Leaving a Boat Unattended? What to Check Before You Go

Leaving a boat unattended for a few days is easy. Leaving her for a month feels different.

You walk down the pontoon, turn around once more, and suddenly start wondering whether you closed the seacock, whether the battery charger is behaving itself, whether that fender really is at the right height...

Boats have a talent for making you remember important things approximately five minutes after you leave the marina.

When we first bought Milda, we actually had to leave her in Trilye for a few weeks before work allowed us to bring her home to Bodrum. We had spent only one night aboard our new boat and then had to walk away from her again.

Since then, one thing has become very clear to me: before leaving a boat for a while, the aim is not to prepare for every possible disaster.

It is to remove the obvious opportunities for trouble.

And hopefully come back a month later to find the boat exactly as boring as you left her.

Start With the Bilge

This would be one of my first checks.

If there is water in the bilge, find out why before you leave rather than assuming the pump will take care of it for the next month.

Then test the automatic bilge pump properly.

Does the float switch activate it?

Does the pump actually remove water?

Is the outlet clear?

Does the battery feeding it have enough power while you are away?

A bilge pump is a backup. It should not become the long-term solution to an unexplained leak.

If yours has been running more often than usual, sort that out before leaving. We have a separate guide on why your bilge pump keeps turning on.

Decide What Happens With Shore Power

This is one of those subjects where there is no single correct answer for every boat.

Some owners leave shore power connected because a charger, dehumidifier or other equipment needs it.

Others disconnect almost everything.

Whichever you do, make it a conscious decision.

If shore power is staying connected, inspect the cable, plug and connections. Make sure nothing is getting hot, damaged or sitting somewhere water can collect.

Check that the battery charger is operating normally too.

If you are disconnecting shore power, make sure the batteries are properly charged first and that anything which needs to stay powered — particularly the automatic bilge pump — will have enough battery capacity.

A battery problem that is mildly irritating when you are standing beside the boat becomes much less entertaining when you are 800 kilometres away.

If your batteries already seem unreliable, deal with that first. Our guide to why a boat battery keeps dying may help.

Close What Does Not Need to Be Open

Go through the seacocks.

Exactly which ones should remain open depends on the boat and the equipment you are leaving running, so this is not a case of blindly closing everything.

But unnecessary open seacocks are unnecessary holes connected to the sea.

If a toilet, sink or other system does not need seawater while nobody is aboard, close the appropriate seacock.

This is also a good moment to look at the fittings.

If a seacock is stiff, leaking or has not moved in years, discovering that while you are packing to leave is annoying.

Still better than discovering it when you come back to water somewhere it should not be.

Turn Off the Fresh-Water Pump

I would normally switch off the pressurised fresh-water pump before leaving.

A small plumbing leak is usually just an inconvenience when somebody is aboard to hear the pump cycling.

With nobody there, it can quietly empty an entire water tank into the boat.

Turn off unnecessary electrical systems at the same time.

You do not have to make the boat electrically dead if equipment needs to stay running, but there is no reason to leave half the boat switched on simply because you forgot about it.

And if you have gas aboard, shut it off properly at the cylinder.

Empty the Fridge Properly

This sounds ridiculously basic.

It also prevents one of the least enjoyable welcome-home experiences available to humanity.

If the fridge is going off, empty it.

Everything.

That lonely piece of cheese hiding behind the bottle of mustard also counts.

Clean it, dry it and leave the door slightly open so air can circulate.

The same goes for food lockers. Remove anything that can rot, leak, attract insects or become mysterious during your absence.

A boat already has enough strange smells without giving yoghurt a month to develop its own civilisation.

Give Moisture Somewhere to Go

A closed boat and moisture are old friends.

Unfortunately.

Before leaving, make sure the interior is reasonably dry. Do not leave wet towels, damp sailing gear or soaked ropes lying inside.

Open interior cupboard doors where practical so air can circulate.

Leave purpose-built vents operating as intended.

If your boat uses a dehumidifier while unattended, make sure the installation, drain arrangement and electrical supply are genuinely suitable for that.

And be careful with the idea of simply leaving a hatch cracked open.

Ventilation is lovely.

Rainwater inside the saloon for four weeks is less lovely.

Check the Lines and Fenders Like You Mean It

Your boat may be perfectly safe today.

The weather next week has not signed that agreement.

Look at the mooring lines for chafe.

Are they running cleanly through fairleads?

Are they rubbing somewhere?

Do you have enough movement for the expected tide or water-level changes?

Are the fenders at useful heights rather than decorating the side of the boat?

Think about what would happen if the wind arrived from the opposite direction.

When we lived aboard, you naturally noticed every little change because you were there every day. When nobody is aboard for weeks, the setup has to look after itself.

That means leaving a little margin for weather rather than arranging the boat only for today's calm afternoon.

Secure Everything Above Deck

Walk around the deck slowly.

Loose cushions, buckets, cockpit covers, dinghy equipment, paddleboards, cleaning brushes — boats collect things.

Anything that can blow away eventually will.

Check the sails too.

Make sure furling sails are properly secured and cannot begin unfurling in strong wind.

Check the mainsail cover and canvas.

If serious weather is expected and something can easily be removed rather than trusted to survive it, removing it may be the simpler option.

You do not get bonus points for proving that your cockpit cushion can cross the marina by itself.

Toilets Deserve a Last Look

Marine toilets are another area where leaving things clean pays off.

Flush them properly according to your system, make sure nothing is leaking and leave the appropriate seacocks closed if the system will not be used.

If you have a holding tank, think about whether you really want to leave it full for a month.

Usually, the answer arrives fairly quickly.

No.

Ask Someone to Look at the Boat

This may be the most useful thing on the entire list.

If you are leaving the boat in a marina for several weeks, ask someone you trust to glance at her occasionally.

A marina neighbour, friend, marina staff member or professional boat-care service can notice things that no remote app ever will.

A line has chafed.

A fender has moved.

Shore power has tripped.

A cover has come loose.

The boat suddenly looks lower in the water.

It does not need to become a formal inspection every Tuesday at 09:00.

Just having somebody who knows you are away can make a big difference.

Before Leaving a Boat Unattended, Do One Slow Lap

This is the habit I like most.

Do everything.

Finish packing.

Lock up.

Then stop rushing.

Walk around the boat one more time.

Bilge.

Power.

Batteries.

Seacocks.

Water pump.

Gas.

Fridge.

Lines.

Fenders.

Canvas.

Hatches.

Deck.

Then leave.

Because the biggest problem with preparing a boat for a month is not usually that you do not know what to do.

It is that you are carrying bags, checking flights, looking for your keys and trying to remember whether you packed your toothbrush at the same time.

A final slow lap catches surprisingly many things.

And when you come back?

The ideal result is very boring.

The lines are where you left them.

The bilge is dry.

The batteries are happy.

Nothing smells suspicious.

Perfect.

On a boat, boring can be a wonderful thing.

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