Our first boats are scheduled to come out a week from this Saturday, the summer got away from us for sure this year. I only wish I had a story and photos like Tom Young below. Many of the members were down this past weekend winterizing and changing oil, etc. They all were ready to just move on and hope next year is better.

This is going to be a winter storage with several firsts for me. It's part of my "make life more simple" plan. This will be the first time in 30+ years that we are going to store our boat with the mast up. Stepping and un-stepping the mast takes at least two days each to prepare and do it plus rounding up a crew at the club. Those days are quite stressful as the crew is usually made up of volunteers that really don't want to be there or deal with the stress. We actually had a member quit 4 years ago over getting his mast pulled. There were several power boaters that needed to get their work hours in so volunteered to help yank the mast on a brand new Hunter 27. They tell me it was an ugly scene and the mast was never the same..........The IP does not have anything at the mast head but a windex so no expensive instruments to worry about like the Islander.

With the mast up I figure I will run messenger lines to allow the halyards to got to the top of the mast. That will keep them hidden inside for the winter.

We are also leaving the batteries on board for the first time ever. IP engineered the battery box with such tight tolerances and in such a weird location I don't want to fight the battle to get them back in come spring. I figure I will head down and plug the boat in every couple of weeks. That reminds me, I need to get that pesky main AC breaker replaced in the next couple of weeks.

I finally printed off a set of instructions for the Jabsco Electric Head. That was another thing the previous owner kept for whatever reason. Oddly enough the winterizing instructions call for the green antifreeze to be used, not pink. No reason given. I think I have a 1/2 gallon out in the garage. Never did this before, I always use a gallon of pink in the head/holding tank.

Last item of note, Island Packets.......very interesting boats. Built like a tank in every aspect, large and comfortable cockpit and cabin, beautiful joinery, super heavy duty pieces and parts, pleasing lines and mostly comfortable to sail if you are going in a straight line. There are definitely some quirky engineering things though. Battery box was one, the bilge/sump which is impossible to get to. The shower, icebox and cockpit cooler all empty their water into a sump that will never be dry because the pumps don't get it dry. There must be 30' of hose running to that sump which also picks up the stuffing box drip, any fuel that spills during a filter change. It's ugly and requires constant attention. I actually saw the bottom of it when I lowered a drop light in the spring. Lot's of interesting stuff down there. Did I mention turning? Yep, Island Packets don't turn well under sail or power, especially if it's under power and backing up. In fact, they don't turn at all under power and backing up. At least powering forward the prop wash over the rudder will kick the stern around. Tacking requires that you use the headsail as a source of power.....you have to gently steer a turn and allow the headsail to backwind using that to push the bow over. Throwing the wheel over gets you a stall. Interesting boats these Island Packets.

Could be a Hunter though, we had a member hole the bow of their h33 last week. Bumped a rock on the breakwall when the engine wouldn't start. Turns out that Hunters really are "lightly built" 6" hole through 1/8" glass in the bow. Yes, there was poor planning and something call Fireball involved in the incident, there was also a powerboater driving the boat, but I guess that is a story for another time.