How to deal with Florida Summer storage question

[PMF1984]

Folks,

(Assuming my insurance issue is resolved ) I will be storing the boat in the water in NE Florida from now til December 1.

Read from past posts to close the windows and have a dehumidifier discharge into galley sink.

Do I also have to bag up linens, or is the dehumidifier enough?

Co-pilot wants to know.

John

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. P. When we left our Cheoy Lee 46' LRC for extended periods of time (6 mos.+ in the water) we had an oscillating fan in every room/compartment. IIRC there were 10 running 24/7. Granted they cost about $30 a pop but they worked.

I think the memsa'ab put all the sheets, towels etc. in plastic zipper bags with a dryer sheet in each. Mattresses and pillows stayed out. Never had a problem with mould or mildew. For mould and/or mildew to grow, it needs stagnant air. Fans did their job.

 

[DavidM]

Many yards will not supply power to boats on the hard. Not possible to power a dehumidifier without power or a big solar panel array and an inverter.

David

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. DM. Mr. P. posted he will be in the water. I assumed dock BUT if on a mooring, your comment applies.

 

[PMF1984]

Yes in the water with metered electric

 

[AquilaCat]

I use these midewcide bags. They really work. Nothing else needed.

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[mvweebles]

Weebles is on the hard in southern Mexico near Guatemala - Florida climate on steroids. I do have metered power to the boat. Went with large dehumidifier, a couple fans, and bagged all linens and turned up all cushions and mattresses. Also left all doors and drawers ajar. Finally, I'm paying someone to thoroughly wash the inside and outside of the boat every 2-weeks which is affordable in Mexico ($100/mo and sends videos).

I'll let you know how it went when I return on October, but I did everything I could think of.

Peter

 

[O C Diver]

For Slow Hand, I ran a dehumidifier that drained into the galley sink, which drained directly overboard. Had several fans that moved air to the galley area to keep humidity even throughout the boat.

I have a 3 car garage here in SW Florida that also has a dehumidifier to keep the humidity low. I would encourage you to add a time clock to the humidifier as I did in the garage. The dehumidifier removes a great deal of water when humidity is very high. As you approach 50% relative humidity, the amount of water removed becomes extremely low to nonexistent. Using the time clock is less about saving electricity and much more about not running the compressor 24/7, until it dies.

If running the dehumidifier only part time, doing it at the coolest point of the day, extracts the most water from the air (fog appears with high humidity as the temperature drops, and goes away when temperature rises). For my garage, the humidifier comes on at midnight and shuts off at 8am.

One last note on dehumidifiers: Some units have a built-in filter check. In essence, the unit shuts down after so many hours of running, to get you to check the filter. Running the dehumidifier 8 hours continuously per day will allow it to run close to a year without pushing the filter reset button.

Ted

 

[PMF1984]

Folks,

Thanks for all the input. I went to Walmart and got a dehumidifier that I set up to drai into the galley sink. As I went to leave the boat until December a larger boat (55 footer) was getting ready to go to Key West for a rendezvous. They has two dehumidifiers on board that they took off.

John