Seasonal Guide: Winterizing Your Quayside Business Before the Frost

Winter reaches a quay before it reaches most towns. The wind swings north-east, spray comes over the wall, and one morning the pontoon boards are white and the tap on the outside wall has stopped running. Almost every expensive winter repair at a waterfront business — a split pipe above the shop, a flooded store room, mould in the chandlery come March — traces back to a job that could have been done in an afternoon in October. Salt, wind and standing water do the rest. Here is the order to tackle it in: water, building, paperwork, people, customers.

Deal With Water First

Water is what does the damage, and it is what most people leave until the first cold forecast. Walk the property with a torch and a notebook and find every place water comes in or sits still. Record the pipe runs you cannot see as well as the ones you can: the chase behind the café wall, the supply under the decking, the line to the outside toilet nobody has touched since it was fitted.

• Isolate and drain outdoor taps, deck showers, pontoon wash-down points and hose reels. Shut the valve inside, then open the tap outside so the pipe empties.
• Label the stopcock, and make sure at least two people know where it is. A laminated note inside the till is not overkill.
• Hunt out pipes in unheated space: the store room behind the chandlery, the loft above the café, the cupboard against the seaward wall.
• Drain ice machines, coffee machines, water coolers and combination ovens following the manufacturer's instructions, not guesswork. Filters and cartridges come out too.
• In unheated toilets, shut off the supply, flush, and put non-toxic propylene glycol — plumber's antifreeze, not the car kind — in the traps and bowls.
• Leave background heating on rather than switching everything off, and open cupboard doors on the coldest nights so warm air reaches the pipes on the seaward wall.

If a pipe does freeze, thaw it gently with a hairdryer or warm towels, working back from the tap. A blowtorch in a timber building turns a small problem into a large one. And if the pipe has already split, shut the water off at the stopcock before you thaw it, or you will spend the morning mopping instead of repairing.

Insulate the Building, Not Just the Pipes

Lagging is cheap, so do it first and then work outwards. Draught-proof external doors and windows, hang heavy curtains on the seaward side, and put strip curtains on doorways that open every few minutes. Clear gutters and downpipes so meltwater has somewhere to go, because ice and blocked drainage cause more damage than cold alone. Cover external refrigeration and air-conditioning condensers, but keep the vents clear — a condenser boxed in tight will fail in the summer you need it most.

Don't seal the place so tightly that damp cannot escape. Kitchens and wet kit produce moisture, and trapped moisture in a cold building grows mould, which is worse than a slightly higher fuel bill. Ventilate on dry days. While you are outside, check handrails, steps and pontoon ramps: frost and salt make a slippery pair, and a customer's fall is a claim nobody needs. Gritting bins, salt and a decent shovel cost far less in October than an ambulance does in January.

Insurance and the Unoccupied-Premises Clause

Policies treat a building differently once it stands empty for a stretch, and a seasonal business can slip into that category without anyone intending it to. Conditions commonly attached to unoccupied premises include keeping the heating at a minimum temperature, shutting off and draining the water, and having someone inspect the property on a set schedule. A café that closes from November to March, with a fortnightly visit logged in a notebook, is in far better shape than one where the heating was switched off and nobody told the insurer. Miss the conditions and a claim can be reduced or turned down.

Ring your broker and ask three questions: what counts as unoccupied, what I have to do while it is, and whether storm surge and flood cover still applies through the winter. Ask whether the policy requires a minimum temperature, a weekly inspection, or a formal written log. Get the answers in writing and file them with the policy.

Insurance wording varies and this is not professional advice. Use it as a prompt to ask your own broker before the frost, not after.

While you are at it: photograph the premises inside and out, update your contents list, and keep receipts for winter repairs. If you lift or store boats over winter, confirm in writing how your marine liability sits alongside the yard's cover.

Staffing Through the Quiet Months

The crew who make your summer plan their winter in November whether you do or not, so tell them early what the hours will look like. Most would rather have fewer shifts and a clear answer than a vague promise. A short meeting in October, with the rota on the table, saves a dozen awkward conversations in January.

• Keep a small core working through the winter, and use the quiet weeks for stocktake, deep cleaning, equipment servicing and training.
• Cross-train. The person who runs the front desk in August can learn the chandlery stock in January, which makes spring easier.
• Book holiday rotas in advance; December and January are when everyone wants the same week off.
• If you employ seasonal staff from overseas, check current requirements with the relevant authorities. The rules change, and guessing is an expensive way to discover that a visa or permit no longer covers the work you need done.
• Write down what only you know: the alarm code, the boiler's particular quirk, the landlord's number. A business that stops when one person goes skiing is one cold snap away from trouble.

Prepare for Storms and Power Cuts

On a quay, the wind is the bigger risk. A loose cover, an unsecured signboard or a stack of crates can become someone else's problem two streets away, and you will still be liable for it.

• Secure or store outdoor furniture, A-boards, planters, bins, gas bottles and ladders before the first named storm, not during it.
• Check mooring lines and fenders on any floating kit, and keep a spare line and a throwing buoy within reach.
• Test emergency lighting, torches and battery radios, and keep charged power banks and a printed list of emergency numbers in the office.
• Know how to shut off the electricity and gas, and where the fuse board is.
• Check sump pumps and non-return valves in low-lying store rooms — the ones that flood when a spring tide meets heavy rain.

If the power does go, freezers and fridges are the first casualty. Keep a thermometer in the freezer and resist opening the door to check; a full freezer will hold its temperature for a day or more.

Look After the Winter Customer

The winter trade is different, and worth planning for. It is smaller, wetter and more local: dog walkers, wild swimmers, fishermen, contractors, and the neighbours who keep you going until Easter.

• Keep one entrance open, well lit and gritted, and sign-post it clearly if you close the others.
• Warm the seating near the door, not the far corner. Nobody lingers in a draught.
• Adjust opening hours to match the light, and say so loudly — on the door, online and in the window.
• Stock for what winter sells: hot drinks, soup, gloves, dry bags, hand warmers and something for wet dogs.
• Offer a winter mooring rate, a loyalty card or a quiet-season discount. Regulars are built in January, not July.

Deliveries matter too. If the lane floods or ice makes the ramp impassable, agree a fallback with suppliers now, while the sun is still shining.

The Order That Works

1. Water — in October, before the first frost is forecast.
2. Building — lagging, gutters, gritting and storm-proofing.
3. Paperwork — insurance answers in writing, photos on file.
4. People — the winter rota agreed before December.
5. Customers — the quiet season's own trade, not just an empty version of summer.

None of it is expensive; most of it is an afternoon with a torch, a notebook and a roll of lagging.

Winter is coming to the quay whether you are ready or not. The businesses that sail into spring are simply the ones that did the boring jobs in the autumn.

Photo: BruceEmmerling / Pixabay