My husband and I are VERY novice sailors, who bought our Mac 26M because it seemed the ideal boat to learn on and manage ourselves now we are less agile (we are in our mid 60s). We took the mast off and only power-boated the first year whilst we learned at lot of water craft and launch/retrieve techniques. Up until now we have always trailered to launch ramps and brought her home each time - so no anti-foul is applied to her hull.
Now that we have started to put up the sails occasionally - and I positively love it! and we need the practise!!!! we plan to go further afield and hopefully overnight her, this summer. In the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand there are lots of nearby islands that are safe to get to, for novices. So we have taken a marina berth for the entire summer too, (expensive !!!) to save on launching/retrieving and putting the mast up & down (it is quite tiring at our age). I would like to ask if anyone can tell me if it is OK to leave her in the berth for 7 months without anti-foul - and clean her when she comes out? Or will I have to retrieve her within this period to do a clean? Will it affect the performance in anyway?
Now that we have started to put up the sails occasionally - and I positively love it! and we need the practise!!!! we plan to go further afield and hopefully overnight her, this summer. In the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand there are lots of nearby islands that are safe to get to, for novices. So we have taken a marina berth for the entire summer too, (expensive !!!) to save on launching/retrieving and putting the mast up & down (it is quite tiring at our age). I would like to ask if anyone can tell me if it is OK to leave her in the berth for 7 months without anti-foul - and clean her when she comes out? Or will I have to retrieve her within this period to do a clean? Will it affect the performance in anyway?
