In winter, ie from approx. October 1 – April 20, Maja is “laid up” which means that the ongoing rigging (rope) and sails are taken off and stowed dry under deck. The booms are also taken down and approx. every 3 years also the top bars (upper half of the mast).
The ship is then covered with a specially made tent carried by a heavy scaffolding. The ship actually gets a hold of. Booms and other equipment from the rigging can be left in dry weather all winter and can easily be sanded, varnished and inspected. Saga and Sindbad obvious in Struer In the spring and everything is rigged again in inspected condition.
It is in the winter that we book most sailing trips and the ship is prepared for the annual inspections, which are also located here.
Once the ship is covered, it does not get as much rainwater.
Although Maja is a steel ship, she has a lot of wood such as decks, masts, booms, forks, skylights, etc. and when the ship is in salt water and sails regularly is not so prone to fungus and rot attacks as the “environment” is relatively salty. If the ship has a leak somewhere in the deck, it will usually be salt water that penetrates and so little salt is deposited in the leaks, which prevents fungal attack.
If, on the other hand, the ship is in port for a long time and only gets rainwater / fresh water over it, it gradually becomes more and more fresh in the wood and susceptible to fungal attack.
Therefore, it is of great benefit that the ship is covered in the winter and saved for the large amounts of fresh water that rain, sleet and snow provide.
The cover also allows us to embark on major renovation projects during the winter as you can see in the pictures below.
October 2011.
Tv: The schooner top bar on Saga is taken down and below, the lower mast is also removed for thorough renovation.
and the mast is now on land.
February 2005 The water tank needs to be replaced!
Rasmus (Jegvan’s little brother) is fortunately a very skilled blacksmith and ship fitter so he has made a new water tank and a sewage tank for Saga.
as you can see a hole needs to be made in the ship to get them in place. Jegvan does the carpentry work and mounts the drop hatch and new deck over the hole.
March 2006. The main engine on the Saga needs to be replaced.
To the left I stand by the old engine that Rasmus and I have loosened and hoisted up carefully with hoists. Ready to be lifted further by a crane.
Below, the new engine (a Cummins 6BT5.9M with 210 hp) is being hoisted down on board so we can get it in place with hoists in the engine room.
Rasmus manages most of the engine installation, but of course a hole had to be made in the tire so that the engines could get in and out. So I had to go to it again and lay new tire and caulk it.
Tina grinds off the floor
Here I have just finished replacing the ruff frame and deck planks on the ruff (just to my right).