winter store-mast up or down?

[victorias]

I am new to sailing, and my 27' Hunter which is on her 2nd year of on lake sailing in the NE, will be stored outside at a Marina. I am not sure if it is better to store her with her mast up (cheaper) or mast down. Her rigging seems to be in good shape.
Thanks for any advice!

[Brezzin]

There are different opinions regarding this. So having done both I'll add mine. The yard likes them down for a couple of reasons. First of which is they can charge you for taking it down and putting it up. Secondly, the mast up creates windage that given the correct circumstances could topple the boat and damage nearby boats. So they charge you extra for more poppet's. Also being in NE you get Ice. So if you don't cover the boat you may get damage from falling ice from the rigging.

Ok now the pluses, It's less money for you. You don't have to fully re-tune the rig in the spring. Your mast and boat won't get beat up during the process.
A simple compromise I use is every other year, using the down year for inspections and repairs. With a 27 footer I won't hesitate to leave the mast up.

[Warren M.]

If your marina gives you a choice (some do not), and you are in an area where it doesn't blow like hell a lot, I'd leave the mast up. I have my H28.5 hauled every winter in a yard about 20 miles south of Annapolis so we have fairly moderate winters. Storms (including ice storms) do occur, but are usually not severe. The yard where the boat is stored typically holds between 1,000 - 1,200 boats, mostly sail boats. Virtually every boat is blocked with the mast up. As far as I can tell, they have never had any problems related to storing boats with their masts up. I would only unstep my mast if I had specific work to do on it.

[camaraderie]

Mast up and point the boat into where the wind comes from!

[chrismead]

I'm with every comment here. I store my 28 with the mast up and only took it down this year to replace running rigging. Engineers at Hunter said there's no reason to take it down. In fact, the guy I was talking to said that's when most damage occurs - mast gets dropped, standing rigging pinched, etc.

I was counseled only to purchase another 2 jack stands cause the wind blows hard during Lake Erie winters. So, my boat has loads of kick stands.

I know this reply is super late BUT now that spring is here...I am happy the mast is down because I am effecting many needed repairs to the lights, electronics, etc.

[boatpoker]

For smaller boats I don't object too much to leaving the stick up but anything over 34' or so and I am dead against it. If you have ever been in a 36' boat when its in a cradle with the mast up and the wind howling at 40knots you would never leave your mast up again. The noise of the bulkheads ratcheting and the boat twisting can be deafening. You simply cannot produce all that noise without damage over time.

[kiprichard]

I do, however, run up sacrifical halyards. Any old line will work. Good quality, non stretch halyards are too expensive to leave exposed all winter if you're not sailing.

[chrismead]

I love the sacrificial halyard idea...me thinks I am replacing because i have NOT done that over the years - all other lines are in the protected garage.

Another thought about rocking in the cradle or on jack stands - I figured the rigidity of dirt versus h2o would cause undue stresses in odd places - mast twist energies affecting the hull rather than transmitting into the water - i'm not a physicist but I play one on TV

The engineer i spoke with said, "Nah". Worse reality is the boat falls over; you could also get crazing in the gelcoat if the turnbuckles are too tight (not happened to me). But again, probably a smaller boat issue.

He also said nirvana is keeping the boat in the water; thought I should just move.

[eMKay]

Originally Posted by kiprichard

I do, however, run up sacrifical halyards. Any old line will work. Good quality, non stretch halyards are too expensive to leave exposed all winter if you're not sailing.

That is such a great idea, thanks.

[Selkirk]

Or, ya could just move to Mississippi. We sail year round here.