Seeing is believing – as the adage goes – and if a passer-by doesn’t see any of the boats in the harbor, he would want to believe that there is no action happening on the water-front, and that all boats are hiding somewhere.
Contrary to this belief is the fact that for yacht management companies the monsoon is a phase where round the clock schedules of intricate and well planned out tasks have to be undertaken in an effort to deliver boat owners’ boats back on the waters in the month of October, as good as new…
Monsoon-ization of boats involves the following:
• Safe haven – Chosing a good, safe location off the coast where boats are not subjected to the harsh wind and water conditions existent in the monsoon; and relocating the boats to such a location.
• Lifting/ Lowering on to the hard or Dry-Docking – for the purpose of under-water work and at times to get the boat out completely on to the hard, lifting and lowering or dry-docking (depending on boat size, and type of work to be carried out) has to be done.
• Preventive and Proactive Maintenance – ‘Prevention is better than cure’ would have an enhanced meaning when taken into consideration of boats. As boats are inherently subjected to harsh conditions
• Repair – at times minor repair work – both above and below the water-line can be done when the boats are on the hard.
• Testing – no workmanship – either technical or aesthetic is complete without quality testing of the work done. Eg work carried out on out-board motors is tested by placing a water tank at the propeller end and running the engines as desired, while the boats remain on the hard.
• Regular Start of Systems – 4 months storage would be detrimental if the systems are not operated; hence these need to be started every once in a while at full intensity to ensure that they work fine when once in the water.
• Refitting – refitting includes a vast array of changes that can be to the basic boat to make it either more technologically advanced, or simply look aesthetically better…
• Painting & Anti-fouling – as always mentioned, painting and antifouling are an integral part of a boat and go beyond aesthetics.
