store boat in water or haul out for 3 months?

[nuru05]

We have to head back home to work for 3 months before we continue on to the Bahamas for the winter. We are trying to decide if it’s better to haul out our moody 425 or to just leave it in the water. We found a nice marina on the Chesapeake that has very inexpensive slips ($500 for 3 months) and seems very well protected. What is the best option here?

Also if we are gone for 3 months is it better to leave the sails up or pull them down and put inside the cabin?

[Mare Nostrum]

All things equal, if you or someone that you trust will not be at the marina, I would recommend hauling out. As per her sails, my suggestion is to ALWAYS stow them in a secure, dry place. Leaving them up, basically unattended, is an invitation to disaster.

[Kettlewell]

I would ask around and see if you can find a liveaboard willing to keep an eye on your boat for a modest sum (or the marina folks) and leave it in the water with the sails up, assuming the marina is well sheltered. I have numerous times come back to find someone had retied up my boat badly, or even just left a line loose and uncleated. Nearby friends can keep an eye on things too, but if you don't know anybody hire someone to check at least weekly and before any bad weather. Just double lash a line around your furled main and cover, and tie extra lines around any roller furling sails. They should be fine. You may want to at least take off any roller furling jibs, leaving the main lashed on the boom. Also, make sure the boom can't get loose. I thought I had my boat hurricane ready once and somehow the mainsheet came loose, with the boom swinging wildly back and forth. Hopefully you have solar panels that can be left up and are not a wind hazard to keep your batteries up--no shore power. You might also ask around about any past hurricane experiences there. Often the storm surge or flash flooding is the biggest concern.

[nuru05]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

I would ask around and see if you can find a liveaboard willing to keep an eye on your boat for a modest sum (or the marina folks) and leave it in the water with the sails up, assuming the marina is well sheltered. I have numerous times come back to find someone had retied up my boat badly, or even just left a line loose and uncleated. Nearby friends can keep an eye on things too, but if you don't know anybody hire someone to check at least weekly and before any bad weather. Just double lash a line around your furled main and cover, and tie extra lines around any roller furling sails. They should be fine. You may want to at least take off any roller furling jibs, leaving the main lashed on the boom. Also, make sure the boom can't get loose. I thought I had my boat hurricane ready once and somehow the mainsheet came loose, with the boom swinging wildly back and forth. Hopefully you have solar panels that can be left up and are not a wind hazard to keep your batteries up--no shore power. You might also ask around about any past hurricane experiences there. Often the storm surge or flash flooding is the biggest concern.

The marina said that they would keep an eye on things for us and we were going to give the maintenance guy a few hundred bucks to send us updates.

We do have a furling main if that changes anything. We also have solar panels that are on our arch and have been in 65kt winds already with no issues

[Kettlewell]

The marina said that they would keep an eye on things for us and we were going to give the maintenance guy a few hundred bucks to send us updates.

I'd leave it in the water unless you need a bottom job anyway. Sometimes it is cheaper to get it hauled and stored on land, especially if you need to do the bottom anyway.

[more]

Originally Posted by nuru05

moody 425 marina on the Chesapeake that has very inexpensive slips ($500 for 3 months)

you are lucky, 465,47 € in my marina is enough for 2 and 1/2 day
3 month 6786€ summer

price list here
https://aci-marinas.com/wp-content/u...lit_prices.pdf

[mvweebles]

We left our boat in Chiapas MX for 6-months. We put it on the hard and glad we did even though it was a bit more expensive - just so little to go wrong when she's blocked in the yard. No bottom diver needed Even though it's only been a year since her bottom was done, we'll put a coat of bottom paint on her before launch this October.

[JPA Cate]

We have left our boat in the water all the times we've had long term overseas travel, roughly 7 months each time. Our thinking is that boats are happier in the water [the hull is supported by the water, unlikely to deform due to sitting on the keel and supports]; and our behaviour is to be well outside of cyclone or hurricane zones during the season. The places involved have historically not had huge storm surges, either. If the Chesapeake meets those criteria, I would leave it in the water. We would double all the dock lines, and we would take off the head and stay sails. Our main would be lashed to the boom. With your furling main, you might want to take a line and wrap it around the mast to "net" the slot, so that the sail cannot undo itself. Use big fenders, and plenty of them. Our boats have never been damaged during these long stays away, though there has been chafe on a couple of dock lines, where the nylon goes around the metal of the cleat. Chafing gear would have helped. Where we were, there were strong winds often, but not much wave action, even in the 60 knot range.

I would tell the caretaker where spare line could be found if any need replacing. Make it easy for them to help you.

We would not leave them on the hard for the reasons mentioned above, but also because it invites bug infestation (Yech!); and because of the warning implicit in the pictures of what happens in boat yards if the wind is too strong, and the emotional effect of the sight of the rows of boats on their sides, like dominos given a flick.

Ann

[capt jgw]

I'm in Michigan where nearly all boats get hauled every winter so that's what I'm used to. As to the sails, take them off either way. We get storms up here and I've seen plenty of stored boats with shredded sails, especially furling jibs. On rare occasion a boat will even blow off the jack stands with all that windage up high.

[Kettlewell]

Many boats are essentially stored at docks in marinas for months without any problems, though presumably someone is nearby who can check on them once in awhile. I've seen local boats that never moved in a six-month season. The biggest danger, other than storms, is obviously sinking. Close as many seacocks as possible, make sure your bilge pumps are operating, make sure there is a way for the batteries to be charged safely (solar is good).

[JPA Cate]

Yes close the through hull fittings as appropriate, but if you have a separate shower sump into which the water that comes in the mast during rain discharges, then LEAVE THAT ONE OPEN. Learned this one not the easy way. Came home to a flooded head, and a stale water smell. Only gone 2 weeks, too. It would be really bad, the longer it sat. Could have killed the pump, too. I guess it was a lucky lesson, after all.

Ann