FYI...
I live on the Tennessee River in north Alabama. I do not winterize my boat but my dirt house in less than ½ mile from the marina. On several occasions, over the last several years, I have had to run my generator during freezing weather because of power outages. Cold weather in the south drives up power usage because most homes use electricity for heating. Grid failure is not unusual. The same is true for marinas ... system overload. Before my second move to the southland, I had a boat in Guntersville, AL, the most southern point on the Tennessee River. I lived south of Atlanta, commuting to the boat weekends, during the summer. Being new to the south, at that time, I didn’t winterize. Didn’t need to!! I found myself heading north to Guntersville at 1:00 AM one morning because of the extended freeze warning … already into the 2 day. I made it in time but had ice crystals coming from my fresh water lines as I drained them. I had power when I was winterizing but later found out the marina lost power for over a day. Needless to say, the next spring the marina was very busy repairing boat water systems and replacing engines and generators.
Boats located at a distance from the owner, even in the southland, need to be winterized or reliable arrangements made with someone to look after the boat.
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