Few Questions from Happy New Owner

[Jill_Brian]

we have now owned this boat for about 3 months. It is my first sailboat of any consequence that i have owned.

so. i have a few questions regarding small maintenance and repair items that i just can't find the answer to

1. there is a small (about a 3 inches horizontal and about 1/2 inch vertically) place on the hull where the paint is peeling. the hull is fine and i am about 100% sure it is just where this lightly bumped a dock. I want to repair as soon as possible. So my questions.

all the paint is still there just pulled away slightly.is it adequate for the next few years to epoxy the paint back into place and roll it down tight with a small roller, then hold into place while it kicks in. I think that would "repair" it simply and i also know that some years from now there will be a complete new paint job so i am not too worried about cosmetics. is this solution enough to last for some years? will it cause me grief down the road when we repaint the boat?

2. i know in theory one is supposed to close the seacocks when leaving the boat. in practice, do people really do that? do you do it if it a day, a week, two weeks? we have 5 (fridge, A/C, head, engine, anchor wash)

3. there was a stretch of 5 weeks where we were not able to get to the boat. i was worried about growth on the bottom and prop. we are in the southern chesapeake so there is a lot of biology in the water. is it necessary or advisable to clean off as much as you can with a hull brush before setting out? or not? am i being overly cautious?

4. and finally. for those who do have boats in the chesapeake (esp. the southern part)...is it really necessary to take out of the water and winterize EVERY year. There are enough good days even in the winter around here that i would (after this first year where we will be painting the bottom) like to go sailing. there are 70 degree days in february that would go to waste. anyway, if you do leave in the water, what do you do to prepare (dehumidifier, etc etc)

Sorry if these seem extraordinarily elementary, but i am a perfectionist and a worrier. my boating experience was in lakes in texas with a boat we trailored and this sailing in the Chesapeake is a whole new animal. i don't necessarily trust all the boaters that one just runs into at the marina. there seems to be some expertise on this list that is both practical and knowledgable that i trust.

Thanks for all the replies and help.

[CapnBrown]

Epoxy doesn't do well in sunlight so anywhere the epoxy is exposed it will turn a orange/yellow and look terrible. I'd peel off the separated paint and leave it be (unless the underlying color is significantly different). Otherwise peel it off and find a close match to the paint you have on top and cover up the area it came off of so that it looks "reasonable" Then expect to take off that paint when you are ready to do the hull.

I agree you are supposed to close all your seacocks and just losing one boat to a sinking because you didn't will surely motivate you to always close them in the future. Openning them and closing them also keeps them moving so that when an emergency occurs and you need to close them they aren't frozen. That being said, I don't close mine. I'll probably end up in this position one day and look back at this post and cry. :P Now that I've posted this I'm going to have to start working them Thanks a lot!

Down here in FL the water is warm and the bug huts go up fast. I have the bottom of my boats professionally cleaned once a month.

Again down here in the South we don't have to worry about ice. I always thought that was the driving reason for people to go on the hard in the winter. I'm sure there will be plenty of advice in that area from the members from your region.

And just a note you might not want to "run into the boaters in the marina" :P

Enjoy!

[MysticGringo]

My boat is in Hampton VA, nobody in my marina or area pulls their boat out for winter storage. I do winterize her though, and leave a dehumidifier running.

[barnakiel]

re seacocks - we only close ours when away from the boat for more than 24 hrs

b.