Winter is the longest stretch of the year a boat spends unattended. A drip that would be spotted within a week in season goes unnoticed for months; a battery quietly flattens and never recovers; a cover that traps damp turns the saloon into a mushroom farm. The Aegean winter rarely freezes, but it delivers humidity, weeks of rain and gales that arrive sideways, so a lay-up list written for the Solent does not translate one-to-one. What follows is what to do in autumn, what to check through the winter and what to tick off before relaunch, for a boat laid up on the Gulf of Gökova.
Ashore or afloat?
The first decision is where the boat spends the winter, and it shapes every step that follows. Laying up ashore lets the hull come out of the water and dry, gives you a proper look at the antifouling and the shaft and propeller, and allows underwater work to be done without a clock ticking. For a GRP hull with any suspicion of osmosis, a few months of drying time is a benefit in itself. Coupling alignment, rudder bearings, seacocks and anode changes are all jobs that are simply easier with the boat on the hard.
Staying afloat means less logistics: no lift-out cost or slot to book, and the boat stays ready for a winter day sail. The trade-off is that the underwater hull stays wet, warps and fenders are tested by every gale, and even with the seacocks shut you are relying on the hull's watertightness for months. A boat left afloat needs at least a weekly look and a proper mooring plan before every forecast blow.
Ask yourself three questions. Is there underwater work waiting (suspected osmosis, antifouling due, shaft seal, propeller)? Do you actually intend to use the boat over winter? How sheltered and how full is the marina in January? If the answers point ashore, plan the lift-out and the lay-up together; the haul-out itself is a separate subject on our articles page. Most of the steps below apply either way; only the hull section assumes the boat is out of the water.
Engine and gearbox: oil, cooling and fuel
The engine is where the most expensive lay-up mistakes are made. The sequence matters: run the engine up to working temperature first, then change the oil and the filter. Used oil carries acids and moisture; an engine that sits all winter on old oil has its bearings and rings in contact with that acid for months. Draining the oil hot takes the sludge with it. Check the manufacturer's interval for the gearbox oil; end of season is usually the most convenient time to do it.
The cooling system has two circuits. The raw-water side runs from the seacock through the strainer, the impeller pump, the heat exchanger and the exhaust elbow. At the end of the season, flush it with fresh water to clear the salt, then run propylene glycol antifreeze through it. In the Aegean the temperature seldom drops below zero, but the real gain from antifreeze here is keeping salt from crystallising inside the circuit and the impeller from sitting dry. Many owners also remove the impeller for the winter; an impeller left with its vanes bent under the cam for months tends to lose a vane on the first spring start.
On the closed (fresh-water) side, check the coolant's concentration and condition. Cloudy or rusty coolant, or a weak mix, should be replaced; coolant whose corrosion inhibitors are spent will attack the block from the inside.
Leave the fuel tank full. A half-empty tank breathes with the temperature swings, condensation collects under the fuel and diesel bug takes hold. Add a biocide and a stabiliser, then run the engine for a few minutes so the treated fuel reaches the injection system. Changing the fuel filters and the water separator now means the first start in spring is on clean filters. Fogging the cylinders with preservative oil is a recognised technique for long lay-ups; if you do it, follow the manufacturer's procedure.
Finally, note the belt tension and slacken the belts, tape over the exhaust outlet and cover the air intake. A boat left afloat can have its engine run up to temperature once a month; ashore that is not possible, so the protection has to be more thorough.
Fresh water, heads and bilge
Drain the fresh-water tank, run the pump to clear the lines, then pull the pump's fuse. Water left standing in the tank over winter turns foul and you will spend the spring flushing the whole system with chlorinated water. If there is a calorifier, drain it too; water left in it leaves scale and smell. Leave the taps open so no pressure builds in the lines.
The heads are the most neglected system on board. Close the inlet seacock and pump the toilet through several times with fresh water; salt water left in the inlet hose crystallises as it dries and seizes the pump. Empty and rinse the holding tank and make sure its vent is open and clear; a blocked vent traps gas in the tank all winter. On manual heads, a smear of silicone grease on the pump seals keeps the piston and the joker valve in good shape.
Leave the bilge dry and clean. A mix of oil, diesel and dirty water stinks by spring and can glue the float switch in place. Test the bilge pump and its float; on a boat left afloat, the pump stays on automatic with a sound connection to the battery. Ashore, leaving the seacocks open lets any rainwater that finds its way in drain out; afloat, it is the opposite and they stay closed.
Do not forget the raw-water circuits of the air conditioning and the fridge; the same flush-and-drain logic applies. Clear the sink drains and the cockpit scuppers; a scupper blocked by pine needles turns the cockpit into a pond, and that water always finds a way below.
Batteries and electrics
The battery bank is where irreversible winter damage most often happens. Lead-acid, AGM and gel batteries start sulphating as they discharge; a bank left flat for a few months loses most of its capacity permanently. Go into the lay-up fully charged, then choose one of two routes: take the batteries off the boat and top them up monthly in a dry, cool place, or leave them aboard connected to a multi-stage charger or a small solar panel. On shore power, make sure the charger has a float stage; a battery held at a constant high voltage boils and dries out just as surely as a flat one dies.
Lithium (LiFePO4) banks follow a different rule: not full, but around half charged, and switched off in whatever way the BMS allows. The manufacturer's storage instructions are the authority here.
Clean the terminals and coat them with petroleum jelly or terminal spray, then switch off the main isolator. Leave the circuits that must stay live, such as the bilge pump, the gas detector and any alarm, on a separate feed. Put moisture absorbers in the switch panel and the engine bay; winter condensation shows up first as green oxide on connections.
Take portable electronics off the boat where you can: handheld VHF, tablets, removable plotters. Check the connectors on fixed equipment and cap the antenna connections. Inspect the shore-power lead and the inlet socket; a chafed shore lead in an empty marina in February is how boat fires start.
Hull, deck, cover and ventilation
Once the boat is out, pressure-wash the hull straight away; weed and shell on the antifouling must come off before they dry, because once dry they set like cement. This is also the moment to judge the antifouling: flaking, blistering and bare patches mean a fresh coat of antifouling in spring. If you see blisters in the gelcoat below the waterline, do not paint over them; have a moisture reading taken, because osmosis is best diagnosed during the winter drying period.
Wash the topsides and deck down with fresh water to get the salt off. Salt is hygroscopic; a deck left salty stays damp all winter, which is when pitting starts on stainless fittings and blackening and seam trouble start on teak. A coat of wax or polymer sealant after the wash protects the gelcoat from sun and salt through the winter; gelcoat care has its own article.
Covers call for an Aegean-specific balance. A fully enclosed, non-breathable tarpaulin keeps sun and rain off but traps moisture underneath, and mould and rust thrive in that environment. The right answer is a cover that sheds rain but leaves the lower edges open so air can move. It must not chafe anywhere on gelcoat or teak; a cover edge flogging against the same spot for four months wears through the finish. Under the cover, leave the portlights cracked and the dorade vents open; put moisture absorbers in a few places below, and leave locker doors and sole boards open.
A boat on the hard needs its chocks and props checked after every gale; wind-driven rain soaks the ground underneath and supports can shift. If the yard does this check, ask how often.
Sails, canvas and running rigging
Leaving sails on the furler or on the boom is the commonest and the most expensive winter mistake. A genoa that partially unfurls in a gale shreds itself in hours; even if it stays furled, UV and salt stiffen the cloth. Take the sails off, rinse them in fresh water, let them dry completely, then fold them loosely and store them somewhere dry. A sail folded damp comes out with mildew stains. This is also the right time to send sails to the loft for stitching, UV strip and batten checks; in spring there is a queue.
Take down the bimini, sprayhood and cockpit canvas too. Canvas left tensioned all winter loses its shape, the stitching rots in the UV and the zips seize with salt. Silicone spray on the zips and a reproofing treatment on the fabric add seasons of life. If a piece of canvas has to stay up, leave it slack rather than taut so it cannot tear itself apart in the wind.
Remove the running rigging, especially sheets and halyards, rinse and dry it. Replace the halyards at the mast with thin messenger lines you can pull them back through in spring; halyards slapping the mast all winter are both a nuisance to the neighbours and a source of chafe. Lay-up is also the ideal time to strip, clean and grease the winches. If you see rust weeping from swages or fittings on the standing rigging, note it now; a broken strand does not announce itself in winter, it does so in the first hard blow of spring.
On motor boats, the flybridge cover, seat cushions and exterior upholstery come inside or into storage on the same principle. Nothing that has been in contact with salt water goes into storage without a fresh-water rinse.
Checking through the winter: the Aegean factor
Unlike northern Europe, the Aegean winter tests a boat with damp and wind rather than frost. On the Gulf of Gökova a southerly or a northerly can blow for days; rain tends to arrive horizontally and finds its way under the best cover. Lay-up here is not a matter of shutting the boat and coming back in April; it is a period of spaced-out checks.
A weekly visit for a boat afloat and one every two to three weeks for a boat ashore is a sensible rhythm, with an extra check after every gale. The short list for each visit:
- Is there water in the bilge, and if so where from: rain, a seacock, a hatch seal?
- Is the cover in place, are the tie-downs slack, is there any chafe?
- Are the moisture absorbers full, and is there any smell of mould below?
- Battery voltage (around 12.6 V counts as full for a lead-acid bank) and is the charger doing its job?
- Warps and fenders (afloat) or chocks and props (ashore): all where they should be?
- Birds, rodents and insects: check under the boom, in the vents and at the exhaust outlet.
Running the engine periodically over winter divides opinion. Starting it for a few minutes and stopping before it reaches working temperature leaves condensation in the exhaust and the sump and does more harm than good. For a boat afloat, once a month for at least half an hour at working temperature is reasonable. Ashore, the protection done at lay-up is sufficient and the engine is best left alone until spring.
For boats laid up in a yard, agree at the outset who carries out this routine. If you are abroad for the winter, share the checklist with the yard and ask to be told after every storm.
Spring: the pre-launch list
The pre-launch list is the autumn list read backwards, with one difference: it also catches whatever went wrong over the winter. In order:
- Hull and underwater gear: Antifouling applied, anodes renewed, seacocks working and greased, shaft seal and rudder bearing checked? Propeller cleaned and torqued correctly?
- Engine: Oil level, coolant mix, new impeller fitted, belts tensioned, exhaust tape and air-intake cover removed? New fuel filters? On first start, once you see water at the exhaust, do not switch off; let it warm up and look for leaks.
- Water systems: Fresh-water tank filled and flushed, pump fuse back in, heads pumped through and checked for leaks, holding-tank valves in the right position?
- Electrics: Batteries fully charged and terminals tight; navigation lights, VHF, plotter, autopilot and windlass all working? Shore lead and socket checked?
- Deck and rig: Sails and canvas bent on, halyards pulled back through on the messengers? Winches turning freely? Lifejackets, extinguishers and flares in date?
- Immediately after launch: Check every seacock, the shaft seal and every hull penetration for leaks. Looking in the bilge while the boat is still in the slings and again an hour after launch is the cheapest insurance of the season.
Planning the lay-up and the spring recommissioning as one job moves most of the season's breakdowns onto the workbench in winter, where they are cheaper. If you are considering wintering on the Gulf of Gökova, the other guides on our articles page set this one in the rhythm of the whole year. Our yard at Ören lays up boats ashore through the winter and plans underwater and refit work around the lay-up; call us on +90 544 798 02 54 to talk through dates. A safe harbour for your boat.
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