Preparing your boat for an ocean crossing or a long cruise

An Atlantic crossing often means several weeks without a stop, during which every part of the boat works day and night, with no way of calling out a mechanic. It is not storms that most often stop a boat, it is wear: chafe, a split pin, an impeller, an autopilot that gives up. Preparation therefore means checking what is there, doubling up what is vital and taking on board what you need to repair. This guide is about the boat; ideally it starts a year before departure, because some jobs need a yard and lead times.

1. The calendar: leaving outside the cyclone season

Long passages are timed around the seasons. In the North Atlantic, the hurricane season runs roughly from June to November: that is why most east-to-west crossings leave the Canaries or Cape Verde from late autumn onwards, and why returns to Europe are made in spring. In the South Pacific and the southern Indian Ocean, the cyclone season corresponds to the southern summer, from the end of the year to the following spring. These are general markers: exact dates and forecasts come from the official meteorological services, and your insurance policy may impose its own limits on areas and periods. The calendar also sets the yard schedule: work backwards to know when to haul the boat out.

2. Structure and watertightness

• A survey before departure, especially on a recently bought boat: keel and keel bolts, floors, bulkheads, chainplates, hull-deck joint.
• Through-hulls and seacocks all operable, double clips on those below the waterline, and a softwood plug (a conical plug in wood or foam) tied next to each one.
• Portlights and hatches watertight against green water, not just rain; companionway boards that lock in place; cockpit lockers that close.
• Bilge pumps: an automatic electric one and a manual one that can be operated from the cockpit, clean strainers, flow checked.
• Everything heavy secured: batteries, tanks, outboard engine, floorboards, lockers. In heavy weather, nothing must be able to fly around.

3. The rig: checked by a professional

The mast and its shrouds carry the whole boat through thousands of miles of swell. An inspection by a rigger, up at the masthead, is the most useful expense of the whole preparation. They look at the swages, turnbuckles, pins, spreaders, gooseneck, furler and masthead fittings. Beyond a certain age — which riggers often put at around ten years, depending on use — they advise replacing the standing rigging rather than monitoring it: follow their advice, and keep the invoice.

• New or very good running rigging, with chafe protection wherever halyards and sheets rub.
• What you need to replace a shroud at sea: a length of wire or synthetic rope, mechanical terminals, shackles, split pins.

4. Sails, and above all downwind sails

A trade-wind crossing often means running or broad reaching for days on end. The mainsail rubs against the shrouds and the poled-out genoa never stops working. Have the sails inspected by a sail loft (see choosing a sail loft): stitching, reinforcements, bolt ropes, battens.

• A downwind configuration that is easy to handle with a small crew: poled-out genoa, twin headsails on the furler or a dedicated downwind sail, with a pole and its control lines.
• A third reef in the mainsail and a heavy-weather sail (storm jib, trysail) ready to hoist.
• A boom preventer, to avoid an accidental gybe.
• A sail repair kit: needles, thread, repair tape, cloth, sailmaker’s palm.

5. Rudder, steering and autopilot

• Rudder: bearings without play, sound rudder stock, new steering cables if they are getting old. A way of steering without the rudder, or at least an emergency tiller that actually fits: try it in port.
• Autopilot: it steers most of the time. The rule among long-distance sailors is redundancy: a wind-vane self-steering gear (a mechanical pilot that follows the wind, with no electricity), a second autopilot, or at the very least the wear parts for the first one. See autopilot that disengages.

6. Energy and water

Autopilot, lights, instruments, fridge and communications consume power non-stop. Draw up an energy budget: what the boat uses in twenty-four hours and what it produces (solar panels, wind generator, hydrogenerator, alternator). The solar simulator helps size the panels, and the guide solar panels that do not charge covers the classic faults. The engine must not be the only source of charge.

• House batteries healthy and tested, terminals redone, regulators checked.
• Water: a reserve calculated for the crossing with a margin, spread across several tanks or jerrycans so that a leak or contaminated water does not leave you with nothing. A watermaker is a comfort, not a reserve: see watermaker losing output.

7. Communications offshore

VHF only reaches a few tens of miles at best. Offshore, you need satellite communications (messaging, voice or both) or an SSB radio to receive weather, send news and call for help. Add AIS, a distress beacon registered in your name, and a waterproof handheld VHF. Everything is tested before departure, including receiving weather files. If a device plays up: VHF or AIS not working. Also check which radio qualifications are required to use your equipment outside French waters.

8. Spare parts and tools

The principle: being able to repair on your own what breaks most often. A basic list, to be completed with the manual of each piece of equipment:

• Engine: oil and fuel filters, impellers, belts, oil, coolant, anodes, seals, a kit of hoses and clips.
• Pumps: seal and diaphragm kits (fresh water, bilge, toilets).
• Electrics: fuses, terminals, cable, heat-shrink, multimeter, soldering iron.
• Rigging and deck hardware: shackles, blocks, split pins, line in every diameter.
• Consumables: sealant, resin and glass cloth, sealing tape, glue, penetrating oil.
• A complete, well-stowed toolkit, with spanners in the engine’s sizes, and a written inventory of what is where.

9. Offshore safety

More than 60 miles from a shelter, French regulations require the “offshore” equipment (details in mandatory safety equipment): liferaft, distress beacon, waterproof handheld VHF, harnesses, etc. That is a minimum. For an ocean crossing, people usually add:

• Jacklines from bow to stern and clip-on points right at the companionway.
• Serviced inflatable lifejackets with built-in harness, light and, if possible, a personal AIS or distress beacon.
• A way of recovering a crew member who has fallen overboard, actually tried out before departure.
• A grab bag (water, handheld VHF, beacon, papers, medicines), stowed near the companionway.
• A medical kit suited to the length and remoteness of the voyage, put together with a doctor.
• The liferaft serviced, and every expiry date checked: flares, extinguishers, lifejacket cartridges.

10. Papers, insurance, formalities

• Registration documents up to date, and the boat’s papers as originals and copies (paper and digital).
• Insurance that explicitly covers the crossing and the destination areas: read the conditions (excluded areas and periods, minimum crew, survey required).
• Each crew member’s passport valid well beyond the planned return date, any visas, crew list.
• The entry formalities of each country of arrival (customs, immigration, health): find out before leaving, they vary from one country to another. The entry formalities, country by country give the procedures and ports of entry of each destination.

11. The last month: go sailing

A preparation is validated at sea. A passage of several days and nights before the big departure reveals what no dockside check shows: an autopilot that runs hot, a halyard that chafes, a leak in a rough sea. Keep the last month for fixing things, not for starting new jobs.

12. Record everything

Rigging replaced, sails serviced, liferaft, autopilot, spares on board: recorded in the Hullteam log with their invoices and dates, these preparations are useful to the insurer, on your return, and on the day the boat is sold — see which proofs of maintenance count.