Basic Winter Maintenance.

[Vaughan]

Here is something to read with your morning coffee, for those who might think we don't do any work on our hire boats in winter and all shove off for a few months' rest in the Greek Islands!

This was the standard procedure for all boats in Crown Blue Line when I was technical manager and was written in 1996, when a lot of our boats still had gas heating and gas fridges, so you can skip a lot of the gas part, especially as you are not allowed to do that work unless you are Gas Safe Qualified. There was no such qualification in France, so I had to run my own courses on each base, for the mechanics.  It may be interesting to see what is involved though, especially for those who still have gas fridges.

When I talk of toilet filters, this is because we were not using toilet holding tanks and were all sea toilets.  It still applies though, if your toilet is flushed with river water.

I hope this answers a few questions for those who are interested and if it creates any questions, I will be glad to try and answer them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vaughan]

Forget the last page, it got printed twice and I can't seem to remove it.

Too technical perhaps??

[grendel]

Wow, thats a perfect checklist for any private owners too.

[Vaughan]

4 minutes ago, grendel said:

Wow, thats a perfect checklist for any private owners too.

I am hoping that it might be. Luckily it was already written, so all I had to do was scan it!

By the way, all our bow thrusters were hydraulic but the procedure is similar for electric ones.

[rightsaidfred]

11 minutes ago, grendel said:

Wow, thats a perfect checklist for any private owners too.

It would be for some I guess but as I use it regularly throughout the winter and it only comes out of the water every 4 or 5 years I am not sure how I would fit it all in.

To me the best way to maintain a boat in good condition is the same as with a car use it regularly and put right any issues as they occur.

Fred 

[Vaughan]

7 minutes ago, rightsaidfred said:

To me the best way to maintain a boat in good condition is the same as with a car use it regularly and put right any issues as they occur.

 

That's fine for you Fred, but if you do that with a hire fleet, it amounts to doing your repairs in your customers' time.

We actually prefer "preventive maintenance".

[rightsaidfred]

26 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

That's fine for you Fred, but if you do that with a hire fleet, it amounts to doing your repairs in your customers' time.

We actually prefer "preventive maintenance".

I fully understand that and found your post both interesting and informative, mine was purely on the basis of someone who never lays a boat up but uses it for the full 12 months.

Fred

[Vaughan]

20 minutes ago, rightsaidfred said:

mine was purely on the basis of someone who never lays a boat up but uses it for the full 12 months.

In which case it won't apply to you Fred.

My intention was to try to offer some useful information to those who are thinking of the winterising and maintenance of their boats at this time of year.

I am sure you would not disagree with that?

[rightsaidfred]

3 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

In which case it won't apply to you Fred.

My intention was to try to offer some useful information to those who are thinking of the winterising and maintenance of their boats at this time of year.

I am sure you would not disagree with that?

Not at all, my response was to grendels post on a personal level that's all not directed at yours.

Fred

[Vaughan]

18 minutes ago, rightsaidfred said:

Not at all, my response was to grendels post on a personal level that's all not directed at yours.

Oh good.

That's cleared that up, then.

[JanetAnne]

I recently came across this still on the wall of a closed down boatyard. I assume it's a winter maintenance chart otherwise it would have been one challenging Saturday turn round! 

It's quite in depth

[Vaughan]

9 hours ago, JanetAnne said:

I recently came across this still on the wall of a closed down boatyard. I assume it's a winter maintenance chart otherwise it would have been one challenging Saturday turn round! 

Looks quite comprehensive.  I notice the gas line test has not been done yet.  Always the last thing to do, as I said above.

I think all yards had something like this, and still do, despite computers!  Often they are a bit less detailed, on the basis that if a trained engineer says he has winterised a boat, that means he has done all the necessary jobs.

Often there will be a file in the office, where sheets for each boat are kept as a service history.  Blue Line (F.B.Wilds) kept a notebook hung up in the engine compartment of each boat, filled in for all servicing, with comments, and all breakdown calls, so any engineer attending to the boat, had a history to refer to.  We did away with this in the end, as hirers kept finding the books and then complaining that the boat had already broken down three times that year, before they hired it.  You just can't please some people!

[DAVIDH]

Which boatyard do the logs refer to? I cant think of one that had a Calypso, a Superbe, a Concorde and a W Mariner all in the same fleet. 

[Vaughan]

30 minutes ago, DAVIDH said:

Which boatyard do the logs refer to? I cant think of one that had a Calypso, a Superbe, a Concorde and a W Mariner all in the same fleet. 

Nor can I!

[JanetAnne]

10 hours ago, DAVIDH said:

Which boatyard do the logs refer to? I cant think of one that had a Calypso, a Superbe, a Concorde and a W Mariner all in the same fleet. 

 

9 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Nor can I!

Was on the wall of the recently sold St Olaves site. 

[Vaughan]

This thread is called basic winter maintenance.

It doesn't get any more basic than this!

 

 

A large number of the boats you see here cost just under a quarter of a million pounds each -cost price - to build and they have just been dumped here like this until the canal authority decide to fill the basin again, in the spring.

And they hope that someone or other is going to be hiring them again next year, for upwards of 3500€ a week.

 

[addicted]

What a very sad sight. I always (daft I know) think of a boat has having a soul and I hate to see them abused or neglected like this.

 

Carole

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

 

 

That's langstone harbour after southern water have had a rain storm....

[Oddfellow]

2 hours ago, Vaughan said:

This thread is called basic winter maintenance.

It doesn't get any more basic than this!

 

 

A large number of the boats you see here cost just under a quarter of a million pounds each -cost price - to build and they have just been dumped here like this until the canal authority decide to fill the basin again, in the spring.

And they hope that someone or other is going to be hiring them again next year, for upwards of 3500€ a week.

 

Disgusting. I never expected to hire from LeBoat again, but this is shocking and would certainly have a bearing on a future decision. Such a flagrant disregard for these assets. 

 

[Smoggy]

That is a normal mooring for a lot of people in drying harbours and while they are sat in the mud no amount of wind is going to cause them issues rubbing against each other, as long as the bottom is soft enough and the prop and shaft are not too exposed.

And if the nav authority drain the canal there's not a lot le boat can do about it, even a lock gate will only keep the level in for so long (one tide maybe but not a winter).

This was my old boat moored on the moorings at Maldon in 2012, a mooring like this for my current would likely do lots of damage, as it was it was a fairly regular thing for Leo as it had been moored on the medway on a half tide only mooring prior to my ownership.

That night we waited for high water and moved forward a boat length as the bottom was flatter (a thames barge had been moored there) and it was lot easier to sleep.

[Vaughan]

2 hours ago, Oddfellow said:

Disgusting. I never expected to hire from LeBoat again, but this is shocking and would certainly have a bearing on a future decision. Such a flagrant disregard for these assets. 

Perhaps I should add that my photos were taken from the public road, at the side of the canal, so I was not invading their privacy.  You can see that they have their own 10 ton gantry, a large area of parking and a boat trolley with tractor, and yet only about 10 boats were out on the hard.  The authorities announce their winter maintenance programme months in advance and only empty certain "pounds" between locks at a time.  It would have been a simple matter to move the boats up through the next lock, which is still full and moor them on the tow path up the bank, where there is still good vehicle access.  This is what almost all the many private boats in Homps have chosen to do themselves.  Other parts of the canal always remain full as there is a constant flow downstream to keep them topped up.

I fear this is what happens when corporate management tries to run a boatyard from a computer, somewhere in America.  It makes me very glad to be retired.

[Smoggy]

But is it actually doing them any harm? If not then why go to all the effort of lifting and chocking with greater risk of damage or moving them?

I would imagine there's still more warmth in that mud/water than the air over winter so probably less chance of frost damage, ground source heat pumps are far more efficient than air source for the same reason.

[Oddfellow]

35 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

But is it actually doing them any harm? If not then why go to all the effort of lifting and chocking with greater risk of damage or moving them?

I would imagine there's still more warmth in that mud/water than the air over winter so probably less chance of frost damage, ground source heat pumps are far more efficient than air source for the same reason.

It is preventing proper maintenance, simple as. These vessels go though a busy and very hard season, unlike most private pleasure vessels. Breakdowns are expensive on the business and can devastate a customer's holiday. 

 

[Smoggy]

But without knowing what outside/underside maintenance has already been carried out, what actual harm is sitting in the mud doing? Nothing can be blown off chocks in unexpected gales.

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, Smoggy said:

But without knowing what outside/underside maintenance has already been carried out, what actual harm is sitting in the mud doing?

Your boat in your photo is an Elysian 27 which is an offshore, semi-displacement hull, more able to withstand drying out, and in any case, you are talking about the turn of a tide, not a whole winter un-supported.

These are GRP boats which are not designed for this treatment.  When they float again, you will find that doors won't close, drawers won't open, window frames will leak unless they are removed and re-sealed and sliding hatches will jam on their runners.  Luckily most are hydraulic drive, or the engine would also be forced out of line with the prop shaft.

Andy's comments above are also very true. Most of those boats are probably not even winterised yet. You may have noticed the boats shown are the second row out from the quay. There is another row grounded behind them. How do you send mechanics or cleaners out to work on them, in winter, like that?

It is a lamentable lack of basic seamanship.