine on last winter (OK, it was exceptionally stormy, even for up here). I made sure the headsail was well wound around the foil/forestay and lashed quite high up. Even so the wind got in and shredded the leach just over half-way up. Sail beyond repair.

Fortunately it was my old working jib and not my two-year-old genoa.
And more fortunately? it gave me the impetus to order a new working jib which was a boon on my "trip round Blighty".

As for "quickly changing" sails, as a solo sailor swapping taking-off/putting-on headsails is a long task, (including stowing a brand new heavy-fabric sail) but after last winter's experience, I would definitely take them off (not the main as it is very well lashed and so is the cover).
 
JimC said:
. Even fitting the genoa single-handed isn't easy: I can't simultaneously pull the halyard and feed the luff-rope into the foil so it has to go up in a long series of short increments.
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Use a pre-feeder...

3685-1.jpg


Many variations available.
 
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