Time to Winterise Your Yacht
Following a fantastic season on the water, as Autumn approaches, preparing your yacht for the colder months comes to mind. Winterising will likely include an annual maintenance check and service to ensure the smooth running of your yacht and to minimise future issues. Princess Motor Yacht Sales have dedicated teams of service engineers and technicians to help with engines, batteries, generators, coolants, oils, filters, water systems, antifoul and bilges along with cleaning, storage and protection and much more.
Antifouling
Antifouling is key in annual maintenance as it protects your hull from the build-up of marine growth throughout the year. Thick layers of marine algae can affect your yacht’s performance, potentially decreasing speed efficiency by a few knots resulting in increased fuel consumption over a period of time. Applying a special protective paint to the hull of your yacht helps minimise the growth of micro-organisms, especially if the yacht is kept in the water year-round and used frequently.
Paint to protect
If you keep your yacht well maintained annually then a simple power wash and light scrape should suffice to remove the season’s growth and old antifoul. The waterline is taped and then 2 coats of antifoul are hand-rollered onto the hull. There are different types of antifoul paint available depending on your yacht, usage and storage but they are all a special chemical combination of biocides and copper compounds designed to deter the growth of algae, marine matter and barnacles. Depending on the size of your yacht, the process can take a few days to complete.
Leon McGregor, Production Manager at the Saxon Wharf facility in Southampton adds, ‘We often carry out antifouling as part of the planned annual maintenance and offer this service within our bespoke service plans. Most vessels benefit from a good scrub at the time of the boat lift, the hull and water line prepped and the recommended antifoul applied. However, after many seasons of boating some yachts require the layers to be scrapped back, the hull primed and new fresh coats of antifoul applied. Usually at this time of the annual lift we recommend all of the underwater running gear is descaled and the props burnished. All lift platform mechanisms are cleaned and operations checked. Not forgetting the seacock service – all ball valves are accessed, operated and lubricated. Any valves that require replacements are reported and changed as needed. We try do everything we can to check all aspects, take action and therefore prevent future issues occurring to enable a trouble-free season of boating for our Princess owners.’
Annual service packages
Thorough maintenance and preparation can mean fewer problems later on. If you’d like to find out more about antifouling, winterising or year-round service packages then the dedicated Princess Yachts trained in-house team would be delighted to assist. Princess Motor Yacht Sales have facilities throughout the south coast of the UK, Puerto Banus in Spain and Mallorca in the Balearics.
Find out more via the website www.princess.co.uk/aftercare/princess-servicing/ or call the Aftercare team on +44 (0)23 8110 3170 or email service@princess.co.uk to winterise your yacht.
