Winter Storage - Store What Where?

[DrB]

Sadly the yacht was hauled for the winter two days ago. Very sad. Part of the process involved unstepping and pulling the mast. My mast has my roller fuller attached at the top, without the sail. Should I do something to the roller furler unit at the bottom or just leave it as is. The furler still has the furling line on it. The mast will be store outside I believe.

DrB

[jimmalkin]

I'd take it off and store it inside the boat in a box. It probably would be fine outside, but it's an easy thing to steal and you don't need to expose it to the weather in New England if you don't have to. (My 2c.)

[TrueBlue]

Removing the furler drum, foil and head roller assembly from the unstepped mast, to store inside the boat would be PITA, IMHO. But this would deter theft and protect it from the damaging effects of freezing water and snow.

For all the years prior to ownership of my current boat, the boat was stored indoors after unstepping both masts. The masts, with furler attached, were placed on a rack with others, the entire rack then shrinkwrapped. A great system, but too expensive for my budget.

We, along with 90% of the 400 sailboats at my marina, keep masts stepped, although some in-water sailboats will remove the spars for a tighter winter cover fit. The masts which remain on the boats of course, have the furlers exposed. Seems to be the norm with not much concern.

We do shrinkwrap our boat though, over a custom metal frame. The furler drum is therefore protected under plastic, along with the head roller, which can be lowered with the jib halyard.