How to Lay Up a Sailboat for Winter Storage: Free Haul Out Checklist
Laying up your sailboat? Wondering exactly what steps you need to follow to properly prepare a sailboat for winter storage? So were we. This is our complete sailboat haul-out checklist.
After four full seasons living aboard and sailing the Mediterranean, we’ve started to really dial in our maintenance routines—and winter lay-up has become one of the most important. When we first began, we were honestly pretty lost. Between conflicting advice, different climates, and boats set up in wildly different ways, it was hard to know what actually mattered. Over time, through research, plenty of questions to more experienced sailors, and a fair amount of trial and error, we figured out what works for us—and just as importantly, what doesn’t.
Whether you’re storing your boat ashore or in the water, in the freezinf cold or at the equator, how you prepare it for winter can make the difference between a smooth spring relaunch and a long list of preventable issues. This checklist outlines the basic winter lay-up steps we now follow each season. Use it as a practical starting point, then adapt it to suit your boat, storage plan, and environment.
n.b. This checklist was prepared for dry storage in a Mediterranean climate. If you’re storing your boat in the water or in an area with long, cold winters below 0°C, extra steps may be required to winterize and protect your boat.
Sailboat Winter Haul-Out Checklist: 16 Quick Steps to Prepare a Sailboat for Storage
Step 1: Take Down the Sails
Time: 1 – 3 hours
Difficulty: Simple
Sails left in the sun and weather will age much quicker than sails properly stored, plus sails left up over winter risk catching the wind and damaging the sails, the boat, or someone else’s boat.
The best time to take the sails down is while still on the water, before haul out, or while at anchor.
Choose a calm, dry day to take down your sails. Pull them out, release the sail halyard and flake the sail as it comes down by making ‘accordion folds’. Alternatively, if you have more storage space, you may choose to roll your sail up for storage to avoid creasing. Once folded or rolled, bag the sail and store it below deck.
After haul-out, pull your sails out, inspect, wash, and dry before carefully folding or rolling back up for storage.
For those with furling mainsails, many people feel the mast is as good a place as any to store the sail, while others firmly believe the sail should be taken down, inspected, washed, and stored out of the sun and weather in the off-season.
Traditional, vertically hoisted sails should be taken down, folded, and stored inside the boat.
Step 2: De-Rigging
Time: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Difficulty: Simple
Any running rigging left on the deck exposed to weather will age more quickly than if taken down and stored in a cool, dry place. That being said, much of the deck can be protected using boat covers, and you’ll need to weigh up the pros and cons of taking off every piece of running rigging and re-rigging it all next season.
At the suggestion of many sailors, we elected to
- Take down the mainsheet and genoa sheets, soak them, dry them and store them below deck,
- Take down blocks on the deck
- Finally, we replaced halyards with ‘mouse line’, 3 – 5 mm polyester rope. This allows the halyards to be soaked, dried and stored during the winter and replaced next season.
All ropes that were removed were soaked in water with fabric softener and then properly dried before storing to remove salt residue and to avoid returning to stiff ropes in the new season.
Step 3: Prevent Fuel Spoilage
- Time: 30 minutes
- Difficulty: Simple
On the way to the dock, stop by a fuel station and fill the fuel tank to the brim. At the same add diesel biocide and stabilizer to prevent the growth of diesel bugs and lengthen the diesel’s shelf life.
Engine operating manuals and common wisdom says that by filling the fuel tank to the brim no condensation can form in the tank and add water to your fuel supply during the off season.
While this step of sailboat storage preparation is contested amongst sailors, with many believing this old wisdom disproved, we figured it was better safe than sorry, and it was simple enough to swing by the petrol station on the way to the boat yard.
Step 4: Pack Up the Tender
Time: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Packing down the tender is one of the most straightforward steps to lay up your sailboat. Clean the inflatable tender thoroughly with soap and a scrubbing brush and if you want a UV protector. Then dry, deflate, fold, bag, and store below deck.
Step 4a: Don’t Forget the Outboard
Time: 1 – 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy
If you have apetrol outboard for your tender give it a quick service to ensure it starts on your return.
- Rinse and Inspect
- Flush engine with fresh water
- Stabilise or drain fuel
- Change oil (4-stroke)
- Fog engine (petrol only)
- Check/change gear oil
- Check/change anodes
- Tilt to drain water and store upright
For electric outboards
- Rinse and inspect
- Remove and store battery indoors
- Store battery at correct charge level
- Keep motor dry
Step 5: Give the Engine Some Love
Time: 1-3 hours
Difficulty: Tricky
Drain and replace engine oil, replace filters (fuel filters and oil filters).
Winterising the motor in many places means preparing the boat for sub-zero conditions; this wasn’t an issue for us in the Mediterranean.
If you’re storing your boat somewhere where the temperature rarely gets below zero, you won’t need to flush your engine with anti-freeze, but you do need to flush the engine with fresh water to avoid corrosion over the winter.
Take out and inspect the impeller, and leave it somewhere ready to be reinstalled (or replaced) at the start of next season.
Inspect the engine, hoses, belts, mounts, connections, etc. and identify any areas that might need maintenance, repair, or further investigation before relaunch.
Step 6: Thoroughly Clean the Bilge Until Spotless
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Simple
- Using a bucket and a rag or an old sponge get rid of any fuel, oil, or debris in the bilge.
- Using a cloth or sponge scrub the bilge with warm water and eco-friendly boat soap.
- Start bilge pump and flush bilge and bilge pump with fresh water
- Once the water has drained, dry out the bilge with a towel or cloth.
*If you have a very grimy or oily bilge you may need to use a heavy-duty cleaning product in which case cleaning may need to happen on land where you can collect the bilge output.
Step 7: Flush Toilet System
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate
Holding tanks should be evacuated and rinsed thouroughly.
Use a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water added to the head and flush it through to clear any salt water from the system.
Step 8: Clean the Boat Thoroughly
Time: 3 – 4 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Clean like you’ve never cleaned before. Systematically move through the boat, cleaning from front to back. Remove everything and clean every nook, crevice, and cranny to make sure the boat is free of dust, debris, and above all food. Wipe down surfaces with antibacterial or a mix of water and vinegar.
After you have cleaned the inside, move to the outside and clean and get scrubbing. Don’t forget to clean the storage lockers and rinse everything down with fresh water to remove all salt particles that can cause corrosion.
Step 9: Treat Water Supply
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Simple
Onboard water tanks should be filled with water treated with a sanitizer like chlorine to prevent the growth of any nasties over winter. When you return, drain and flush the tanks well before refilling them with fresh drinking water.
In freezing conditions or if you prefer, drain tanks completely.
If you have one, pickle your watermaker for winter as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
Step 10: Remove the Anchor from the Anchor Well
Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Simple
The drain in the anchor well can become clogged if unattended, and this could cause the anchor well to fill with water and the anchor and chain to spend all winter submerged.
Lower the anchor and chain to the ground and store them on a wooden pallet. Wash out the anchor well and cover.
Step 11: Protect Your Boat From Pests
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Simple
- First, ensure you have removed any incentives for pests. Make sure there are no crumbs or food on board and that dirt and debris have been cleaned from every nook and cranny. Make sure no water can enter the boat and that no water leaks from can water tanks or plumbing.
- Next, stop ingress. Any chains or lines that run from the ground to the boat, for example, the anchor chain, if still attached to the boat, should be fitted with anti-rat and mouse ‘devices’. These can be made using an empty Coke bottle.
- To stop pests like bugs, wasps, or even birds from making a home in your vessel, block or fill all external openings using rags. This includes exhaust ports, sea cocks, openings in the boom or mast, or any other port or opening in the boat.
- To prevent ant invasion, put some grease on hard stands about a foot off the ground.
Step 12: Protect Your Boat From Mold
Time: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Difficulty: Simple
Making sure your boat is leak-free is an important step on the sailboat storage checklist. If any seals have given way after the sailing season now is the time to properly reseal.
We found that water was entering our boat from the deck at the mast and where the rear arch was bolted. We sealed these areas with marine silicone sealant.
Once you are sure the boat is free of water, remove any existing mold on surfaces or cushions.
Add vinegar to a spray bottle and hit all moldy surfaces. Allow the vinegar to sit for one hour before scrubbing the mold off with a brush and some soapy water. Allow everything to dry completely.
Finally, spray all surfaces that could possibly attract mold with a 50/50 vinegar-water solution, do not wipe it down to prevent mold from re-growing.
Do not store anything damp on the boat. Make sure everything going on board for the winter is bone dry.
Don’t store mattress cushions flat; store them on their sides to allow as much air as possible to circulate around them.
Step 13: Turn Off All Sea Cocks
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Simple
…and write notes to remind yourself to turn them back on.
Step 14: Maintain Batteries
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Simple
Batteries in good condition will survive winter in the Mediterranean by being charged to the appropriate storage level (consult your manual) and disconnected. You can disconnect your batteries by disconnecting all wires for the negative terminals of your batteries.
Tape up the now-loose negative wires with electrical tape.
Cover permanently mounted solar panels and take down removable panels. Tie up wind generators.
Some sailors will periodically charge the batteries during winter.
Step 15: Cover Boat for Storage
Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: easy
It is well worth having a durable winter cover that will protect the boat from sun and rain as much as possible.
A boat cover will ideally cover the whole deck and the boom if not removedfor storage over winter. At the very least, the main cover should cover from the transom to the mast to protect the cockpit, instruments, winches, and rigging. In this case, you can also use a separate cover to protect the important items at the front of the ,boat such as windass, and forward hatch.
Boat covers are typically made from marine-grade canvas or vinyl.
*
Hopefully, we have given you an idea of the jobs you will need to do to properly prepare a boat for haul-out and storage. But if you think we missed any steps laying up a boat for winter in the Mediterranean, or if you have any questions, let us know in the comments below.
*
Looking for more sailing content? Have a look at these recent articles:
- The 13 Best Sailing Vlogs And Sailing Blogs (According to Us)
- The Cost of Living on a Sailboat Full-Time (With Examples)
- Van Life or Boat Life? Which Is the Best
*