Tuesday 10 November 2015

End of Season 2015

The weather has been generally colder this year than I can remember experiencing before. That certainly applies to this autumn. Previous years I've had the boat still in the water until November. This season I wanted to get it out as soon as possible, so I wouldn't have to worry about winterizing when it was too chilly. Work started on October 6, when the sails were put away and other preparations made.

October 6, 2015

The dinghy was secured on deck, and a few items carried ashore. Sailing time was over.

October 6, 2015

It would be the next week before the boat was hauled out. This was the easiest and fastest time yet. With the tongue extension, trailer guides, and roller extension in place, Serenity slipped much more easily onto the trailer. Then the hull was pressure washed as the sun set, but it had to stay at the marina for another while until some work was completed at home.


October 14, 2015

It was nearing the end of October before I had an opportunity to start rigging the system for lowering the mast. It was too windy, however, to drop it by myself then.

October 25, 2015

The Rust Bullet corrosion-control product I had applied before launching stood up better than the POR-15, but not as well as I had expected. There were a few places where rust formed on the iron keel, despite the 5 coats plus antifouling. Most of the staining looks to be flowing down from the join, so I'll have to see if there is more I can do there.



After work, on the first of November, the weather was fine enough to lower the mast, and bring the boat back home, although, it was getting dark.

November 1, 2015 - Mast down

November 1, 2015 - Serenity home

All that remained was waiting for a warm, windless couple of hours to put the tarps and netting on. That didn't happen until November 10.


Serenity is now ready for the winter. In the spring, I want to remove the excess layers of antifouling paint from the hull, and apply some fresh stuff. That job shouldn't be too time consuming, so I'm once more expecting to launch before the end of May. We'll see what happens in 2016, the start of the second decade with this little sailboat.

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