Boat prep for a west coat freeze?

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Jim P.

OK, the rest of the country can laugh at us now. Wearing a T-shirt yesterday, we're now expecting possible record lows over the weekend (low 20's). Can anyone suggest what precautions are practical for this temporary freeze range. We have two passive dehumidifier/warmers in the boat but no other prep as yet. Thanks mates.
 
Dec 25, 2000
6,052
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
Hi Jim, I keep three warmers and a space heater...

set on low to keep the chill out of the boat. Seems to work for us. Terry
 
Sep 25, 2008
7,687
Alden 50 Sarasota, Florida
are you guys in the water?

presuming you are, I'm not sure you should be concerned with anything freezing. We northerners find that proximity to the water tends to moderate the hull temp sufficient to keep stuff from freezing unless the ambient temp gets REALLY cold or SF bay freezes...
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,336
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
The water is 57 degrees, give or take a few.

This is NOT an issue.
 
J

jim p.

thanks for the feedback

Apparently no issue, thanks. I just recall how much land plumbing failed in the 1990 freeze, wasn't sure if that correlated to boat plumbing. Should be back to T-shirts soon.
 
A

Allorshas

just to feel safe

We keep our boat in the water all winter and with temp in the lower 20's there is a couple of basics and minimum things you should do : Keep in mind that the heater could/ will fail !!! Close all seacocks/ Empty water tanks /Drain all water from engine Put winterizing product in the head and bilge If you drained engine and temp stays low for only a couple days you do not need to winterize engine We have had the boat in the water with temperatures way below 0 degrees without serious problem
 
T

tom h

another question

This year and last, the Lake has not froze (so far anyway, and at 43 degrees, look like it won't this year). I thought about keeping my boat in the water. The previous owner did, and had pipe wrap electric heaters for each thru hull. My question is, if you close the thru hull, and the water freezes or it gets blow freezing outside...what happens to the water inside the thru hull if the pipes are not heated? I see people sail in Finland and Sweden and always wonder abuout the prep. Do you make your engine contained, like a cars system, to avoid really cold water, or freeze up, especially if you don't run the motor for a few eeks at a time.
 
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Phil

Been There

We kept ours in one winter. We winterized the boat just as if we were pulling it and closed all thru hulls. I did run anitfreeze thru the lines prior to closing the thru hulls. Every thing went fine. A good thur hull should not have any problem dealing with exterior freezing. Being from NJ and always pulling the boats I wasn't happy with the boat in the water thru the winter so we pull it now days and give it a chance to dry.
 
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Peter

Motor

While this cold spell isn't forecast to be as cold as the one I remember about 10 years ago, when it was in the low teens, at that time one of the boats in my harbor had the A4's block crack. It was raw water cooled, and so of course there was no antifreeze to protect the motor from the cold. After several nights in the teens, and days in the 30s, he had to replace the A4.
 
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