We haul because we pretty much have to in the great frozen north. But if I lived were you do I likely would not haul every year. It's a lot of work spring and fall though most of it is in winterizing and covering the boat. On the upside, I get a close look at the bottom and can easily inspect the mast and rigging on the ground every year.

If you can not sail her, haul your boat and cover it, the boat will last longer. You are protecting the fiberglass from UV and you are letting the hull dry out. Yes, fiberglass does absorb water over time. FUll inspectionof the hull and rigging can be done.

As said, up north there is not much of a choice.... Sailing is not a great option once the temperature goes below 3 to 5 C. Worse still ice forms on the river....Time to build an ice boat??? Global warming is making that questionable.... Every year we pull everthing possible off of the boat, especially soft goods, they will get moldy. When spring comes we only bring back what we need... You will be surprised at what clutter can build up in various storage areas.

If I was in your situation (and location) I would leave it in the water, your reasoning is sound given what you just had done. I expect your concern is going to be snow load since I gather you do occasionally get some significant snow down there.

People do leave their boats in all year round up here with a variety of de-icing solutions, mostly fans but some bubble. We get ice and lots of it. Our little marina is almost full this year, both on the hard and in the water, due to another marina nearby going TU for the 2nd time in about 5 years.

A few liveaboards are on the boats in the water, I can't imagine what that would be like in winter up here at -30C! They're all metered for hydro individually and one liveaboard told me he was spending about $250 a month on hydro for a 36' sailboat. Another one hauled last summer for the first time in 6 years, I was amazed at how clean the bottom was, just slime, but that's fresh water.

Most just shovel it off, but some of the liveaboards build elaborate frameworks over the boat and cover that with 6 mil vapour barrier stretched tightly, the snow slides off it if you do it right. Plus it adds a lot of warmth to the boat through breaking the wind. They say it's quite pleasant on a sunny winter day, just like a sunroom.

We sailed out of Stingray Point for several years and started on an every other year haul out schedule which I think is adequate to let the hull dry.

Fortunately the schedule worked well our first cycle after we moved north so we were in the water for last years very mild winter. We intend to haul this year. Snow and freezing of the creek is far more likely up here, so if I were in your shoes I'd likely stay in the water this year as Deltaville usually doesn't get very much snow even when the State gets some accumulation.

One point of clarification. While it's true that polyester resin allows water to permeate through it and get wicked up in the fibers of the composite, with the Mark II's Catalina used vinylester gel coat and it is far more resistant to water than polyester is. Also, you've barrier coated your bottom which is epoxy, and epoxy is totally resistant to water. With a good bottom job, and it sounds like yours was well done, water should not permeate through the gel coat.

Robert, Sandy is ON THE WAY. Time to make serious preparations.