Laying Up the Boats for Winter – Making Space, Stacking High
pmrsailing.uk blog
As the last few leaves fall into the Thames and the temperature dips, it's time for the annual tradition: laying up the boats for winter.
This weekend, the boat park turned into a hive of activity as we moved many of the wooden boats — some of them over a century old — into the Century Boathouse, giving them shelter from the wind, rain, frost, and whatever else the British winter has in store.
Why Lay Up?
Wooden boats and winter do not mix well.
The cold and damp creep into every joint and seam, leading to cracked varnish, swollen timbers, and a springtime restoration job nobody wants.
Laying up is about protection:
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From weather
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From rodents
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And from being used as a handy bench or ladder by accident!
A Game of Boat Tetris
Getting them all in wasn't easy. With limited space and more boats than ever, it quickly turned into a game of dinghy Tetris. Part of the fun is working out which boats might need to come out and put them ready for easy access.
We had to:
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Double stack most of the boats using racks and padding.
Only the light boats could go up; the heavier boats needed to stay down, even with many to do the lifting.
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Carefully place masts, spars, and sails in safe dry storage
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Reposition trailers outside to maximise every inch of the floor
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All without knocking into Kingfisher an old wooden Rater
Many hands made light-ish work, and with teamwork and the bar open at the end, everything slotted into place… eventually.
📖 Read more about the people, the boats, and winter prep at:
https://pmrsailing.uk
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