by Bob Whittier
Every boat requires tender loving care this time of year ashore as a head start for trouble-free days afloat.
There is still no such a thing as a "maintenance-free” boat, but there are many new and easy ways to minimize the work involved this time of year. When most boats were made of wood and needed a lot of upkeep, the early fiberglass builders fighting to gain acceptance for their new material liked to claim that their revolutionary hulls required no care at all. It’s true your fiberglass or aluminnum boat does not require the tedious annual caulking, sanding and painting of wooden craft, but it does need attention. Yet the “no care” notion lingers on, and it’s depressingly common to see badly neglected boats sitting out in the rain and snow in back yards and marinas. Boats and their equipment rarely wear out from hard and steady service as do cars and washing machines. Instead they often suffer from long periods of idleness; a control lever or hatch hinge in constant use is less likely to corrode shut than when not in use, and a hull speeding through the water doesn’t give weeds a chance to grow and harden on. But let your boat sit ashore untended for several months and you learn the value of proper layup.
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