Tuesday 3 December 19 and we gather on a blue sky day to put the Squibs to bed and double check the Soling is all tucked up to – we want to keep our boats dry, after all they do have wood elements in the hull, and water and wood really don’t mix well do they?
On this day we were blessed with blue skies, sunshine and a cold day a quiet club and three volunteers Mike, Eric and Dave Grundy and we were supervised by John Cranwell Ward.
Unfortunately, John’s had a bad fall and hence the neck brace. However, a serious injury and a broken arm btw, are not going to deter John from ‘supervising’ the Winterising of the boats – key to keeping our boats in good condition. Good to see you John and Jacqui, here’s to your recovery.
Pardon the pun, but this article aims to give a ‘Taster’ of the key steps and what’s involved in putting the boats to bed for the Winter (and the reverse in the Spring).
- The key steps for both the Squibs are:
- Get the volunteers to meet up
- Take the boat down to the gantry by the clubhouse
- Take off the stays – un-taping and refitting the tiny circa clips
- Lift the mast out
- Onto the deck
- Down to the ground
- Stow the masts
- Return the boat to trailer park
- Put the normal cover on
- Put the Winter cover on
- Cut the grass – to minimise mess when checking the boats over Winter
- Replace the boats in their slots
We also fitted a pole to the Soling to ensure the water runs off the fore deck.
John Supervises as Mike sorts out the lines ready for us to lift out the mast and Eric puts the circa clip back on, ready for next season 
Double wrapping – Putting on the additional cover to protect the boats over winter 
Fitting Lift Off’s Winter Cover 
Cutting the grass before putting the boats back in the parking slot. 
A peaceful RSC as we put the boats to bed for the Winter 
So tempting to go for a sail instead of putting the boats to bed for the Winter 
A beautiful day to put the boats away 
Stowing the masts for Winter 
After taken out and down the mast, time to stow safely ready for next season 
Taken just after we’d lifted out the mast and placed it on the bench ready for stowing 
Back and forth, back and forth – always something to get out of the tool box 
Taping up all the stays and lines before stowing 
Preparing to lift out the mast – final forestay untaped and fittings put back on to the plate/ forestay ready for next season 
All Done – Boats Winterised, Grass cut (the boats are visited over the Winter) 
Satyr – being put back in her trailer park place for the Winter 
Over lunch, I managed to give Eric a quick overview of the website so he can post Sailing Sec posts and messages directly himself.
The slider aims to give a taster of what’s involved, you will see the sun was on its way to setting as we left. As anyone who gets involved with this job knows, we are not always blessed with such perfect weather conditions – and it still needs to be done – feeling blessed!
On behalf of all our members, thanks to our Boat Husband team and other volunteers who help out on this day. Let’s hope for similar weather when it comes to re-stepping the mast.
HI Dave, Very good article, thank you so much for spending the time and effort on this. I do believe its important that members can see the effort that goes into maintaining the boats. You will recall that over the past years and before we put winter covers on we had three instances where we discovered water had got in through the various deck fitting over the winter and rotted various sections of the cockpit floor, causing us to have to replace these. These were big jobs needing specialist tools, materials, skills and knowledge. It was after these instances that we took the decision to step the masts and buy winter tarpaulins to cover the boats over the winter. Since we have done that I am always very pleased come spring time how lovely and dry and clean the boats are as well as well ventilated. This system definitely protects the boats and our budget. If the boats had GRP cockpits then this wouldn’t be necessary. Thanks again, John
A very useful reminder of rotting woodwork and time consuming and extra work. Thanks for the reminder and all you and Mike do on our behalf as members.