Sunsplash

Season 8: Preparation Time!

We sometimes tend to overlook it, but preparing a catamaran for winterization is crucial to its future condition. The Canadian crew of Sunsplash, who spend six months in the Caribbean and six months in Quebec, describe how they get their Leopard back into service, ready for her 8th season...

Sunsplash

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Published 27/05/2025

By Gilles Ruffet

Issue: 202

Published: july / aug. 2025

Discover this issue

Who: Annick & Philippe, Raphaël & Antoine. With the help of Gaëtan.
Where: Grenada
Multihull: Leopard 48
Blog: www.arpavoyage.wordpress.com

In anticipation of a possible hurricane, Sunsplash will have spent six months lashed to concrete blocks on dry land. We were relieved to be spared the passage of Hurricane Beryl, which ravaged several islands to the north of Grenada in July. Many residents lost everything. There’s a lot to do to prepare Sunsplash. Fortunately, a friend, Gaétan, came to lend us a hand. His presence helped enormously with the many projects and tasks required for this new season. Being an organizational hero, our Captain proceeded to fill up his Kanban board with everything we needed to accomplish between now and the launch, nine days later. One of the first tasks was to free up space… and weight. We took the three air conditioners off the boat. We don’t use them when we’re at anchor, and we don’t visit marinas much anymore. Another project was to free up more space, and we transformed one of the three bathrooms into a workshop and storage area. Then it was time to stock up for the season. Why do we store so much? Because it’s sometimes difficult and complicated to buy groceries on a regular basis. We’re sometimes anchored near towns or villages where there’s only the equivalent of a small grocery store (called a “dépanneur” in Quebec). To get there, it’s often best to rent a car, as the trips by dinghy can be long and, above all, very wet. Bringing back groceries completely soaked by salt water is really not ideal. We mainly stock dry goods such as cans, cereals, flour, juices, and of course a few sweets and potato chips. Our filing and storage system for all these items is being refined year by year. We have several places on board the catamaran where we store food. For example, there’s a large volume under one of the beds, several spaces under the saloon cushions, panels giving access to the inside of the bulkheads, and hatches in the floor. As always, we waited for the best moment, i.e. with the least possible wind, to be able to reset the sails. While the big clean-up continued, Raphaël busied himself washing the exterior with the high-pressure cleaner: six months of dust accumulation had left its mark. Philippe applied a coat of algae-repellent to the propellers.

Having completed all these tasks, the day finally arrived for the boat to be put back in the water. The essential work before returning to the water was done, although there was still a long list of things to do before we could sail. The travelift came to pick us up, before dropping us back in the water. But even after our Leopard was back in its element, the work continued. To protect us from the sun, rain and saltwater drizzle when we’re sailing, we added canvas around the cockpit. We thought we’d finished, but then... there was a problem with one of the toilets, which the best plumber on board (the Captain) managed to fix that very evening, just before midnight!