Every season leaves marks. Memories, scratches, or the realisation that the boat has patiently awaited attention all year and built a long complaints list. Paint that failed. Parts needing replacement since spring. Small things that nearly became badly timed problems.
Time to gather them. Plans born underway, in rain, rolling and occasional irritation. The heads nearly took off with Konstantin aboard. Later, the log apparently wanted a tropical winter. By the end, the reason for the list should be clear.
Winter becomes planning season again. Plans, as we know, are the most honest form of self-deception. Without them, though, sailing quickly becomes survival rather than travel.
Hull
Fresh waterline paint fouled and peeled. One-part systems proved poor here. In 2026, strip and repaint with two-part: durable protection and peace of mind.
Summer scratches and damage: clean, fair with epoxy filler, prime, paint. Let everyone think my berthing is flawless.
Propeller: Silic One entirely gone. Again. Expected by now, yet I always think this time it should work. Perhaps different specialist protection, or regular cleaning and accepting reality.
Shaft anode replaced, no discussion. The part you remember too late, usually alongside far more expensive ones.
The log fouled as if preparing to winter in the tropics. Remove, vinegar-clean the barnacles, refit in spring with thin specialist transducer paint. Contacts clean, of course. Tentative hope of a full season.
Keel joint: clean back, anticorrosion treatment and rust converter, then flexible Sikaflex 291i. No epoxy over it: slight keel movement eventually breaks rigid protection.
Replace one seacock with plastic, partly to learn. Others perhaps next year. Stern-tube seal too: a continuous stream now suggests learning to dive. Sand and antifoul the entire bottom, especially beneath the keel, renewing epoxy primer where needed.
Outside
Touch up worn deck paint, reseal portlights with Sikaflex-295 UV, polish the acrylic.
Replace all guardwires and inspect stanchions. Broken hatch hinges retired, guides on the new cockpit lid. Replace soft sprayhood windows with rigid acrylic, much needed for visibility in northern rain, cold and grey.
Sew padded guardwire covers for cockpit comfort. Fit a rugged AliExpress motorcycle tablet as backup chartplotter. Sometimes durable solutions look just like that.
(Continued below)
#plans
(2026 plans, continued)
Inside
Fit a NAVTEX receiver for weather and navigation warnings. Offshore, those messages matter differently, and phone reception isn’t always there.
A resistor to quieten the speaker. Stereo through the main electrical switch to stop overnight drain. Finally bolt the heads to the sole: in summer, it nearly took off with Konstantin seated on it in a seaway. The boat made its opinion clear.
Combine heads and basin drains into one line with a proper anti-siphon loop. Invisible, but its absence becomes unpleasantly obvious.
Probably convert the fifth berth beneath the chart table into a locker. More things than I’d like aboard; five people on nine metres is tighter than it sounds ashore.
A separate electrical-control box to gather the fuses. Repair the folding saloon door, new rollers and magnets. Refit wooden berth retainers, oil surfaces, replace remaining bulbs with LEDs.
Anchoring
Where marinas end, real anchoring begins
Fit a bow platform with anchor roller and 16kg CQR. A proper forepeak anchor locker, draining overboard above the waterline.
With no original forepeak hatch, fit a gooseneck for easier chain recovery. Plastic markers every ten metres on the warp.
Mast and sails
A second-hand gennaker and sock, flown from the bowsprit. Replace standing rigging completely, carefully recording dimensions and checking the backing structure.
The main becomes hard to hoist above halfway. Find the cause: dirty groove, worn slides or age.
Wind indicator still sticks. Probably lubrication or incorrect stop position.
Find where rain runs down the mast into the hull. Dismantle, clean and lubricate the Furlex. Arrange the furling-line lead so it stops tangling with sheets and pursuing its own life.
Programming
A few numbers among salt and wind
A bot for Shipping Forecast and warning notifications; a service sending AIS position maps. Useful to know where friends and sailing neighbours are.
Travel
The reason for all this
January: Düsseldorf Boat Show, meet Erik Aanderaa, bombard Epifanes with questions. Summer: a major offshore trip from Germany to Norway through the North Sea, returning via the Baltic, all the way round Jutland.
Finally learn sea fishing, catch my first fish in twenty years. Anchor more, use marinas less, learn FPV flying and film the water from above. Kiel a permanent home for both me and the boat.
Instead of a conclusion
I don’t know how much will happen. Weather, fatigue and discoveries beneath the sole always rewrite plans. The list itself already gives the season direction.
A boat forgives a lot, with responsible attention at the right time.
#plans
Time to gather them. Plans born underway, in rain, rolling and occasional irritation. The heads nearly took off with Konstantin aboard. Later, the log apparently wanted a tropical winter. By the end, the reason for the list should be clear.
Winter becomes planning season again. Plans, as we know, are the most honest form of self-deception. Without them, though, sailing quickly becomes survival rather than travel.
Hull
Fresh waterline paint fouled and peeled. One-part systems proved poor here. In 2026, strip and repaint with two-part: durable protection and peace of mind.
Summer scratches and damage: clean, fair with epoxy filler, prime, paint. Let everyone think my berthing is flawless.
Propeller: Silic One entirely gone. Again. Expected by now, yet I always think this time it should work. Perhaps different specialist protection, or regular cleaning and accepting reality.
Shaft anode replaced, no discussion. The part you remember too late, usually alongside far more expensive ones.
The log fouled as if preparing to winter in the tropics. Remove, vinegar-clean the barnacles, refit in spring with thin specialist transducer paint. Contacts clean, of course. Tentative hope of a full season.
Keel joint: clean back, anticorrosion treatment and rust converter, then flexible Sikaflex 291i. No epoxy over it: slight keel movement eventually breaks rigid protection.
Replace one seacock with plastic, partly to learn. Others perhaps next year. Stern-tube seal too: a continuous stream now suggests learning to dive. Sand and antifoul the entire bottom, especially beneath the keel, renewing epoxy primer where needed.
Outside
Touch up worn deck paint, reseal portlights with Sikaflex-295 UV, polish the acrylic.
Replace all guardwires and inspect stanchions. Broken hatch hinges retired, guides on the new cockpit lid. Replace soft sprayhood windows with rigid acrylic, much needed for visibility in northern rain, cold and grey.
Sew padded guardwire covers for cockpit comfort. Fit a rugged AliExpress motorcycle tablet as backup chartplotter. Sometimes durable solutions look just like that.
(Continued below)
#plans
(2026 plans, continued)
Inside
Fit a NAVTEX receiver for weather and navigation warnings. Offshore, those messages matter differently, and phone reception isn’t always there.
A resistor to quieten the speaker. Stereo through the main electrical switch to stop overnight drain. Finally bolt the heads to the sole: in summer, it nearly took off with Konstantin seated on it in a seaway. The boat made its opinion clear.
Combine heads and basin drains into one line with a proper anti-siphon loop. Invisible, but its absence becomes unpleasantly obvious.
Probably convert the fifth berth beneath the chart table into a locker. More things than I’d like aboard; five people on nine metres is tighter than it sounds ashore.
A separate electrical-control box to gather the fuses. Repair the folding saloon door, new rollers and magnets. Refit wooden berth retainers, oil surfaces, replace remaining bulbs with LEDs.
Anchoring
Where marinas end, real anchoring begins
Fit a bow platform with anchor roller and 16kg CQR. A proper forepeak anchor locker, draining overboard above the waterline.
With no original forepeak hatch, fit a gooseneck for easier chain recovery. Plastic markers every ten metres on the warp.
Mast and sails
A second-hand gennaker and sock, flown from the bowsprit. Replace standing rigging completely, carefully recording dimensions and checking the backing structure.
The main becomes hard to hoist above halfway. Find the cause: dirty groove, worn slides or age.
Wind indicator still sticks. Probably lubrication or incorrect stop position.
Find where rain runs down the mast into the hull. Dismantle, clean and lubricate the Furlex. Arrange the furling-line lead so it stops tangling with sheets and pursuing its own life.
Programming
A few numbers among salt and wind
A bot for Shipping Forecast and warning notifications; a service sending AIS position maps. Useful to know where friends and sailing neighbours are.
Travel
The reason for all this
January: Düsseldorf Boat Show, meet Erik Aanderaa, bombard Epifanes with questions. Summer: a major offshore trip from Germany to Norway through the North Sea, returning via the Baltic, all the way round Jutland.
Finally learn sea fishing, catch my first fish in twenty years. Anchor more, use marinas less, learn FPV flying and film the water from above. Kiel a permanent home for both me and the boat.
Instead of a conclusion
I don’t know how much will happen. Weather, fatigue and discoveries beneath the sole always rewrite plans. The list itself already gives the season direction.
A boat forgives a lot, with responsible attention at the right time.
#plans
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