Hauling out in Malta: how to book it and what happens

A haul-out is the one time in the year when you can see the whole boat. Everything below the waterline is hidden for the rest of it: the hull, the propeller, the rudder, and the valves that keep the sea out. So the lift is not only about fresh antifouling, the paint that stops weed and barnacles growing. It is the annual inspection.

This is how it goes in Malta, in the order it happens.

In short

• Book the lift before you book anything else, and book early for spring.
• The first hour after the pressure wash is the inspection. Have someone there for it.
• A straightforward haul-out is a matter of days. Weather and surprises are what stretch it.

Choosing the yard and booking the lift

The yard has to suit the boat. Its lift must take the boat’s real weight and its beam (width), and it should not be a long delivery trip from your berth. Our guide to boatyards in Malta sets out what each yard can lift and what to ask.

When you ask for a slot, the yard will want the boat’s length, beam, draught (depth below the waterline) and weight, and how long you expect to stay ashore. Ask in return what the price includes: lift, pressure wash, cradle or props, a number of days on the hardstand (the open yard where boats stand ashore), and the relaunch.

Spring is the busy season. If you want to be antifouled before the summer, ask for the slot at the start of the year. Autumn and winter dates are easier to get.

What to have ready

• The work list, agreed and quoted. Antifouling, anodes and seacock checks as standard, plus anything known: a vibration, a weeping fitting, a rudder with play.
• Paint and parts ordered. The right antifouling for what is already on the hull, anodes of the right size, and any seacocks or bearings you already know are needed.
• Lifting points. If the builder marked where the slings go, find the marks. If not, a photograph from the last lift shows the driver where the shaft, the fins and the log are. The log is the small paddle wheel under the hull that measures speed.
• The boat lightened and secured. Tanks low if possible, loose gear stowed, the tender taken off.
• Rig. On some lifts a sailing boat’s backstay or forestay has to be eased or removed to clear the crossbeam. Ask the yard beforehand.
• Someone to deliver the boat. She has to be driven to the lift and back, in suitable weather.

Lift day: slings, wash and the first look

The boat is driven into the lift dock, and two slings are passed under the hull. The driver takes the weight slowly, checks how she sits, and lifts her clear. A sling in the wrong place can bend a shaft or crush a log.

The hull is pressure-washed straight away, while the growth is still wet and soft. Left to dry, it sets like cement.

Then comes the most useful hour of the year. With the hull clean and wet, everything shows: where the antifouling held and where it failed, blisters, cracks around the keel, damage to the propeller, the state of the anodes. We meet the boat at the lift and photograph all of it before she is moved to the hardstand and chocked on a cradle or props.

What gets inspected while she is out

Hull. The old antifouling: is it sound, flaking or built up too thick? Any blisters are noted, and moisture readings are taken if osmosis is suspected. Osmosis is water absorbed into the laminate, which shows as blisters. The keel joint and the leading edges are checked for knocks.

Anodes. These are the blocks of sacrificial metal that corrode so the propeller and shaft do not. Each one is photographed and replaced if it is more than about half gone. How fast they went is a clue in itself, as our guide to how often anodes need changing explains.

Seacocks and through-hulls. A through-hull is a fitting where a pipe passes through the hull. A seacock is the valve on it. Every seacock is opened and closed, greased, and its hose and clips checked. One that will not turn is replaced now, while the boat is out, not found in an emergency.

Shaft, propeller and bearings. The propeller is checked for dings, pitting and fishing line. The shaft is turned and checked for play in the cutless bearing, the rubber-lined bearing that supports it. The shaft seal is inspected from inside. On a boat with a drive leg in place of a shaft, the rubber seals and bellows are checked.

Rudder and the rest. The rudder is swung and lifted to feel for wear in the bearings, and the blade is checked for cracks. Trim tabs, bow thruster and intake strainers get a look too.

Whatever is found is photographed and quoted before anything extra is done.

Antifouling and anodes

The old coating is keyed, which means lightly sanded so that new paint grips. Where it has failed, it is taken back further and primed. The waterline is masked, and two coats go on, with extra at the waterline and the leading edges, where paint wears fastest. Each coat needs its drying time, and the paint has a minimum and a maximum time before the boat goes back in the water.

New anodes go on last and are never painted over.

Which paint to choose, and how long it lasts here, is covered in antifouling in Maltese water.

Relaunch and checks afloat

The boat goes back into the slings. The patches where the props or cradle pads stood are painted, and she is lowered in. Before the slings come off, someone goes below and checks every seacock, the shaft seal and any fitting that was disturbed. If water is coming in, she can be lifted again straight away.

Then the engine is started and the cooling water checked at the exhaust. Some shaft seals need the air let out of them once the boat is afloat. On the trip back to the berth, watch the temperature gauge and listen for vibration.

How long it takes and how often

A straightforward haul-out, with wash, inspection, two coats, anodes, seacock checks and relaunch, is a matter of days, weather permitting.

Three things stretch it. Rain or damp stops painting. A finding, such as a seized seacock, a worn bearing or blisters, adds its own work and sometimes a wait for parts. And osmosis treatment is a long job in its own right, because the hull has to dry first.

As for how often: plan on every 12 months in Malta. Warm water and a long season mean growth comes quickly, and a boat that sits at its berth fouls faster than one that is used. Between haul-outs, a diver can clean the hull and change the shaft and propeller anodes in the water.

We work at every yard in Malta and Gozo. What we do during a lift, and how it is quoted, is set out under antifouling and haul-out.