I have been busy winterising a motorcycle engine. What really kills them is water creeping into the electrics either by rain pouring down on them or worse still, condensation, which eventually causes the copper wire to go green and then suddenly what is supposed to be 12 volts is down to 9 or 10, causing all sorts of anxiety on the side of the road.

I work outside for 7 hours a day in all weathers and have become quite used to dealing with winter.  But reading some of the “prepare your boat for winter" articles, one could be cruel and suggest that they are written by journalists that perhaps don’t!!

OK.  I’ve just covered the outboard (it’s the same as motorcycle engine) - a small tin of silicone grease over all the electrical contacts – spark plug caps, coil etc., goes an awfully long way to stopping problems, as does draining the fuel completely (modern corn ethanol fuel is actually Montana moonshine and extremely good at absorbing water, which doesn’t do fuel systems any good). I often wince when people lay up their bikes for the whole of the winter.  My advice is to start that outboard at least once a month or the oil seals etc. will dry out,  causing problems next year.  And don’t forget to grease the steering gear and control cables, if only because they will dry out without use and become heavy and unresponsive. It's worth using a penetrating cleaning fluid (the one that comes in yellow and blue can) to clean off all the old grease first as it hardens over time. If you have an out-board lift tilt and drain it, then bounce it a few times up and down. This does wonders for clearing the grill over the water intake. Inboards are slightly trickier mainly because of the prop shaft. Everyone is used to giving the greaser two turns in summertime but they duly forget it in wintertime and seeing as this grease is the only thing stopping water entering the shaft, plus a strip of greased soaked leather or rope, the results of neglect can be catastrophic. When Dawntreader was diesel powered, I used to drain the fuel tank in winter because the dreaded diesel bug loves the condensation which naturally forms as air heats and cools. So either drain it or brim it. Anything to stop this.

Bilge pumps!! Who ever thought that relying on an automatic anything was a good idea? I have three and only one is electric- the other two are very much manual. Your battery will naturally discharge in the cold and the chances of a failure are incredibly high. Also, nothing beats sticking your head down below the cockpit floor once a week just to double check. I read with interest that two boats went down on the Kennet and Avon after storm Bert, during which,although I don’t know facts, I can assume that 40mm of rain in 24 hours probably contributed.

Next, the hull. We spend a fortune on car products to give them glossy and protected paintwork and we never translate this to anything else. So my advice is a good waxing of the paintwork whatever the hull construction; anything to stop water sitting on flat surfaces and slowly penetrating the base layers where it will freeze and blow. I’ve used this anti- green cleaner: it leaves behind a residue that stops the algae from forming and is exceptional on the canopy, which also needs a coating of silicone based cleaner to help shed the rain. The boat has to breathe, windsocks over vents allows them to be left open without the fear of rainwater pouring in – although storm Bert disproved that theory! Canopies are my biggest fear- ever been in a tent in a storm and seen it blow in and out? My main issue is the wind trying to lift off the pram folders (metal supports) so I have a cleat on the engine cover and a large mooring rope pulling it all down tight. This seems to work, as last weekend was horrendous. Forget the elastic fasteners in winter, they are ideal in summer for quick removal, but the idea is to stop it shaking about which means bolt rope (it’s a sailing term used for rope of about 10mm that strengthened a sail).

Finally chaffing!! Even if you are in a marina, your boat will move back and forth day in, day out. We all use fair-leads (the holders for ropes in the deck) to reduce this. On many tall ships I was on, they even went as far as sewing in leather protectors. Just check around where your lines cross the deck and especially around a cleat where this can go unnoticed.

The best thing you can do for any machine is to use it! We seem to have an inbuilt psychology which says that after November we must all hide away until March. There are some lovely days in winter, why waste them?