Many of the yachts berthed in Mallorca belong to owners who live in Stockholm, London, Paris, Munich or Geneva and spend a few weeks a year aboard. The yacht doesn't stop ageing while they're away. Seals dry out, batteries discharge, bilges collect water, and a small fault left for three months is a bigger one by the time the owner flies in.
The answer is less about paying someone to look at the yacht and more about setting up a routine that tells you, from abroad, what state she's in. This is how we'd suggest organising it.
Decide who is responsible for what
Before anything else, write down who does what. On a yacht with a full-time captain, most of this sits with them. Without a captain, it usually splits between:
- a management company, for berthing, paperwork, crew and charter if the yacht charters;
- a technical company, for maintenance, repairs and the checks below;
- the marina, for the berth, shore power and security of the pontoon.
Gaps between those three are where problems start. If nobody is sure who should check the bilge after a storm, nobody will.
The routine that actually protects the yacht
Our guardianage service covers security checks, routine maintenance, weather precautions and emergency response, carried out by the same technical team that services the yacht. Whoever does it, a sound routine includes:
- Regular visits on a fixed schedule, plus an extra visit after any strong wind, heavy rain or reported power cut in the marina.
- Bilges: level, where the water is coming from, and whether the bilge pumps are cycling more than usual.
- Shore power and batteries: that the yacht is still on shore power, chargers are working, and battery voltages are normal.
- Mooring lines and fenders: chafe, tension and position, especially before forecast weather.
- Ventilation and humidity: a closed-up yacht in a Mallorcan summer collects condensation and mould quickly.
- Running the machinery: starting the engines and generators, running seawater-cooled systems and watermakers to the manufacturer's guidance, so pumps and seals don't sit dry for months.
- A look at the hull and deck: water ingress, canvas, hatches and anything that has moved.
Ask for reports you can use from abroad
A report that says "all fine" isn't much use when you're 2,000 km away. Ask for:
- Photos of the bilges, engine room, battery monitor and anything unusual, every visit.
- Readings: battery voltages, engine and generator hours, bilge pump cycles if the yacht logs them.
- A short defect list, prioritised: what needs doing now, what can wait for the next scheduled service, and what's just worth watching.
- Quotes before work: anything beyond the agreed routine should come to you with a price and a reason before it starts.
Detailed reporting is how we run our projects. It's also what lets an owner make decisions without flying out for every question.
Plan the big work around your visits
The worst time to discover a fault is the week the family arrives. Use the quiet months:
- Autumn: lay-up, winter maintenance list and the main engine and generator service. Our lay-up guide covers the details.
- Winter: haul-out, antifouling, running gear, stabiliser servicing and any refit work.
- Spring: pre-season engine checks, sea trial, air conditioning and watermaker commissioning.
- Two to three weeks before you arrive: a final walk-through, provisioning of consumables and a sea trial if the yacht has been still for a while.
When something goes wrong while you're away
Faults rarely wait for a convenient time. Agree in advance:
- who the marina or guardian calls first, and at what hour;
- a spending limit the technical team can authorise without reaching you, for urgent work that protects the yacht;
- how you want to be told: a phone call for anything serious, a message with photos for the rest.
Our emergency line is +34 971 251 374, with WhatsApp on +34 674 427 692, at any hour, and our emergency response in Mallorca is within two hours.
Reporting a problem yourself
If you notice something from abroad, say an alarm on a remote monitoring app or a message from the marina, you can book a service online from your phone. Describe the problem, add photos or screenshots, and our AI technical intake will ask the questions an engineer would ask, then pass a complete brief to the team. You don't need to be on board, and you can follow the request with your reference number.
Finding the right information about your yacht
If your yacht is one of the builders we cover, the builder page lists the machinery the builder published for the model and what we check first: start from yacht service by builder. The brands we service pages do the same for engines, generators, air conditioning and stabilisers.