Winterizing in the Pudget Sound

[John Nantz]

Tarp & Dehumidifier

Try to keep the boat dry inside to help prevent mold and mildew and keep the air circulating. I'd be just as concerned about mold and mildew as freezing and high winds. Mold and mildew may take some time to get started on a boat but once it's there it can be difficult to eradicate so the best plan is prevention. The firs step is to keep the boat dry inside and the second is to keep the humidity at 50%RH or less. A tarp will help keep water from getting inside either the boat or the deck/coachroof. Either way this is a plus. Consider a plastic tarp from Costco - they're heavy duty and have one side silver which can face upward. No need to get fancy as long as it sheds water and it's secured to prevent it from being blown away during high winds.The next thing I'd recommend is a dehumidifier to keep the humidity down and due to the cool temperatures it should have "auto-defrost" which one probably needs a 40-quart model to get it. The dehumidifier also has a fan to circulate the air and the exhaust air is a couple degrees warmer than ambient so that helps too. Wal-mart had some when we got ours but we bought ours at Home Depot.The last two years we had ours on board, with a tarp cover, there has been absolutely no mildew issues what so ever. Also, the electric bill has been less than with the little heaters because it shuts off when it reaches it's set point (user adjustable). We used 35%RH last year and we're using 40%RH this year.Set it on the galley counter and run the drain hose into the sink.Also consider a shaft seal to keep the bilge dry and prepare the boat for the high winds that come every winter.

 

[Brian M H23]

Tarp tie-down

How do you go about tying down your tarp? to the cradle or just under the boat? tight..or loose? I took my stanchions off (on a 23' boat, there are only 4 to deal with) for better drainage, and tied off the tarp to the ends of the mast, as well as under the boat (not too tightly) using stopper knots in the grommets, rather than actually tying to the grommet. First year under the tarp... last year she sat uncovered and that was not a good idea

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Sheeze John, What's with Poulsbo?

You had to buy a dehumidifier to reduce your heat costs at your marina? Brownsville charges us a flat rate for power, year 'round. That doesn't encourage conservation but it works. We haven't had a price hike in the four+ plus years we've been there.  I keep the boat at room temperature. With electric heat, forget about humidity. The boat is toasty warm all winter. All I have to remember to do when I leave the boat (besides plug-in the heater) is to disable the inverter. Our Prosine will power-up the outlet to the heater if shorepower fails. Not good. During a power failure it's best to save the batteries for pumps, of course. But still, the inverter will shut down before the batteries are dead so the pumps will work. But like I said, not good.Someday soon I plan on building-in a buss heater. More convenient, you know. (Oh, we have a dry bilge, but you never know)As far as tarps go, I guess it depends on how bad your boat leaks and how much canvas you have to protect your companion way during ingress and egress during stormy weather. Our bimini keeps most of the rain out of the cockpit and we never take it down, dodger too.

 

[Brian M H23]

Whole Deck?

My tarp is large enough to gift-wrap my entire boat! Seemed like a good deal at $45..most harbor freight tools are terrible but it can't be that hard to make a tarp, can it?

 

[Gary Wyngarden]

Winterizing in the San Juans

I use my boat all winter and consequently don't want to "disable" her with tarps, etc. I do put sunbrella covers on the vinyl windows, external varnished teak as well as on the steering pedestal.I also run two electric heaters each on half speed (for redundancy) to keep the cabin temp at about 60 degrees F. When winter storms approach, I also turn the diesel heater on to it's lowest setting. If the power stays on, the electric heaters keep the boat warm and the diesel heater stays off. If there's a power failure, the diesel heater will keep the cabin from freezing up. With a 400 ah battery bank, I figure the heater can run for at least 72 hours by which time hopefully the power is back on or I can get over to the boat to run the engine.I would also recommend keeping the fuel tank full to minimize condensation and make sure dock lines and fenders are up to the task of winter storms. If you leave a genoa on the furler, make sure you have some tight extra wraps with the sheets so it doesn't come unfurled in high winds.Hope this helps.Gary WyngardenS/V Wanderlust h37.5

 

[Miles]

Winterizing

One thing to remember up here is that the ocean is pretty much always 45-50 degrees. Even on those rare days when it's snowing and air temps are in the teens your boat is floating in what amounts to a hot water bath.Most of the lines for fresh water are run low in the boat (below the outside waterline) and I've never had a problem with them freezing. Also, the water tank is so large that it would take quite a while for it to freeze solid even during extended periods of sub freezing temps. Our really cold weather tends to happen with clear blue skies and northerly winds which allows at least a little solar heating too during the day.I'd agree with keeping the diesel tank full to minimize condensation and be sure your lines/fenders are in good shape. Other than that I don't really do much at all other than check in on it frequently. When I know it's going to be very cold I run a few stands of the heavy duty sealed exterior Xmas lights around inside.

 

[Tuyen Pham]

Thanks for all the tips

I still want to take the boat out on nice days, so tarping is out of question. Water tank: I'll maybe play it safe and empty it. A lot of time you think you can do it just before it is forcasted to get really cold. But a lot of time it happens when you just can't get to it. I am in lake water. So it might not stay as "warm" as the Sound water. And I don't get the natural salt-water anti-freeze in the FWC, but it would be very rare for it to get that cold in Seattle. So I won't worry too much about it. My boat is so far quite water tight. So for mildew, I'll keep a electric heater on low. Bird droppings on the other hand... There are other sailboats in the marina, but they seem to like hanging around the spreaders on my boat. I am going to hang some bird tapes this weekend to see if that help. Thanks again for all your inputs.

 

[John Nantz]

You Guys make me feel bad...

....like, maybe I'm a fair-weather sailor. Well, to some degree that might be true, but this is a two-party system and for compromise sake I do what the other party wants.The deal with adding a forced-air heater was so the sailing season could be comfortably extended; however, it didn't work out as well as I had hopped. The season didn't get extended enough and it seems there are other activities that are coming up in the winter season. And lets add in fall and spring seasons too.A lot of boats that race do so year-round and they get by. sigh....The tarp is good insurance for when a leak crops up and they seem to from time to time. Plus it helps with UV protection and keeping bird poop to a minimum.Someday I hope to get things turned around.Fred: if Brownsville is flat rate they must have it factored in somehow so they don't loose money. By the way, we used to keep our boat there just about where your boat is way back when. E dock?

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Yep, E dock.

The electric rate is the same year 'round. Even when gone cruising. The liveabords make out. Well, that's not true. I think they have a different rate because of their power/water usage. Not sure what it is though. And Brownsville loves liveaboards. Great for security and safety too. If you saw the old grinder security guard that the Port employs, you'll understand the most important reason to encourage liveaboards; calling a medavac for the guard when he collapses.

 

[John Nantz]

E-dock 'outside'

We used to keep the boat in the area around slip 30-something to 40-something, quite a few slips (10 to ?20) past the guy that has that powerboat that looks like a houseboat with a small bridge/wheelhouse. He was a liveaboard at the time. The 'breakwater', if you could call it that, at the time was a bunch of floating rusty steel drums kinda chained and roped together. During the winter storm around '91 the boats on the outside took a hit because the wind was out of the NE/Agate Pass area. The port also had a bunch of logs floating around to help the drums.The Harbor Master at the time said nobody could move their boats "inside" (for protection) and consequently we had to leaves ours 'out there'. After the storm I went down there, many roads were blocked with fallen trees and the streets were icy, did I say winter storm, and found out there were a bunch of boats that had moved inside. Plus, the day before I bought a bunch of heavy line for extra docklines and, would you believe, the port bought a huge roll of line which they used all over the place. A little while later I cruised the breakwater and took pictures and shortly after that the port decided it was time to get a new one. Wonder why? So now you guys have a really nice breakwater!

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Thanks for the breakwater John!

We were there in 91. Same boat, of course. But I don't recall a storm. Hmmm, oh yeah, we left in August. I think we were in Acapulco by that time.

 

[John Nantz]

Well, ~'91?

well.... that was quite a while ago and I can't be sure of the exact year but it was around that time frame. It was before the storm that took out the Seebeck, Port Hadlock, and Keyport marinas. The winds were more from the NE where as the one that took out the marinas was more from the North.Anyhow, after that one I signed up for the waiting list for the next dock in and we got a slip near the far end of it about four or five slips in from the Hinkley (the one with a pilot house) that was next to the boathouse. In fact, the boathouse (the one with the windows on the second story) was built during that time. The guy apparently sold his property over on the Seattle side and bought property in Kitsap. He bought a new boat and had the boathouse built with a "cabin" in the end which is over the bow of the boat and they lived there while their house was being built. Neat idea.Must be nice to have lots of money.

 

[Dean Strong]

Mold and Mildew

The biggest problem is to keep mold and mildew from growing in damp stale air.I have a couple of golden rods plugged in, two damp rid heaters. I also installed two solar vents, but during the winter, the daylight is too short to keep the batteries charged.Otherwise, I quite doing anything else. Used to empty the water tank, but don't bother anymore. Unless it is cold enough for Puget Sound to freeze, nothing below the water line will freeze.Visit the boat often. I run my engine at least once a week. Make sure your lines are secure, and put it in gear, so there is at least some load on it. They don't like to idle. Rev the engine before shutting down.Best thing to do is to get a warm coat, and use the boat. We have the luxury of year-round sailing and moderate temperatures. Gor-tex was invented here for a reason.