{"id":584,"date":"2004-04-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-04-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=584"},"modified":"2009-04-21T09:19:28","modified_gmt":"2009-04-21T14:19:28","slug":"tips-for-leaving-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/tips-for-leaving-boat\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving the Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"
Advice for if you have to leave the boat, whether for a few days or for several months.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

We started cruising in an era where insurance rates were prohibitive, and INTERMEZZO represented our house budget. As a result of this, and perhaps a certain amount of conservatism with regard to things nautical, we were never totally at ease whenever the boat was on her own. And this applied to being away for a few hours or a few days.<\/p>\n

Today, insurance is easier to get, and we have a more diverse financial portfolio. But the old habits are still with us.<\/p>\n

Let’s take short periods ashore. First, we turn off the fresh water pressure pump (broken lines can make a real mess of the interior!). Next, the breaker to the windlass is disengaged (we started doing this after hearing of a boat lost in the Tuamotus when its windlass triggered when nobody was aboard and lifted the anchor). All our boats have a single incoming salt water sea-cock, and this is closed. In the tropics and\/or where there is risk of someone coming aboard, we close all the hatches. We’ll turn on the anchor light if there is a chance we’ll be back after dark. If fog is a risk, the spreader lights are turned on as well (the anchor light is often buried in the fog layer). Another fog precaution, which we’ve learned the hard way, is to take a portable GPS which has the boat’s position as a way point.<\/p>\n

If we’re gone for a couple of days, we will ask somebody in the anchorage to look after the boat, but otherwise things remain the same.<\/p>\n

Over the last few years we’ve found ourselves using the boat for moderate length periods, and then putting her into storage for one to four months while we returned to land. This is a far more complex task. Our preference is to dry store the boat where possible. This is typically less costly, and reduces the risks of getting banged into by errant charterers. Whether we’re in the water or out, we always assume the worst in terms of weather. Dock lines are doubled up, headsails removed from roller furling stays, sail covers wrapped with light line to keep them from flapping. Our storm covers are fit to the hatches to keep the sun out of the interior. Awnings are removed and stored.<\/p>\n

We prefer to empty the freezer and if there is much left over, we find a local market or butcher who will keep our frozen items until we return.<\/p>\n

As Linda is allergic to mold and mildew, keeping the interior dry is critically important. Towards this end, in the past we’ve carried an inexpensive home style dehumidifier. These cost less than US$200, and will keep the interior dry as a bone. When the boat is stored in the tropics, we make sure the condensate drain can be seen from outside. This way whomever is looking after the boat can make sure the dehumidifier is working.<\/p>\n

When we’re anchored out, our main anchor is so large that we no longer make special provisions. But in the olden days, we’d often set a second hook. Although we never left INTERMEZZO anchored on her own for more than a few days (she’d be tied to a dock or hauled out when we returned home to visit family) had it been necessary to leave her anchored we’d have used two anchors on our single chain rode.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advice for if you have to leave the boat, whether for a few days or for several months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-talk","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}