Keeping boat in water during winter. Have a few questions? Could use the Help

W

Whit-Ness

New Member
Oct 20, 2014
29
Maryland
Boat Info
2006, 32 Sundancer
Engines
350 Mercriser,Mag, Horizens. Inboards
After 12 years of boating and pulling my boat every year for the winter, I decided to keep it in the water. I keep my boat in the in the Middle River, MD area but will be keeping it downtown in Baltimore at a beautiful marina. Just a few questions: Do I use my boat heater all winter or purchase an electric heater to plug in? (cabin area). If I do use my boat heater, is it ok to keep it running all winter long? I'm planning to winterize everything else, but my main concern is keeping the inside warm for my family. We are not living on it, but will be using it every few weeks. My office is located near the marina so I'm hoping to go down every few days and mess with it. Anyway, thanks for the help and if you have any other suggestions for keeping it in the water it would be much appreciated.
 
I would not run my A/C all winter. I would get a small electric heater and set it to about 50 degrees.

Welcome to CSR!
 
I would use one of the oil filled heaters... You can get one at Ollies Outlet... I would winterize your water system and bring bottled water... I would only use the heater when you are on board... It would be very expensive to run a heater all winter..
 
I have a bilge heater in my engine compartment and then I have a small heater in the cabin that I turn on when I go down to the boat and turn off when I leave.
 
Make sure your insurance policy allows in water storage. Some contracts specify layup dates on land.
 
sbw1 said:
Make sure your insurance policy allows in water storage. Some contracts specify layup dates on land.
Click to expand...
And see if your policy covers heat/fire damage from anything not manufacturer-installed. I have a similar situation with a need for cabin heating and another member noted that risk.

I'd second the prior statement about only heating the boat while you're there. If you have one or two good units, the cabin should warm quickly enough to be comfortable within a few minutes of arriving, and keep you toasty if you sleep.
 
Converse48 (Tim) also winters in Baltimore. I think he also stays on the boat occasionally so maybe he'll chime in with some suggestions or you can PM him.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
A number of companies make engine heaters. Running a 1 Amp 100W engine heater on each engine in an enclosed engine compartment will keep that part warm and dry with little cost. Just close off your air vents. Your engine blocks become radiators.
 
When I had a boat in north TX I never winterized, even though there is occasional freezing temps.

I had a bilge heater, which I verified proper operation each fall with a test.
Set the inside temp on 50, and left the boat heat on.
Left the doors under the sink opened, with a plastic insert to make sure boat rocking did not close them
Same with the door to the head, doors under the sink open, and secured so they would not close.
Shower transom was turned with the water turned off, so that it would drain back into the hoses in the bilge area.

We used the boat all winter long.

Even with prolonged cold spells - I didn't have any problems. I was aware that my single point of failure was the marina losing power and my shore power going off. In cold weather I paid close attention to that, I was only 15 minutes to the boat. Someone within my circle of friends was verifying no problems with shore power every day. We broke it up so that any individual was only calling the marina minimal times a week, but had a group text to alert all of us.

All that said, the best rule to follow. Talk to people in your marina, are nearby marina's and find out what their experiences are. What works in north Texas may or may not work anywhere else. This is a topic that locality - not brand of boat, is more important.

Just my thoughts,

Mark
 
Whitness,
We are on the eastern shore & have left the Lady in the water the last two years. Purchased Wolverine pan heaters for the diesels only, block off the engine room vents. Winterize the fresh water system & bring water when you need it, most marina will shut the dock water off around Thanksgiving. I have 3 electric heaters that I use when on the boat. The heat pumps on he boat will run until the water temperature goes below 40 degrees, below that they will not work. You can runn them in fan only to circulate air, low fan only. make sure the marina will be putting in ice eaters when the water starts to glaze. last year the Narrows froze all the way accross for weeks. Enjoy
 
Good point Tony, one item I left off my list of what I did.

I cut some foam pieces to fit in the side vents of the bilge, helped to hold the warm air from the bilge heater in. I cut a small piece of foam, took the keys out and stuck the foam through the chain the keys were on and put them at the bottom of the switch panel cabinet - so I would not forget there was foam in the air vents.

I never used any auxillary heat source that was not approved for boat use.
 
I kept my boat in the water last winter. I checked with the insurance company. They said in the water storage is considered a layup. We winterized the engines and genny. We kept the water system live because our head is fresh water. The marina kept a water line live and under water so it wouldn't freeze. Our biggest gripe was that nobody would shovel the dock. So on weekend we had to walk through ice and snow. For the bilge we had a bilge heater. The bilge never got below 45 degrees. We had 3 portable electric heaters running in the cabin. During the week when we weren't there we ran an extra heater on low in the forward bilge. We kept the cabin at 70 degrees when we were there and let it get to 55 degrees when we weren't around. The boat was also shrink wrapped in clear plastic, which keeps it warmer in the sunshine. The shrink wrap covered the engine vents. The manufacturer says not to use the onboard heat/ac system for water under 45 degrees. We ran it to far into winter and it froze up. We were lucky no damage was done. We were there every weekend. We even bought a small Christmas tree for the boat. It was a fun winter.
 
Sorry for the questions: So I'm going to go with an electric heater with a built in thermostate. Thinking about getting a Lifesmart Compact power plus ($99 on Amazon)electric heater (very reliable, and safe). How man watt heater should I get? Planning to keep the inside cabin set to 50 when I'm not there. Is 500 watts good?
 
Footballfan: Great info as I am a new Sea Ray owner and do live in Frisco (North) Texas and keep the boat on lake Lewisville. So good info for a guy from North Texas who is wanting to keep boat on water all winter! However might some of your suggestions be different IF kept on a lift as I now have my 290 SS? Above water a few feet may prove very different suggestions vs on water in nn freezing water! Please clarify any changes to your suggestions etc if able for storing on a lift yet wanting to keep alive all winter! Thanks. David
 
Last edited:
JV II said:
A number of companies make engine heaters. Running a 1 Amp 100W engine heater on each engine in an enclosed engine compartment will keep that part warm and dry with little cost. Just close off your air vents. Your engine blocks become radiators.
Click to expand...

Is there a suggested "engine compartment" heater brand to buy and are two heaters really needed in a compartment holding two merc 6.2s that are packed pretty tightly? Thanks......
 
Xtreme and Boatsafe are the two most commonly used bilge heaters. I have had an Xtreme heater on my last two boats. They come in several sizes. The largest is 600 watts and should be adequate for your twin engine setup. There is info on there website about the capacity of each size heater.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,187
Messages
1,428,212
Members
61,098
Latest member
Klawson83
Back
Top