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After sailing

"Look after your boat and it will look after you" 

 

What you need to know

Always protect your boat from direct sunlight

Always dry boat and sails after racing

Rinse inside of hull with half a cup of water if you have sailed in salt water

Remove a patch to allow ventilation

Dry the sails with a towel to prevent watermarks

Check lines for signs of fraying and knots that maybe coming loose

Clean and protect electrics with vaseline or equivalent

Protect fins with insulation foam

Release all sail tensioning devices, kicker, cunningham, jackstay etc

Store sails and rigs in a box for protection

 

The detail

Just before I start there is one thing to mention.  Between races when your boat is out of the water on sunny days, set it down in shade or cover it with a towel.  Failure to do this can result in a warped rudder or fin and in extreme heat will result in the epoxy in the hull re-curing.

So you've finished racing for the day and you think it is all over.  Not quite.  You have invested a lot of time and money in your boat and sails and it needs to be treated with respect.  So what should you do.

 

Always dry the boat thoroughly with a towel and drain any water that has got inside the boat.  Remove the end deck patches to allow air to flow through the hull and dry the inside. You do not want any condensation when the boat is stored during the week.

If you are sailing in salt water and the boat has leaked, put half a cup of fresh water inside the hull and rinse any salt out.  Rinse everything in fresh water including the mast and sails and rinse the inside of the mast and booms as salt can crystallise and accumulate inside.  If you don't wash your mast THIS can happen

Dry the sails carefully with a towel to prevent water marks.  Ease all the tensioning lines so your sails do not deform.  Once they are thoroughly dry put them back in your rig box for storage.

Scan the lines on your boat for wear and check the knots are secure.  If the knots are superglued they should never come undone.

Check the radio pot for moisture and dry and disconnect the battery and remove for recharging later.  It is good policy to carry spare batteries.

Immediately after you remove the boat from the water, put foam pipe insulation on the leading and trailing edges of the fin, bulb and rudder guaranteeing they will not be damaged in transport.

When sailing locally and transporting a fully rigged boat, make sure the hull is sitting on something clean and soft, or if transporting without the rig, put a ring of pipe insulation around the bow and stern.  This will suspend the boat in mid air and thus prevent wear on the side of the hull.

  

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