Long Term Lay Up Ideas

[Katannah]

Hi All,

I own a S&S designed, 1971 Allied 42XL hull #15 and she's in great shape. As a Navy Officer, I have received orders to leave Newport, RI and report aboard a deploying ship in San Diego, CA. Unfortunately, it is cost-prohibitive to move her across the country and I am far too emotionally attached to sell her. She'll be spending about 2 years on the hard under a Fairclough cover. Wondering if you would throw some layup ideas at me. Some items to consider include her Yanmar 4JH3E with 2100hrs, reverse cycle A/C, fresh water system, black/gray water systems, batteries, electronics, mast, bilge, etc... I appreciate your help.

Chris

[atoll]

sell it,then she will become someone elses pride and joy.
owning boats at distance never works out well.

[Ex-Calif]

Unfortunately and reluctantly I am with Atoll on this. 2 years is a long time.

If I were going to do it I would drain flush and preserve all fluids - remove and dispose of all batteries - remove all sails and canvass - unstep the mast and rig - drop any bimini arches.

I would find 50+ pounds of desiccant install it in the boat and have it vacuum wrapped and stored at a very reliable yard that will monitor the boat and replace the desiccant at 6 month intervals.

[atoll]

2 years = 3 hurricane seasons,2 very cold winters where she is

[Nicholson58]

Run it up to the Great Lakes & do indoor storage. Indoor heated & unheated is available & affordable at Torresen Marine in Muskegon Michigan. It wad 5000/year for our 58 foot X 16 wide 4 years ago + a few fees such as jack stands, mast stepping & storage. Others venues probably are available. You could do this yourself if time permits or have a friend or hired captain do it.

Remove the batteries or at least add a battery tender.

For unheated: Remove all electronic devices for cold storage. My observation on boat stored on the hard outdoors is that water accumulates in the bilge & may overtop the floors. If you store outdoors, drill a drain hole at the lowest point. Add a bronze screw plug later. This is common here. Your diesel will keep 2 years if treated - or sell it. Drain all water - duh. Your alternate is a pole barn but transport costs will justify marina indoor storage.

Indoor heated - leave everything on board. Permit to vent such as hatch board screens.

Indoor cold - treat as outdoors but no water damage issues. Permit to vent.

In all cases, I open all cabinets and stand all floor boards on edge.

[JPA Cate]

I don't want to say sell your boat; I know how attached to them we can become, but it was my first thought. We are but custodians of our boats.

Two years is a long time to leave a boat on the hard, with no one to look after her. Remove all foodstuffs, sails and outside canvas. Remove the mast, bag the running rigging. Decommission the water system, the toilet system. Follow Ex-Calif's advice.

I don't understand how the boat can be both shrink wrapped and have the dessicant changed, so that's something you might ask him. The plan sounds like an attempt to thwart nature, and one can only wonder if it will work.

I would keep a list of everything I remove from the engine, like the water impeller, for instance, and make notes of where I stow things. Over two years, one purely doesn't know what will happen that might make it easier to recomission if complete notes are taken. Someone should have a power of attorney to look after the boat, if necessary.

If you're going to leave books and/or charts on board, vacuum bag them separately. Clean,oil, and vac bag tools when you're finished with them.

Do you think your Fairclough cover will withstand the wind strengths the area where you are leaving the boat receives in hurricane season and the winters?

You're looking at needing to both winterize and summer-protect the vessel.

Ann

[Ex-Calif]

You have to open, change desiccant and rewrap.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Katanna.

[gjordan]

Many people on this forum have purchased boats that have been layed up for more than 2 years. They all have some sort of problems, but most problems seem to be related to how well the boat was prepared for lay up. Lots of good advice already, but I would add disconnecting your exhaust from the manifold and plugging it, after a good spray of preservative oil into the manifold, and when you change the engine oil, use a proper preservative oil. I dont like the idea of boring more holes in the bottom of the boat, but I learned the hard way about water intrusion when a deck scupper came loose and put water over the floorboards. I had left the lowest seacock disconnected and open just in case, and my insurance company sent a surveyor to the boat while I was gone. The surveyor put the hose back on and the boat ended up flooding. Lesson learned, if you leave things in an unconventional manner, make sure to leave a large note hanging that says dont touch until launching. I would pay the yard for extra stands, just in case. Pay somebody reliable to go aboard once a month for inspection and expect to come back to a boat that will need a lot of elbow grease, but probably only a little worse for wear. Best of luck. ______Grant.

[letsgetsailing3]

Really?

The boat is over 40 years old, but can't survive two years on the hard? I'm guessing the OP can check on the boat at least once during that two year period, and maybe have some friends look in on it as well...

[Cheechako]

Some thoughts on long term layup:
1. Wrap the boat up, out of the water.
2. make sure there is plenty of ventilation, some open screened ports under the wrap.
3. plug up or tape over tank vents (bugs build nests in there)
4. plug up the exhaust and close all seacocks
5. Try to find a way to run the boat in fresh water prior to haulout. If salt water stays in the stuffing box, the shaft will likely be scored/corroded when you return. Maybe a haulout up a fresh water river would be best if possible.
6. Winterization! empty water tanks.
7. Clean oil in the engine recently before last shutdown. You can try to spray the intake with fog, never been to sure this helps or not.
8. Consider how the boat will dewater if the cover fails and cockpit drains plug up. How long will the bilge pump work? I've seen some old stored boats totaled from having a couple of feet of water in it! I see nothing wrong with a bronze pipe plug in the bilge. many old boats had them. If yours doesn't have one consider adding one. (I think they are called a Garboard Drain to purchase..?)
9. Dry store things like sails and covers, cushions also in dry heated storage. You might get all that in a cheap 4 x 4 x 4 storage unit.
Do the above and you will return to a minimal task and good boat.

[Glenn.Brooks]

Some pretty good suggestions above. No reason to sell, plenty of Navy personnel have their boats hauled out in long term storage here in Everett, while,they are on deployment. I would only add three recommendations based on my own dry storage adventures:

- disconnect a thru hull fitting to drain the hull - engine raw water intake maybe
- take cushions, sails, dry goods etc off and put in warm storage someplace so they dont mildew
- drain everything, including engine block AND transmission/reverse gear, heat exchanger, expansion tank etc. Replace with new oil, but leave all the other fluids dry

Even a tiny leak into the boat for example through a deck fitting, can easily net 50 or 100 gallons of water in the bilge over a three to six month period. Disconnecting a thru hull will ensure any bilge water does not build up over the floor boards - particularly over your two year deployment.