Fitting out.

Busy boatyards get busier at fitting out time, the beginning of a new season. The gloom of a UK winter generally chases the sailor to warmer climes during winter months, so inevitably, there is work to be done before the first sail.

Sometimes known as a 'shakedown', we have to wake the engine from its hibernation, slap on the antifouling, grease the winches, check the safety gear. The excitement of seeing our precious vessel craned into the water is followed by the trepidation of rediscovering just how rusty our seamanship skills are after a prolonged winter lay-up. Hopefully, the old magic will return as soon as the tiller or wheel is back in your hand.

The batteries go flat, no VHF radio, no GPS, no navigation lights. The water in the tanks smells of rotten eggs. The log impeller gets stuck and the winches are stiff. But it's when things don't go to plan that true seamanship and friendship is put to the test. Riggers will tell you about catastrophic rig failure all because a humble split pin fell out. Better to have a shakedown than a mast fall down.

Boat repair includes woodwork and joinery, hull repair, deck repair, grp repair and sterngear repair.

Rig checks and testing

Not all rig failures are catastrophic, but most are inconvenient, expensive and avoided. Check your rig and you can detect and prevent problems before they happen.

Checking the rig, sails, standing and running rigging for safety doesn't end with fitting out. Safe sailing is a season-long issue.

Insurers differ where rigs are concerned. Some say rigging needs replacing after 10 years, others want a survey after five. Many rigs don't have history or service records. All this tells you your rig is something of an unknown quantity.

Genoa cars

10% of genoa cars can fail between seasons. Check split pins and grub screws as some makes are prone to coming apart. If the car's plunger stop or towing system fails under load, the car could knock off the aft end block and in a flash you'll have bearings everywhere and a useless car. Check the genoa track bolts and end blocks.

Shroud terminals

Check that everything is secured with good condition split pins (on clevis pins and bottlescrews) or locknuts. Lift shroud covers regularly and clean out the salt and grit. During maintenance, add stainless steel washers inside the clevis pin split pins to limit wear and working if there's room as the clevis pins rotate.

Check all shrouds and stays at upper and lower terminals

as well as at spreader ends. Replace any where stranding is found. If stranding is detected on one shroud, replace both it and the opposite shroud. Rust-coloured deposits at the neck of a swage can indicate that one of the strands was not properly polished before the wire was twisted and the impurities have flowed to the terminal and oxidised. Scotchbrite clean and check again.Tying warps to shroud bases deforms and weakens rigging screws and toggles.

If you have single roll-swaged terminals (look for opposing flashlines on the terminal) and one strand has gone, it's likely the opposite strand has gone too.

Mainsheet hardware

Check all mainsheet and traveller blocks for damage or distortion, make sure split pins are in position and taped, and shackles tight and seized. Check all mainsheet track bolts and end blocks are secure... the mainsheet car can overpower the travellerjammer while gybing in a blow and smash through the end of the track.

Mast gaiters

Check they are not perished and seal with rubber-friendly sealant. Before refitting, make sure the mast is chocked stable, otherwise the mast wall rubs against the deck ring, damaging both deck and mast. UV is hard on gaiters so pay extra attention if you keep the boat somewhere sunny.

Furling gear
Check the furling line from end to end. Check all the lead blocks are fair and the guide arm and drum are secure. Most importantly, check the securing screws where the drum meets the tuff tube and Locktite or tape over with PVC tape. They often work loose and fall out.

Gooseneck

There's a huge amount going on at both the gooseneck and kicker/vang attachment - rotation, tension and compression under load. Often this distorts aluminium fittings.

Remove the fitting, file back into shape, grease and replace, using stainless steel or nylon washers to restrict the amount of working, then secure with good condition split pins.

Running rigging

Check sheets and guys for wear. Whip if the cover is partly chafed, replace if the core is damaged. Whip or burn both ends to prevent fraying. If you haven't done so on laying up, remove, mouse and check all halyards. Wash all running rigging in soapy water, rinse thoroughly and keep any spare line below when you're not at sea as it degrades in UV. For the same reason, give the mainsheet and jib sheets your particular attention.

With halyards and sheets, always buy 3-6ft more than you need so that you can take lft off the working end every season to change the contact points and limit the danger of parting due to chafe.

Standing rigging

Check the hook neck of T terminals as this is where they usually crack and break.

Masthead checks

Check masthead clevis pins are secured with good condition split pins as they work considerably and can straighten and work loose, or break and fall out.

Check the spinnaker block shackles are nipped up and seized with wire.

Check main and genoa halyard separators and sheaves for wear. If your mast has a bolted-on head unit and you find wear, replacement means removing, repairing and refitting the head unit with the mast unstepped. Damage indicates the main halyard has been over-tightened. Mark your halyard every season so that you hoist to 6in below the separator, then rig a cunningham for luff tension or recut the sail.

Wire halyards can wear through your genoa halyard separator

If your fractional spinnaker halyard is retained with eye bolts, there will be greater wear on the halyard. Pulleys or trumpet fittings give a larger contact point, which reduces wear.

Mast section

Check radar brackets for excessive working and pack with washers to limit this. Check light fittings, bulbs and wiring, spinnaker pole track bolts and end fittings, spinnaker pole cars - and any other fittings.

Check shroud attachments. If the backing plates are worn, cracked or pulling away from the mast, consult your rigger. It may not be critical but it's not a good sign. Get it checked. Clean the entire section with white spirit and Scotchbrite to check for cracks and bring up the colour of the anodising.

Spreaders

Check spreader sockets, clevis pins and split pins for wear and excessive working. Replace and pack with stainless steel or nylon washers during maintenance.

Check the spreaders ends are secure and not heavily pitted or corroded. If they're not covered, protect them with plastic covers but still check regularly.

Check the spreaders' leading and trailing edges for wear from badly stowed stays and halyards. Slice lengths of PVC tubing, fit over leading and trailing edges and tie and tape on with self-amalgamating tape to prevent wear, both on the spreader from stays and on the sail from the spreaders.

Split pins

The humble split pin holds your rig up so check them all regularly. If they're not properly fitted, they can straighten

or break as the clevis pin works around, and fall out, followed by the clevis pin, then your rig. Curl back both pin legs, packing stainless-steel washers to limit working, then secure with tape or silicon.

Blocks and shackles

Check all lead blocks (especially around the mast base) and shackles for tightness, then seize (shackle pins with a flat tab instead of a hole can't be seized effectively and aren't recommended for any load-bearing purpose). Seizing wire is best, cable ties are satisfactory but will degrade in UV and need replacing regularly. Replace blocks showing signs of cracking, wear or distortion.

Rig tension

on modern rigs with swept-back spreaders, the lowers are likely to go first because they work fore and aft, and transverse. When sailing, check you have enough shroud tension to prevent the leeward shrouds becoming slack. With more traditional rigs with inline spreaders, the leeward rigging should slacken slightly.

Lubrication

Lubricate all sheaves, luff tubes and tracks with Teflon spray. Silicon grease is fine for sheaves but, if used on main tracks or luff tubes, will leave marks on your sails.

Checking stepped rigs

While inspection is easier on an unstepped rig, some problems are easier to spot with the rig up, the tension on and the rig settled. Without tension, a broken strand may settle back into a shroud terminal and appear fine whereas under load, it's obvious. If you mast is up, send someone aloft to check everything, make sure they know what they're looking for.

Mast electrics

Ensure your mast electrics are sound. Track down the causes of chafe and use cable ties to secure wires out of harm's way

Check everything regularly.

On deck

Winches: Old oil and grease lose viscosity and winches will slip when springs and pawls get stuck. Strip down, wash parts in paraffin and lightly regrease .

Windlasses: If manual, check they're working, clean and tighten. For powered versions check foot switch forwater, clean and use Vaseline on the connections.

Anchor chain: Re-mark lengths if faded, or add chain markers.

Check for kinking or wear in gas hosepipe. If in doubt replace. Check hose clips and tighten.

Harnesses/lifelines: check stitching and get repairs done by sailmakers if necessary.

Jackstay and danbuoy lines: check for UV damage.

MOB lights: change bulb, and squirt WD40 on copper contact strip inside. Use Vaseline on 'O'rings when reassembling.

Lifejackets: inflate using mouth tube. Leave inflated overnight to check for leaks. Wash with freshwater. If auto-inflation, disable device first.

Stanchions/lifelines: check stanchions and make sure lifelines have not corroded beneath plastic sheathing.

Inflate lifejackets and use Vaseline on the'O' rings of MOB lights

Heads and bilges

Check impeller on bilge pumps and grease with petroleum jelly; replace gasket.
If you have an automatic bilge pump, check float switches work.

Dry bilges thoroughly then if water appears after relaunch you'll know you've got a leak.
Fill watertank and add purifier.

If the pump on the heads is stiff, run washing-up liquid into the bowl and pump out.
Use Puriclean in your watertank and check bilge pumps work before relaunch

Engines

You should have changed the oil when you laid up. Over winter, it will have soaked up chemicals and acids. Worth changing it again. Ditto gearbox oil. Change oil and fuel filters. Remove rags stuffed in outlet pipes. Impellers- if removed at lay-up - reinstall with a smear of Vaseline on blades. Re-install the engine belts and check tension: no more than half an inch of play.

Saildrives

Check oil level. Check durability of the gaiter seal. Check rubber faring and reseal if necessary.
Change internal engine anode. Check engine mounts secure.

Check diesel tank for water from condensation. Drain off, or replace fuel. Add water-eliminating additive to fuel to kill off diesel'bugs'.

Check inaccessible wiring, such as bonding wires from the anode and earthing wires from the starter motor. Clean the terminals and smear them with Vaseline.

Batteries and electrical systems

Check electrolyte level; tighten battery securing straps and make sure vent for gases is clear. Clean terminals and coat with Vaseline.

Switch on instruments and use backlighting to help reduce any condensation.
If the anode looks serviceable for another season, check bonding wires.

Hulls and skin fittings

Grease seacocks:All hoses should be double-clipped. Check jubilee clips for rust. Do you have wooden plugs attached in case of emergency?

Check skin fittings are free of blockages/ growth or antifouling.

Rudders

Check leading and trailing edges for hairline cracks. Check for play in bearings, stock or quadrant. Movement should be minimal. Grease steering cable.

Keels

Check for stress cracks at root.

Prop shafts and stern glands

To check bearings, grasp prop in both hands and try moving it from side to side. There should be little if any movement.

Check P-bracket for stress cracking from misalignment or damage.

Stern gland packing can dry out and get brittle. It needs changing after a few seasons.

Grease prop shaft and glands. Modern-type seals need venting on immersion. Check and/or replace conventional packing.

Check rubber glands on stern tubes and saildrives, which have a life expectancy of between five and 12 years.

Check keels and rudders for stress cracks.