What are the normal annual maintenece duties associated with a wooden sailboat

[straightandtrue]

Assuming she was in fine shape when purchased, and, about 32 - 37' LOA.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

OK, I can answer this. I've owned a boat of that size and type for 25 years.

1. Buy her a good quality fitted canvas winter cover. This will set you back about US$3,000. It will save you twice that much at least, maybe much, much, more. You need to make up "A" frames and a ridge pole and ensure that there are no hard edges that the cover can chafe on. The cover needs to go down as far as the waterline all round the boat.

Do not neglect or skimp this. Blue tarp will not do.

2. You should really think of your maintenance on a ten year plan, with a big refit every decade. During the big refit you burn off the topsides back to bare wood, knock out the stopping, harden up the caulking and knock out and replace the keel bolts. Take the opportunity to pull a couple of hood end and garboard fastenings and check and replace as required any floor bolts and seacock and stern gear bolts.

3. Each year, not necessarily in Spring, repaint the topsides and deck (if painted) and apply at least two coats of varnish to brightwork. Frankly, an additional coat of varnish a few months later is a good plan.

4. Each year, whilst the boat is ashore, in fine dry weather, scrub through the bilges with hot water and detergent. Repaint the bilges every couple of years. Other interior surfaces can go maybe three or four years without painting but do wash them down.

5. Lay the boat up before the weather gets really grim - as part of this process, get everything damaged by wet up on deck and go through the entire boat below deck with a freesh water hose - the idea is to get all the salt out.

You should allow yourself a week to fit out and two days to lay up.

That's about it.

Of course, if you live in a tropical or subtropical climate or if you choose to keep the boat afloat in the winter things will differ.

[patrick.blanchard]

Well, I've owned one for ... 2 weeks. On the hard in the prairie, so no storage fee. But boy do I know what wind is. In 2 weeks it shredded a plastic woven tarp; heed Andrew's blue tarp warning.

Now, 2 8x10 cotton canvas oil cloth, 9 end lashed 10' rope, tied to lifelines and winches make for a temporary cover that has withstood 50 knot winds and driving rains. Make sure the scuppers are open. Total cost - $60.00, not including the shredded cover.

[floatingkiwi]

5. Lay the boat up before the weather gets really grim - as part of this process, get everything damaged by wet up on deck and go through the entire boat below deck with a freesh water hose - the idea is to get all the salt out.



Andrew, you say to remove all the salt. I thought salt was a wood preservative. What is the reason for this?

[Captain Intrepid]

5. Lay the boat up before the weather gets really grim - as part of this process, get everything damaged by wet up on deck and go through the entire boat below deck with a freesh water hose - the idea is to get all the salt out.



Andrew, you say to remove all the salt. I thought salt was a wood preservative. What is the reason for this?

I've never heard of that being done. The old salt bankers sailing out of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland lasted years beyond their time due to the salt preserving their timbers.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

It's a recommendation by LF Herreshoff, in The Compleat Cruiser.

I have followed it for many years now and my boat smells fresh and stays that way.

You don't want salt in a boat because it is hygroscopic and keeps everything slightly damp, which suits rot. It also corrodes metals faster and is a first class electrolyte.

Salt water is better for a boat than fresh water, but that assumes everything is really wet - too wet for rot.

[Dan McCosh]

I would say the main thing is to expect to repaint/revarnish the exterior every year, although we are considering reducing this schedule somewhat, mainly by not repainting the hull topsides annually. Oddly, repainting the hull is not too much different than polishing and waxing a glass hull, and those need new bottom paint as well. Varnish work likewise can exist on glass hulls as well, but with cabin sides, exterior trim, hatches and the mast and boom, we use a couple of gallons of varnish a year. Monel keel bolts in fresh water don't warrant replacement every ten years for either material.

[rbgarr]

The benefits of salting down boats are myths that just can't be killed.

[John B]

A further comment to all the excellent advise above. A marina berth as opposed to a mooring or pile mooring makes an astonishing difference to the amount of work required. I found that out very late , but now I factor that cost in as part of the boat ownership, especially relative to maintenance and a kind of own insurance underwriting as well.

[Pacific Woody]

My experience started two years ago........
34.5' on deck
53 year old sailboat
Allowed to run down by the previous owner for about 5 years
Live in British Columbia so she is in the water year round.
Survey was good, although electrics and engine were done.

Buy boat
Buy new inboard which cost as much as the boat
Then put in $9,000 per year of which 1/2 is moorage, the rest is maintenance related.

Luckily it's split 3 ways as we have 3 couples who share in costs......and the DIY repairs.

Every time we look at her or go for a sail it's a priceless moment and worth every penny and hour of work!

[straightandtrue]

John B., can you expand a little on how this makes such a difference? Thanks in adbance!


A further comment to all the excellent advise above. A marina berth as opposed to a mooring or pile mooring makes an astonishing difference to the amount of work required. I found that out very late , but now I factor that cost in as part of the boat ownership, especially relative to maintenance and a kind of own insurance underwriting as well.

[floatingkiwi]

The song remains the same.

[Bernadette]

when a yacht swings on a mooring she isnt exposed to the morning or afternoon sun on the same side of the hull...you can of course periodically turn her about if she is in a marina berth.
the mooring fees (on a swing mooring) i pay for DECATUR (42' on deck/gaff schooner) are $465 a month in Sydney. when i bring her back up north here she will cost me nothing to moor if i put her on my own mooring i have in trinity inlet in cairns. but i will put her in at the harbour nearby here so it will cost me less than $50 a month i expect.
in the tropics the covers ive made for the masts and sails have saved me maintenance time and costs.
i painted the cabin in a 3 pack polyurethane so it will last probably 8 years.
the topsides i repaint every 4 to 5 years.
bottom paint and haulout annually cost me $2000 AUD.
the interior i dont expect to have to revarnish inside 15 years (seriously). it doesnt see the sun like the exterior brightwork.
costs me about $4000 AUD each year in insurance costs. comprehensive policy plus good amount for public liability.
then there's all the othet costs with shackles lost overboard (!!!) and other gear. i keep electronics simple to avoid costs there when the salt plays havoc with them.
i periodically salt the decks and bilges. no mold will grow in salt and if you do happen to get some fresh water ingress anywhere and no matter how small the volume, if you have salt laying where water will lay you will avoid the inevitable timber rot which develops from moist timber.
salt keeps the decks clean in long periods of no use.
and i also clean out the bilges with hot soapy water too.

[peter radclyffe]

when a yacht swings on a mooring she isnt exposed to the morning or afternoon sun on the same side of the hull...you can of course periodically turn her about.
the mooring fees (on a swing mooring) i pay for DECATUR (42' on deck/gaff schooner) are $465 a month in Sydney. when i bring her back up north here she will cost me nothing to moor if i put her on my own mooring i have in trinity inlet in cairns. but i will put her in at the harbour nearby here so it will cost me less than $50 a month i expect.
in the tropics the covers ive made for the masts and sails have saved me maintenance time and costs.
i painted the cabin in a 3 pack polyurethane so it will last probably 8 years.
the topsides i repaint every 4 to 5 years.
bottom paint and haulout annually cost me $2000 AUD.
the interior i dont expect to have to revarnish inside 15 years (seriously). it doesnt see the sun like the exterior brightwork.
costs me about $4000 AUD each year in insurance costs. comprehensive policy plus good amount for public liability.
then there's all the othet costs with shackles lost overboard (!!!) and other gear. i keep electronics simple to avoid costs there when the salt plays havoc with them.
i periodically salt the decks and bilges. no mold will grow in salt and if you do happen to get some fresh water ingress anywhere and no matter how small the volume, if you have salt laying where water will lay you will avoid the inevitable timber rot which develops from moist timber.
salt keeps the decks clean in long periods of no use.
and i also clean out the bilges with hot soapy water too.
like your cat we understand you

[John B]

Bernadette is absolutely right about relative capital cost for the mooring V marina. Its inevitably much cheaper on a swing mooring ,and location is a factor.
However, my experience after 25 years of maintaining our boat is that the wear and tear of a mooring mitigates that cost difference substantially and I think the marina berth is the best option if you can do it.

What I've come to believe is that there is substantially less work to be done each season plus if your marina allows it, you can do much of the work on the berth....and that means shorter hard stand time. Also of course the boat is in a much more safe environment and you sleep at night when the storms come through.( which is what I mean by 'underwriting' the boat yourself).

edited for clarity

[Bernadette]

peter
are you being sarcastic or what? i dont understand the nature of your comment?

john
do you mean that you prefer your boat to be on a swing mooring or in the marina? i personally think that a swing mooring is the better option in so many ways. with regard to foul weather; i would say there again that i would prefer my yacht to stream into the wind etc from a mooring than bash and bash against the pontoons in a marina. in both situations you do however have the worry about other boats coming loose.

[John B]

Hi Bernadette...No, I mean even with the problem of one weather side( which you can minimise) the marina is significantly better. I don't think bashing pontoons is an option... You and I would rig springs where many Bonito ( or other plastic)owners are happy with resting on the buffers:rolleyes:

I was amazed with just how little work was required after a couple of seasons in on a marina berth after years out on the piles and before that 12 or 15 years on a swing mooring.
You do have to make some allowances and get the covers and venting airflow right but on balance ,I believe it was a better place for our old girl.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

That's interesting, John.

I am of Bernadette's persuasion, on grounds of sun on both sides and ventilation, but my swinging mooring is a pretty sheltered one.

I've never kept her in a proper marina, but I did use to keep her in a mud berth.

[Bernadette]

when we weathered cyclone steve in the marina at yorkeys knob many years ago we were all tied up good and proper...but other boats came loose and the marina did start to break up a bit too. we had to stay put as the motor was not working. otherwise we would have moved into smiths creek. anyhow in extreme weather you are bound to get the odd boat or two drifting helplessly downwind having broken her mooring.

theres good and bad to both mooring situations i think when it comes to maintenance.
i like shore power for obvious reasons. and close proximity to the hardware stores! but ive been in marinas where you just about have to sand under cover of darkness for fear of the "marina police" telling me i cant raise a bit of wood dust!!!
but ultimately i feel better when shes on a swing mooring...just seems more boaty to me and hence more natural!!! (im being sentimental of course).

i think if i put my yacht into a marina again i would ensure she has a full deck cover from stem to stern to keep the temperature down. so much paint and varnish just bakes in the tropical sun.

[rbgarr]

John,

I was thinking you'd include the convenience of access and shore power as a cost benefit (saving time, mainly) as one of the reasons to stay in marina. Perhaps I missed that.

Doesn't it make it easier to accomplish and spread out projects or maintenance that might be put off until there is a long stretch of time on the hard? And isn't working on the hard inherently more dangerous, time consuming and expensive (ladders, staging, tool hauling and so on)? The haul for bottom maintenance only can be done in a shorter time frame, too.

[straightandtrue]

ThanKs for all of the information!

[starbacca]

I am into the 12th season on newly constructed traditional plank on frame 42 foot hull. My annual investment of time is about 150 to 200 hours but that usually involves a major project. If this boat is new to you, strip the hull to bear wood, coat with two coats of linseed oil and turps, dry and then apply one or more coats of epoxy fairing compound and sand the crap out of the hull. Once you have a stable surface you will not believe the reduction in time to paint the hull each year. I have cut my sanding and painting time in half. A well maintained varnish coat is good for ten years depending on locality. After that it is time to strip and revarnish.