Hello All, I've got a C-30 up here in Boston & it's on the hard for the winter. I've got some leaky stanchions that allow a significant amount of water into the hull when it rains or when snow melts. If it rains overnight, then I might get 2" or 3" of water in the bilge. If we get a week's worth of heavy rain, it can fill to the cabin sole. Because of this, I decided to leave the batteries in the boat to keep the bilge pump going. I have an automotive battery charger & I plug it in overnight about once a month to keep the batteries charged. I also put a lot of salt & environmentally friendly antifreeze in the bilge in case we get rain & then a quick freeze. Any opinions on whether this is a bad idea? Ideally, I'd like to have the boat shrink wrapped, but the local guy wants $450 to do it, and I'd rather spend that $$ on a new GPS in the spring. I could get a tarp for it, but we get some high winds here & I've seen a number of boats get their gel coat hacked from flapping tarps. Any opinions welcome. Thanks, Allen Schweitzer s/v Drambuie C-30 Hull# 632
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Ed Schenck
Tough problem.
Charging the batteries once a month should do them nicely for the winter, no problem there. But ice in the bilge can jam the float switch and/or ruin the pump. Anti-freeze in the bilge helps a little but quickly gets diluted as your pump spills it overboard. I have a keel-stepped mast so get a fair amount of water in the bilge. I disconnect my pump because I am never sure how often I will get to check it(90 minutes away). I keep two gallons of anti-freeze in the bilge. If it has gotten too deep when I check(at least once a month) then I bail it out and add more anti-freeze. You need to fix your leak problem obviously. A cover is too hard to do if it has to cover the stanchions and toerail. Especially where you are exposed to a lot of wind. Good luck.
Charging the batteries once a month should do them nicely for the winter, no problem there. But ice in the bilge can jam the float switch and/or ruin the pump. Anti-freeze in the bilge helps a little but quickly gets diluted as your pump spills it overboard. I have a keel-stepped mast so get a fair amount of water in the bilge. I disconnect my pump because I am never sure how often I will get to check it(90 minutes away). I keep two gallons of anti-freeze in the bilge. If it has gotten too deep when I check(at least once a month) then I bail it out and add more anti-freeze. You need to fix your leak problem obviously. A cover is too hard to do if it has to cover the stanchions and toerail. Especially where you are exposed to a lot of wind. Good luck.
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Bob
Maybe it will Drain
Hi Allen, You might be able to remove the engine raw water feed at the seacock and let the water drain out. Bob
Hi Allen, You might be able to remove the engine raw water feed at the seacock and let the water drain out. Bob
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Stan Rogacevicz
Batteries - OK, Not Tarping - Not OK
Allen, A fully charged battery will winter fine if you disconnect it to avoid any bleed off-which Does Happen. Since you need to leave them connected as long as you are recharging them you should also be fine. I'm using my batteries while hooked up to shore power charging at the same time most weekends of most winter years because I'm allways working on new winter projects and they hold up fine. As for letting the pouring rain water we just had last weekend into your stanchions and any other little cracks and crevices in your gelcoat freeze as it did yesterday and today you are making thing worse. It's supposed to warm up in a couple days so the whole process will start again. You know what happens to our roads !!! Well the gelcoat you are concerned about is similar to the pavement. Those little spider cracks Will Get Bigger and those leaks Will Get Worse. Before I bit a big bullet and went with a Fairclough cover to store mast up which will end up being free in just the mast un-step/step charges over 10 years, I used the Silver/Black tarps over a good frame and got 5 plus years from them with the mast down. Creating a decent seal with the mast up of course is a much harder task. In my opinion even if you don't seal out all the water it is better than letting your boat get Flooded with rain or snow melt and then have it freeze up - Over and Over again all winter. Stan "Christy Leigh" c320 #656
Allen, A fully charged battery will winter fine if you disconnect it to avoid any bleed off-which Does Happen. Since you need to leave them connected as long as you are recharging them you should also be fine. I'm using my batteries while hooked up to shore power charging at the same time most weekends of most winter years because I'm allways working on new winter projects and they hold up fine. As for letting the pouring rain water we just had last weekend into your stanchions and any other little cracks and crevices in your gelcoat freeze as it did yesterday and today you are making thing worse. It's supposed to warm up in a couple days so the whole process will start again. You know what happens to our roads !!! Well the gelcoat you are concerned about is similar to the pavement. Those little spider cracks Will Get Bigger and those leaks Will Get Worse. Before I bit a big bullet and went with a Fairclough cover to store mast up which will end up being free in just the mast un-step/step charges over 10 years, I used the Silver/Black tarps over a good frame and got 5 plus years from them with the mast down. Creating a decent seal with the mast up of course is a much harder task. In my opinion even if you don't seal out all the water it is better than letting your boat get Flooded with rain or snow melt and then have it freeze up - Over and Over again all winter. Stan "Christy Leigh" c320 #656
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Tom Ehmke
Agree with Stan
Wind is wind and we all deal with what it does to tarps. If you use soft, CHEAP nylon clothes line to tie the tarps off, there is little or no risk of damage to the gelcoat, especially if you make a few trips to the boatyard to check on the boat and fix the tarps where they may have torn with...... duct tape. I duct tape all the folds and overlaps when I lay the tarps on and the tape comes off easily in the spring. Last season I had no tears with tarps that are at least five years old. I removed the stanchions on my O272 last season for the first time which made using my CHEAP green poly tarps easier. Removing the stanchions took all of 15 min. They are coiled with the lifelines and stored at home for the winter. As others have pointed out, tarping will significantly reduce water penetration which reduces not only the water in the bilge problem, but limits ice and water damage to laminate cores and spider cracks. I currently have one (of two) batteries on board for use when I go to the boat during the off-season. It will come home during XMAS for a recharge. Happy Holidays, Tom
Wind is wind and we all deal with what it does to tarps. If you use soft, CHEAP nylon clothes line to tie the tarps off, there is little or no risk of damage to the gelcoat, especially if you make a few trips to the boatyard to check on the boat and fix the tarps where they may have torn with...... duct tape. I duct tape all the folds and overlaps when I lay the tarps on and the tape comes off easily in the spring. Last season I had no tears with tarps that are at least five years old. I removed the stanchions on my O272 last season for the first time which made using my CHEAP green poly tarps easier. Removing the stanchions took all of 15 min. They are coiled with the lifelines and stored at home for the winter. As others have pointed out, tarping will significantly reduce water penetration which reduces not only the water in the bilge problem, but limits ice and water damage to laminate cores and spider cracks. I currently have one (of two) batteries on board for use when I go to the boat during the off-season. It will come home during XMAS for a recharge. Happy Holidays, Tom
When are you going to pay the piper?
Allen: If you are getting this much water down below you are probably doing damage to the coring in the deck and who knows what else. If you know that the stanchions are the problem why don't you just get over there and put some caulking under them. Potentially you are looking at a very expensive repair of the decks. It could exceed the value of the vessel and my render it un-saleable. If you really don't want to do the rebedding, you can just remove the stanchions and fill the holes with caulking to get you by for now.
Allen: If you are getting this much water down below you are probably doing damage to the coring in the deck and who knows what else. If you know that the stanchions are the problem why don't you just get over there and put some caulking under them. Potentially you are looking at a very expensive repair of the decks. It could exceed the value of the vessel and my render it un-saleable. If you really don't want to do the rebedding, you can just remove the stanchions and fill the holes with caulking to get you by for now.
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Chris Coutu
Anti-freeze -50
I've had the same amount of rain water fill the bildge of my boat. We have had two or three major record breaking rain events here in Boston. What I've done this winter, and in the past is to simply use a hand pump and a bucket to remove all of the water. Then I refill with -50 anti freeze. Even if it does freeze, it will just be slushy and it won't have the force that expanding ice would have. Don't put salt in thats too corrosive, and gives less freeze protection than glycol. If you have water pumped out through the bildge pump ice could form in the lines and freeze. The bildge switch could also freeze in the on position, killing you batteries.
I've had the same amount of rain water fill the bildge of my boat. We have had two or three major record breaking rain events here in Boston. What I've done this winter, and in the past is to simply use a hand pump and a bucket to remove all of the water. Then I refill with -50 anti freeze. Even if it does freeze, it will just be slushy and it won't have the force that expanding ice would have. Don't put salt in thats too corrosive, and gives less freeze protection than glycol. If you have water pumped out through the bildge pump ice could form in the lines and freeze. The bildge switch could also freeze in the on position, killing you batteries.
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Don
lesser of two evils
the damage done from water will likely far exceed that done by a properly installed winter cover. I have a personal aversion to shrink wrap because it is not reusable and can cause more insidious problems to our Awl Grip hull paint so we consistently use the cockpit over boom cover made for the boat and poly tarps on the pointy end here in New England and find that as long as we are thorough in installing the covers, they last and do not damage the boat. If you can't find and repain the leaks, it would seem like a no-brainer to cover the boat to preclude more permanent and expensive damage. Don
the damage done from water will likely far exceed that done by a properly installed winter cover. I have a personal aversion to shrink wrap because it is not reusable and can cause more insidious problems to our Awl Grip hull paint so we consistently use the cockpit over boom cover made for the boat and poly tarps on the pointy end here in New England and find that as long as we are thorough in installing the covers, they last and do not damage the boat. If you can't find and repain the leaks, it would seem like a no-brainer to cover the boat to preclude more permanent and expensive damage. Don
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Bob Zolczer
Shrink Wrap can actually be reused
Although I haven't reused it personally, two friends have used the same shrinkwrap for 3 seasons. The secret is to have a consistent frame, cut it and fold it carefully and use shrinkwrap tape on the cuts which is fused to the old shrinkwrap by a shrinkwrap propane gun. I plan to try to reuse my shrinkwrap next year. If I get three years like they did, I'll have invested $100.00 in material for three winters' covers.
Although I haven't reused it personally, two friends have used the same shrinkwrap for 3 seasons. The secret is to have a consistent frame, cut it and fold it carefully and use shrinkwrap tape on the cuts which is fused to the old shrinkwrap by a shrinkwrap propane gun. I plan to try to reuse my shrinkwrap next year. If I get three years like they did, I'll have invested $100.00 in material for three winters' covers.
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R.W.Landau
Bildge water
I agree with Tom and Stan. I am concern for you guys that let bilge water stand in your boat. Polyester resin is porous. That water that you are allowing to lay in the bottom of the boat is actually bleeding into the fiberglass. This can not only result in blisters from the inside out but that moisture can get into any void in the fiberglass and actually destroy the fiberglass in the freeze thaw process as mentioned before. I would cover it and keep it dry. r.w.landau
I agree with Tom and Stan. I am concern for you guys that let bilge water stand in your boat. Polyester resin is porous. That water that you are allowing to lay in the bottom of the boat is actually bleeding into the fiberglass. This can not only result in blisters from the inside out but that moisture can get into any void in the fiberglass and actually destroy the fiberglass in the freeze thaw process as mentioned before. I would cover it and keep it dry. r.w.landau
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Jim A
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lionel
Boston in the winter
I keep my boat in the water every winter and sail most week ends I bought at home depot a couple of electric wires to provide pipes from freezing A wire is in the bilge and runs under the floor no need of antifreeze and I let the pump work normally A second wire is set around the engine and the water intake . When coming back from a trip I close the intake and let the engine run until no more water is coming out then plug wire to either shore electricity or even to converter ( 150W ) I have done it for 4 years now without any problems
I keep my boat in the water every winter and sail most week ends I bought at home depot a couple of electric wires to provide pipes from freezing A wire is in the bilge and runs under the floor no need of antifreeze and I let the pump work normally A second wire is set around the engine and the water intake . When coming back from a trip I close the intake and let the engine run until no more water is coming out then plug wire to either shore electricity or even to converter ( 150W ) I have done it for 4 years now without any problems
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