Winter maintenance

[sservant]

I own a Paceship P23 fixed keel sailboat. I''ve had it hauled out for the winter. I didn''t remove the mast but I wasn''t sure if I should loosen the turnbuckles on the shrouds or leave them as they are. One person suggested I loosen them because there are different stresses on the boat when it is in the cradle and someone else said leave them the way they are. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate hearing from you. Thanks

[Constantin]

As long as the boat is sitting on an even keel, I don''t really see why one set of wires would be stressed more... Granted, if you have a weak hull, the decks might bulge out a little further on land than when she is in the water, but this ought to be minimal.

We never remove the mast for winter storage but always check wire tension when she goes back in the water (we have a cat, and one set of stays has to be disconnected to allow the storage hut to be assembled around the boat (see vonwentzel.net for details).

[MikeMoss]

Don''t leave rigging loose on a sailboat. In the water or not the mast can move back and forth and yank on the rigging wearing things out.

My boat is out of the water on popets and the mast is in and the rigging is tight.

That''s how I bought the boat 5 years ago and at that time the mast had never been out. It''s a 1973.