Inactive boat

northern

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2007
3,516
Anacortes Washington
Boat Info
380 Aft Cabin 1989 Charts Timezero radar Furuno
Engines
Twin 454 strait shaft
We keep our boat on land in a secure marina in Anacortes Washington. In the fall we fill boat with 300 gallons of non E gas, flush the raw water portion of the cooling system with rust inhibitor propylene glycol (Pink) set smart battery charger at 20% charge rate, put four 100 watt air dry heaters, top up batteries, blow potable water empty, pump all potable water out of water tank, empty hot water tank, empty sewage tank flush 2 gallons of propylene glycol through each (2) head, pump all bilges dry, place canvas window covers overall lower cabin windows, close in upper helm and aft area with complete enclosed isinglass windows, leve ice maker and refrigerator doors open.
In the spring boat is fine (Out of service for 7 months), no problem with starting, and batteries are still full of water. With the virus it seems we may not be able to use the boat until next spring. This is total idle time of 19 months.
Questions: should we: 1/ get marina to turn off the four 100 watt heaters. 2/ do anything to the fuel. 3/ open any windows.
We are 700 miles from the boat.
 
Use the boat as normal you can social distance and self quarantine on the boat.
 
Your fuel will be fine. We missed a season of boating back in the day due to work pressures. When we returned the boat started as if it had been run yesterday. Followed your routine. Pays to store things properly. We did not maintain the batteries during that lay up. Just plugged it in for an hour prior to turning the key.
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We did not get to use the boat this year and based on virus we will not be seeing it this winter. I called insurance agent and they reduced the rate due to non use. I do not know how much; but will post when I find out.
Anyone feel I should have marina look at the boat or do any think with it.
 
We did not get to use the boat this year and based on virus we will not be seeing it this winter. I called insurance agent and they reduced the rate due to non use. I do not know how much; but will post when I find out.
Anyone feel I should have marina look at the boat or do any think with it.
Did you fog the engines with fogging oil when you winterized it 12 months ago? If not, I would suggest you may want to have the marina check on the boat and do that. That is a very humid place. You can probably get away with a short layover with no fogging, but I would get the engines started to get some oil moving through them, re-winterize and fog them.
 
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I would think things must have dried out after a long lay up. Is mildew an issue? It probably wouldn't hurt to fog the engines as suggested. Do you winterize engines where you live? I see it seldom goes below 32 degrees but you have had some record low temps of 7 degrees in some of the winter months. What do most owners do about engine lay up?
 
I drain my water lift mufflers and plug my exhaust ports with towels after fogging the motors. If not plugged, air will move in and out of open valves in the heads of the motors
 
I drain my water lift mufflers and plug my exhaust ports with towels after fogging the motors. If not plugged, air will move in and out of open valves in the heads of the motors
Good point
When I start the engine each spring after 6 months of non use a lot of rusty water would come out.
 

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