Topsides

On deck strip and service all your winches including those on the mast and don’t forget to grease them well with ptfe grease.

When you dismantle any winches always check that you block off the scuppers just incase you accidentally drop a pawl, spring or screw.

Check that all the Genoa track bolts are tight and well sealed, as this is a common area for leaks to occur.

An excellent idea here is to slightly countersink each hole in the deck as this enables the sealer to form a "O" ring, which ensures no leaks. This also applies to your stanchion bases, and bolts.

Give all your stainless a treat with a coat of reviver and polish and check the swages on the stanchion wires for corrosion or broken wires.

Have a look at the stays, rigging screws, clevis and cotter pins.

Some ptfe or lanolin grease here helps keep everything free and sealed. Put a little lanolin grease where the wire enters the swages on the bottle screw as this helps seal out water from wicking down the wire strands.

With the rigging wire that is used for the stays it pays to inspect the strands carefully and if you find a broken one replace the whole stay. The recommendation is that you replace all your rigging once every 10 years. Do not throw out the old ones, as these can be kept as an emergency spare.

Also look at the spreader tips and make sure that they are bisecting the angle correctly and that the cap shrouds are wired into the ends and that a boot or insulation tape is wrapped well around the ends to protect your Genoa.

Check all your sheets and halyards and if they are showing slight signs of wear, end for end them. This applies for your anchor warps and chain. This is a good time to re-mark the chain and warp with either fathom, or 10-meter marks. Use paint on the chain and coloured sailcloth or twine on the warp.

Make sure that all shackles and pins are tight, secure and seized.

The bitter end of the warp should be attached to an eye in the anchor well with some medium lashing to prevent the whole lot going over the side!

Do Not shackle this to the eye, as one day you might need to let the whole lot go in an emergency and you won’t have time to fiddle with a spanner undoing a pin! Just cut the lashing with a knife! While checking all this out remember to check your spare anchors stored below the floor and the dinghies tackle.