N ot all voyages take you somewhere different. Some times, a voyage starts and ends in the same place – but things happen in between.
That’s the story with the winter storage voyage of 2013/2014 which started well and ended – let’s just say less well. Possibly tearably!
It all started with the purchase of Amalia and my discovery that the improper shrink-wrapping job would require a complete hull (freeboard) paint job. Sadly, this could have been avoided had the PO (previous owner) taken the time to pull the mast down and use the custom canvas cover that came with the boat.
So, when it came time to put it pull it for winter storage last October, Kevin and I pulled the mast, dropped her on the massive oak cradle and covered her up for a long winter’s nap. I was amazed that I was able to wrestle that massive cover up over her horizontal mast and deck and have it tied down in about an hour.
I came back within a few weeks and added the custom end-of-the-mast sleeves that I’d made to keep even more wind and weather from entering the coccoon.
And, there she sat for an epoch winter season with more cold and more snow than anyone had seen for many years. I started checking up on her in January and made trips out in February, March and early April to begin pre-launch activities and start upgrades and repairs. I was delighted to see how well she weathered this ball-buster winter under her snug canvas cover.
So, it was a complete surprise when I came out to continue my cutless bearing project during the week of April 14 to find that I no longer had a boat-draping, custom canvas cover over my craft.
Instead (see phontos) I had a variety of torn canvas pieces draped around the base of the cradle. This was not a cover with a few tears, this was a pile of canvas pieces!
While I had heard about the severe storms, massive rains and high winds (up to 75mph, straight-line) on the news, I hadn’t given it much thought until I saw the results.
My custom “cover” is now residing in the back of my Explorer for a detailed examination to see if I should use it to build a new cover or make repairs and some desired modifications.
Oh, did I mention that, after being covered all winter with the hatch boards in and front hatch just “cracked” for ventilation, the now uncovered boat had been left (pre-windstorm) with the hatch boards out and v-berth hatch wide open? So, there was actually a bit of frozen snow on top of the engine cover inside and iced-over cockpit drains in the cockpit.
It could have been much worse and I’m grateful it wasn’t. If I have any area of the cover that is torn in the future, I will repair it before it is subjected to storm disassembly!