What to do for Indoor Heated Storage???

[Lake Erie Boater]

I just took delivery of my boat from a broker at the tail end of the year. The boat has always wintered indoors in heated storage and this year is no exception. As part of the purchase, all fluids/filters/impellers were changed and the fuel stabilized. She also still has the showroom look from having been detailed and maintained to "sell". The broker (who is also storing her for me) emptied the water and waste tanks and basically parked her in the building. The bilges were dried and batteries disconnected. There is no gear on her other than what came from the factory. My question is what else should I do?? Are there any pitfalls to indoor storage that I should know and try to avoid?? Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[sbw1]

Assuming all of the scheduled maintenance items have been attended to you should be in good shape. How are the belts and hoses? Batteries, same question. Any evidence of leaks in the engine room? Install some diapers under engines. If those items are in good shape, you are ready to go boating in the spring. I do all the work called for in the owner manuals which includes the items you mentioned. One nice thing about heated storage is you do not winterize any of the systems so there are no techs messing around in the engine room to muck things up. Since you are on Lake Erie, you do need to pay attention to when the boat is moved outside in the spring time because things like the water system could freeze if it gets down into the 20's which is quite likely at times. I watch the 10 day forecast to make sure there is a warming trend before the boat gets moved. Then, I immediately wax the hull and launch it. This way the boat is in 40 degree water and we don't worry about things in the engine room freezing. If it's really going to get cold, warm the engines up or turn some heat on. Reverse cycle heat will keep water lines from freezing as will a ceramic heater in the cockpit. We turn the water on even when the boat has been moved outside, knowing that it will be in the water the next day.

 

[Presentation]

I was almost going to make a wise crack about you not telling us what kind of boat you have then I realized for some reason your signature has this information yet is not showing up on this post. I don’t know why.

Just for others, here is the normal signature with boat information:

Randy

'01 340 Amberjack
350hp 3126TA Caterpillars

'95 Pro-Line 2950 225hp Merc. 3.0L Offshores




To answer your question, the devil is in the details.

Its imperative that you keep the boat in the indoor storage facility until the freezing weather is past. This presents another challenge. At some point you will want to clean and wax the boat. All the places I have checked will not allow you to work on the boat in the storage building. Actually, I would not want the boater next to mine to be working on their boat so I understand the policy. So at some point in spring you need to get the boat set outside.

The trick is to do this spring cleaning / detailing then get her launched.

So the next issue is even in spring, after the ice is off the lake, we can still get a few cold snaps.

Some systems will freeze even in 40 degree water if the air gets cold enough. Three that come to mind are the fresh water system, the A/C system and the generator. Oh, also things like bottles of water and soda can freeze and rupture even if they are in the fridge.

This is why I winterize the systems even thought I also pay for indoor heated storage.

 

[sbw1]

The problem of freezing is easily address by watching the weather trends. Once the boat is in the water the air temps can get quite cold, like in the low 20s and you are still safe just by running heat down below and in the cockpit. Our boat gets snowed on in the spring every so many years and we've never had a problem. Worst case scenario you may have to warm the engines up to operating temperature in the evening. That alone keeps the engines from freezing. I can maintain t-shirt weather on our boat when it is below freezing. Spring is the most vunerable time though if you look at weather records. We do get some cold fall weather but our lakes are still in the 40s and I've only had one day so far when the weather station on our dock has recorded 32 degrees and that was only for a couple of hours 2 weeks ago.