Boat Sailing in Fair Weather and Foul, 6th ed.

by A. J. Kenealy

The judicious yachtsman will personally superintend the laying up of his craft. If he has that inestimable blessing, a good skipper, he should not discharge him at the close of his summer season. If he does he will bitterly regret it. A yacht requires as much watchful care as a baby, and this is especially true during the trying winter season. So wise yacht-owners who have in their employ faithful captains should hold on to them like grim death to a deceased army mule. Good men are not too plentiful these times.

A few practical suggestions as to preparing the vessel for the winter are here appended. In the first place, sails should be well dried before being unbent, and then should be carefully stopped and labeled, and the same remark applies also to the running gear. By all means secure storage ashore for sails, gear, cabin fitments and furniture, carpets, upholstery and bedding, otherwise you may have cause to regret it in the spring. In most of the buildings devoted to the storage of yacht gear proper platforms or stages are provided, so that a free current of air may circulate, and thus prevent damp, mildew and decay. The lower tier on the platform should consist of the warps and running gear, on top of which the sails should be snugly coiled. Above these the furniture, bedding and upholstery should go. All can be covered over with an old light sail to protect them from dust. This can be removed as often as necessary for airing purposes.

On the other side of the Atlantic judicious owners of storage warehouses make their platforms rat-proof, following out the same idea as the farmer does with his wheat stacks. Each support to the stage is capped with a metal cone, which effectually stops the upward progress of the sail-devouring vermin. Well-conducted warehouses are well ventilated, and the temperature is kept tolerably even by heat.

Of course, all articles of value, such as plate and nautical instruments, should find repository in their owner's dwelling.

All light spars should be sent ashore and lashed up under the beams of the warehouse. The same with the rowboats, but with attention to the fact that they should be so supported as to have their weight evenly distributed, and thus prevent them from being pulled out of shape.

Many expensive boats are hopelessly ruined by neglect of this precaution. This is the proper method of supporting a rowboat so that straining her is impossible. Six eyebolts should be screwed into the under side of the beams of the warehouse at proper intervals to take the weight of the boat amidships and at the third of her length forward and aft. From these eyebolts ropes of sufficient length should depend, to which, in the bight, a handspike is passed, on which, bottom upward, the boat is hung.

A yacht laid up without the greatest care deteriorates in value to an enormous extent. The first process after dismantling is to clean the vessel thoroughly inside and out, just as carefully as if she was about to be continued in commission. After getting her as bright as a new pin, all the hardwood—that which is varnished or gilded—should be covered up with canvas.

After the yacht has been thoroughly skinned, as far as her internal arrangements are concerned, the last process preliminary to paying her out of commission, is to give her decks a coat or two of bright varnish—shunning that mixture known in the trade as pure oil, as deleterious to all decks.

It is cheaper in the long run to provide a yacht with properly fitted winter hatches which entirely cover the hardwood deck fittings and secure thorough ventilation, as then the regular skylights can be left open.

In small craft the sailing master will be sufficient to keep the boat in first-class condition. On larger vessels, according to size, he should have competent assistance.