Simon Jollands - Boatyard Book, The: A boatowners guide to yacht maintenance, repair and refitting

ADLARD COLES

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK

29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland

This electronic edition published in 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in Great Britain 2021

This edition published 2021

Copyright Simon Jollands, 2021

Illustrations Simon Jollands, 2021

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ISBN: 978-1-4729-7710-6 (PB)
ISBN: 978-1-4729-7708-3 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1-4729-7709-0 (ePDF)

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CONTENTS

It is October. I have just returned from a magnificent days sailing down the Solent in near perfect conditions for the time of year, with a Force 4 northerly breeze and clear blue skies. Coming after a prolonged period of stormy weather and heavy rain, this sail was a real treat that raised the spirits big time. Sulali, my 40-year-old Contessa 26, behaved impeccably, coping well with the 20-knot gusts under full main and genoa. Turning back towards the entrance to Chichester harbour meant beating to windward. Now Sulali was almost sailing on its side as the wind continued to strengthen. Magic!

Back ashore there is an email from Tim Cath, owner of the Bosham Yacht Company, with a winter lay-up form attached. It is time to start planning Sulalis winter lift out and storage ashore. Tims boatyard still has availability, but I need to book a space soon before the boat park is full to capacity. Over the past five years Tims network of contacts has helped me keep Sulali in good condition. Nothing can really compare with picking up advice from experts such as Tim, plus spending years gaining personal experience of boat ownership, if you want to build up a true understanding of how to look after a boat. However, I hope this book will provide boatowners with a useful practical resource and aide memoire to keep onboard and scribble notes over, not only while working on their boats in the yard but also when they are afloat.

Sulali does not need a serious amount of work this winter, but I wont be sure until I get the boat ashore.

The word boat is a relatively vague term that might apply to almost any vessel that floats. For the purpose of this book, boat refers to sailing and motor yachts ranging from 6 to 20 metres in length. I hope all boatowners in this category will find this book useful, but more likely it will be enthusiastic boatowners with limited technical skills who get the most benefit.

When I bought my first yacht 20 years ago, it was a big leap from the Wayfarer dinghy I had owned for a good many years beforehand. Even though it was only 30 feet in length, my Etap 30 had complex electrics, plumbing and a Volvo Penta inboard diesel engine with saildrive transmission to get to grips with. Having almost non-existent engineering skills, my only sensible option was to turn to professionals for help with almost every task, which of course got very expensive. I needed to learn more practical skills.

Enthusiasm is one thing, but experience and expertise really count when it comes to looking after boats. I quickly realised that cutting corners was not an option and that a job was only worth doing if it was done properly. This means working to high standards and making a serious effort to learn new skills in order to begin doing more maintenance and repair tasks oneself. It also means being prepared to call in the professionals when necessary.

There are many tasks that seasoned boatowners do themselves. Most boatyards in my experience have no objections to owners donning overalls, provided they are not continually asking the boatyard staff for advice. The DIY ethic is strong throughout the boating community and there are many owners with practical skills who hardly ever call in the professionals. It also clearly makes a lot of sense for a boat skipper to be able to fix a problem at sea, especially offshore.