Boating in hot weather

I haven't owned my boat long but have always had friends with boats. You have to have a top or it would be crazy hot. Once we open up the bimini and start moving it feels fine. Then when we get to the sandbar will anchor and play in the water. I think when you live in it you get use to it. I played football in high school and the first few days of practice guys would hurl, but then they get use to the heat and just do it.
 
Overall I will admit that you get used to the higher temps. Yesterday was 99 and feels like was 107, I replaced a heat exchanger and of course coolent. I always use a fan and have learned to slow down. No need to run to get tools or jump off the boat, slow an steady wins the race. We do have 3 AC's on the boat, and I'll be the first to admit is 70* down below.

Actually, I enjoy the higher air temps, but the water temp over 90* frustrates me... causes me to clean stainers every 5 days and reeks havoc on the AC lines slime buildup, not to mention keeping the waterline and bottom clean.

I appreciate it the most when October rolls around and all of the northern boaters are posting about their haul out and we are just getting started...

Happy Boating,

Josh
 
I impressed that she still boats at 86! :D
:p. my thoughts too

while we don't get quite the heat you guys down south do i did notice that on a 90* day i wasn't feeling good so while anchored i opened all cabin windows and opened the bow hatch at a 45* angle and got a nice flow coming though. the bow hatch opened 45* deflected the air right down on me. wasn't bad at all. even cooler than up in the cockpit with the top off.
 
I would rather be too hot than too cold. I lived in Las Vegas for 2 years and we all know the temps there. The only time in the summer I could put the top down on my Porsche was at midnight when it was only 100*. For boating on Lake Mead in the summer when the temp was over a hundred you had to make sure you had a Bimini and we spent a LOT of time in the water. For 4 people I would usually take a six-pack of beer, a case of bottled water and an 8-pack of Gatorade. I always came back with beer but the water and Gatorade were always gone.
 
We enjoy warm weather but the hot humid stuff not so much. April and May offer some of our nicest weather followed by September and October. The weather on northern Lake Michigan can be spectacular in July and early August but can also be 100+ on the docks, for example, in Leland with no shade. We go below and read when that happens or put the drop curtain up and crank the air. If we lived down south we would probably be winter boaters. It's nice you southerners have that as an option.
 
We like it hot, shorts, swim suits, cold drinks, top down boating and lots of swimming, that's what summer is all about! It's hard to do that in cold weather.
 
Overall I will admit that you get used to the higher temps. Yesterday was 99 and feels like was 107, I replaced a heat exchanger and of course coolent. I always use a fan and have learned to slow down. No need to run to get tools or jump off the boat, slow an steady wins the race. We do have 3 AC's on the boat, and I'll be the first to admit is 70* down below.

Actually, I enjoy the higher air temps, but the water temp over 90* frustrates me... causes me to clean stainers every 5 days and reeks havoc on the AC lines slime buildup, not to mention keeping the waterline and bottom clean.

I appreciate it the most when October rolls around and all of the northern boaters are posting about their haul out and we are just getting started...

Happy Boating,

Josh
We go below for a while and read when it is in the 80s and 90s. The a/c is kept at 65 and I've adjusted the offset in the software and moved the sensor to get about 53 degrees in the berth area when the sun goes down. We get cold and come up to the rear cockpit to warm up. So when in a cruising port it's essentially down below for awhile and then up above for a while.
 
We like it hot, shorts, swim suits, cold drinks, top down boating and lots of swimming, that's what summer is all about! It's hard to do that in cold weather.
We use our icemaker all day long, keeping sports bottle filled with lots of ice and water. Cheap thrill and free if you ignore the cost of a boat.
 
Before moving or boat to SD a few years ago, we kept it in Havasu... 120+ in July. You spend a lot of time in the water. You wax the boat at night on the trailer... I usually started at 11. Like anything you get used to the heat. I'd run the A/C a lot, it was rare for a boat out there to have A/C though. Phoenix boating is only a couple degrees cooler than Havasu, maybe 4-5 at most.

But we moved the boat to San Diego 2 years ago and never looked back. 74-76 degrees every single day. I ask myself what took us so long every single trip. Dont miss boating in the heat, but I still live in it.
 
I cant stand boating in hot weather and have learned to enjoy the heck out of boating at night. My wife loves it too.
 
I can't help but enjoy the irony of us northerners complaining about heat...and boating...in the same breath. I do it, we probably all do it, all in spite of the fact that in 8 weeks we'll be talking about that first frost, first snow, and what our winter layup routines are. All while our southern friends are planning their typical weekend boating and sharing with us photos of their boats decorated for Christmas....
 
I can't help but enjoy the irony of us northerners complaining about heat...and boating...in the same breath. I do it, we probably all do it, all in spite of the fact that in 8 weeks we'll be talking about that first frost, first snow, and what our winter layup routines are. All while our southern friends are planning their typical weekend boating and sharing with us photos of their boats decorated for Christmas....
And don't forget we will be looking forward to getting our boats pulled before the gales of November.
 
At 86 my wife would be wearing sweats and complaining about the cold! Here in AZ we don't even go out till it hits 100!
I got no sympathy...
My grandparent boated until 85, still would if the dementia hadn't got real bad with my grandfather, my grandmother comes with us as often as she can, usually 3-4 times a year but we keep trying to make it more often.
 
Boating in heat beats being landlocked for winter.

Besides the types of boats you see on the water in Fl are very different than what you see in the Great Lakes. Tons of open fisherman center consoles and sport fishermen very few cabin cruisers.

The other thing I notice up here is the predominance of I/O engine setups where in salt Fl almost all use outboards.

Lastly in Fl everyone's in the water here I rarely see people swimming in Lake Michigan.
 

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