Checklist for keeping boat in water year round

boater2065

boater2065

Active Member
Jul 30, 2018
222
Everett, WA
Boat Info
Searay
Engines
merc
Hello,

I'm looking to purchase a 240 or 260 Sundancer and keep it in the water at the marina year round. I am in Washington State, Puget Sound waters. Our winters are usually very wet and occasionally gets below freezing, but not often and long enough for freezing salt water. My intention to leave the boat in the water year round is to be able to enjoy the boat during the few nice winter days we do get. I'm already thinking about dehumidifiers, fans etc to help with moisture in the cabin. Since this is my first cruiser type boat, i'm curious what other things may need to be done like winterization of the fresh water tanks/lines etc. Can we use the head during the cold months if we take it out for a spin? Those kind of questions i'm curious about. Thanks in advance for any input.

Jeff
 
Get a bilge heater. The 260DA should have heat so you should not have to winterize. Keep it set on 55 degrees. You can use the head year round. My boat stays in the water. We usually have one or two cold spells year. The water temp rarely goes below 45 degrees so that keeps the ER toasty.
 
Answers to your questions will depend on your local conditions. Water temperature plays a huge role here. If it’s warm enough to run your onboard heat, you are golden, but if there’s even a possibility that it won’t, you have to have a plan b. For some, plan b could be a couple of 100 watt light bulbs in the cabin. I had a live aboard dockmate who installed a diesel furnace to keep the boat warm.

Bilge heaters or oil pan heaters can help with condensation of engines and other mechanicals in an area your hvac system doesn’t reach.

Consider the fresh water system and whether you should decommission it for the season. If not, think about lines to the anchor wash and transom shower. These are possibly longer runs in unheated spaces. Consider draining those if air temps are below freezing.

Also, these boat’s hull sides are not well insulated, so consider keeping above waterline closets, cabinets and lockers open to encourage air circulation.
 
good antifouling bottompaint and good anodes are a must . and even with best care expect heavy maintanance if you have a raw water cooled I/O year round in saltwater.
 
Following back up on this post since I have now had the boat for this summer. I still do plan to keep it in the water year round, in a covered slip or boat house.

The bilge does have a bilge heater in it already so keeping the bilge, engine, water tank/lines warm shouldn't be a problem.

The hull has bottom paint and zinc's that shouldn't need replacing for another year or two.

The water lines are still a question for me. Where we are located we can get freezing temps, but not usually for extended periods of time, and if at all, mostly during night hours. For the most part we are above freezing regularly. I assume I will drain all the lines starting around November when the nightly freezes can creep in. What is the best way to drain the water lines? I do plan to use a warming dehumidifier in the cabin to help with mildew growth from the moisture we get int he air.

Looking forward to some winter boating days, but wanting to make sure i take the necessary steps to keep the boat healthy. Any input helps.

Thanks
 
Why not run the heat? It will dehumidify your boat and together with the bilge heater will eliminate the need to winterize the water lines.
 
Best thing of moving our primary residence from CO to TX is year round boating. N Texas gets a surprising amount of cold weather, and the lake isn't deep - it doesn't freeze - but it does get pretty chilly. Bilge heater and keeping the interior at the lowest heat setting (55) has proven up to the task. While winters here are crappier than I anticipated - there are still plenty of decent days to go out on the lake - and every other time it's nice having a big cabin with a 360 degree view to where wind and cold matter not.

Enjoy the winter boating, you'll probably find you'll own the water all by yourself on those nice winter days.
 
Does the water around your boat freeze? If not, likely nothing to worry about. On really cold nights starting and running the engine for 15 minutes or so will generate sufficient heat to keep you safe.

We have had ice form on our brackish salt water canal (yes, even here in NE Florida) and the boat has been fine without any winterization. The stand alone cabin dehumidifier puts out heat, and I have it running constantly. I do have engine room heater and cabin heater, but that's likely over doing it.
 
To answer your question about draining the water lines, I hook up a small Harbor Freight compressor to the shore water inlet. It's a simple combination of fittings to get from the compressor fitting to the male hose fitting.

One at a time I open each faucet (hot and cold) one at a time until only a tiny bit of water vapor comes out. Don't forget the showers, anchor wash down and stern shower.

Then I got back and do each again just to be sure.
 
Fly'n Family said:
Best thing of moving our primary residence from CO to TX is year round boating. N Texas gets a surprising amount of cold weather, and the lake isn't deep - it doesn't freeze - but it does get pretty chilly. Bilge heater and keeping the interior at the lowest heat setting (55) has proven up to the task. While winters here are crappier than I anticipated - there are still plenty of decent days to go out on the lake - and every other time it's nice having a big cabin with a 360 degree view to where wind and cold matter not.

Enjoy the winter boating, you'll probably find you'll own the water all by yourself on those nice winter days.
Click to expand...
You are soooo right, hot as HELL down here too, can't wait for OCT-FEB, that's when I'll spin the crap out of the hours meters ;) BTW, do you fly for Continental/UNITED?? I'm retired maintenance for the combined UA/CO
 
susanandlance said:
You are soooo right, hot as HELL down here too, can't wait for OCT-FEB, that's when I'll spin the crap out of the hours meters ;) BTW, do you fly for Continental/UNITED?? I'm retired maintenance for the combined UA/CO
Click to expand...
I fly a CL650 for a Fortune 200 company.
 
@Third Edition Over the years the most i have seen is slushy water forming around the shore line. That typically happens when we have abnormally cold spells. If the forecast calls for that type of weather i would plan accordingly with extra heaters as needed.
 
@Gofirstclass One more question for you regarding draining your water lines. When you hook up the air compressor, does that air go into the fresh water tank first? or does that line bypass the water tank? Just curious if i would need to empty the fresh water tank before blowing out the lines? I havn't used the hose hookup before so i'm not sure how the plumbing of that is setup.
 
Jeff, The air line is connected to the dock water inlet through a couple of fittings to get from the air hose fitting to a male hose fitting. If you first turn on the water pump and open a couple of faucets that will drain your water tank. Do that while you're setting up the air compressor and getting it hooked up and building pressure. Then turn the water pump back off before you start blowing out the lines. That will save you some time.

Then the air pressure goes through the fresh water tank and is dispersed throughout all the water lines as you open each faucet separately. I open each faucet, one at a time, until only a bit of mist comes out of each faucet. Then I go back and do that again with each faucet.

Now items of caution:
1. Make sure your air compressor is set to only about 20-25 pounds of pressure. You don't want it higher than that because it could blow apart a water connection.
2. Don't forget the little used faucets like the anchor washdown and the transom shower.
3. If you drape a dish towel or similar size towel over each of the faucets as you blow them out, that will keep the water from spurting out and getting on the floor, counter tops, etc.

Have fun!
 
I try to use my boat all year long but I still winterize the toilet, fresh water system and the HVAC. With these systems winterized there's just less to worry about. I still use the toilet but I just keep a few gallon jugs of water in the bathroom for flushing..... and then before leaving the boat again I flush and leave some antifreeze in the toilet.

The bilge has a bilge safe heater and for the cabin I use a small space heater (true north cabin heater) that has a freeze setting and when I'm onboard it keeps the cabin nice and toasty.

Since the marina has WiFi I have a few temp sensors in and around the boat to monitor the temps and I can pull it up on my cell phone once in a while.
 
I have never winterized our boat... I heat up 60 degrees in the winter and can use the boat anytime.
 
Little Ducky said:
I try to use my boat all year long but I still winterize the toilet, fresh water system and the HVAC. With these systems winterized there's just less to worry about. I still use the toilet but I just keep a few gallon jugs of water in the bathroom for flushing..... and then before leaving the boat again I flush and leave some antifreeze in the toilet.
Click to expand...
Ducky, we do the same thing but I've never put antifreeze in the toilets. I wasn't sure what would be safe to use with the toilet plumbing.

What antifreeze do you use?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,118
Messages
1,426,467
Members
61,033
Latest member
SeaMonster8
Back
Top