Winterizing furling jib

[NICHOLSON58]

I would not ever consider leaving sails up for winter or for any period exceeding the time for which I could predict there to be no violent storms. Go to YouTube and search for marina and boat storm damage following hurricanes. Most heavy boat and marina damage happens where people left sails on the jib furlers. They become at least partially unfurled and cause the ruin of the docks, anchorage, other boats. Our Camper & Nicholson 58 was acquired following exactly such an event at the previous owner's private dock in Ft Lauderdale. Before the two roler furled jibs exploded, the load on the dock lines tore the ears from the metal cleats on the dock. The boat T-Boned a sea wall and careened down the canal taking out docks and pilings.

All good advice above: remove sails from the boat. Store in a clean dry place (not inside the boat). Removing the halyards is good but if you don't want to go that far just fasten runners to the shackles and hoist the shackle to the mast head. Cover the halyerd coil away from the sun.

This is the first winter we are storing with the mast up (keel stepped). We also added a proper winter cover. Water has a way of finding our halyard slots and the openings at the mast head. It runs down the inside of the mast and to the bilge. A major three-day rain may result in 15 to 20 gallons in the bilge. Many of my yard mates remove mast head instruments (also a good idea) and cover the mast head with a heavy duty trash bag to minimize water entry. Once the winter cover was on, I have noticed a large amount of condensation on the upper surfaces inside of the cabin so I took steps to let the cabin breathe. The new cover is above the bimini so we left the main hatch open and cracked open several of the hatches. Most floor boards are propped up. This seems to have dropped the RH inside so that it is not wet. We are stored in a reasonably safe yard so I'm not too worried. Also, we remove anything with an LCD on it so all electronics winter in the basement.