Real winter Liveaboard?

[Moonfish]

I am a year round liveaboard and shrink wrap my upper flybridge to my aft sundeck top. I will not block the windows as radiant heat through them is a huge freebee. Point your bow towards the south to get the most solar time possible. Shrink wrap helps with snow removal and some thermal benefit up top.

Tom - Is that a DIY project? Sounds interesting. We have a mast to contend with in the middle of the upper deck. Do you have any pics?

 

[Quarters]

Wintering in lake Ontario

My boat winters in water in Toronto.

Hi OGary...
I'm about to embark on this adventure.. Any boat in water friendly marinas for winter?

Thx
Q
GC

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. Q. Welcome aboard eh?

 

[The Other Gary]

There are several in the Toronto area and to the east and west from Pickering to Port Credit.
Where do you want to be?
What size boat?

 

[Quarters]

There are several in the Toronto area and to the east and west from Pickering to Port Credit.
Where do you want to be?
What size boat?

I acquired a 'Bolgeresque' 54 aluminum. It has 4 6000 btu marine air reverse cycle units.
Anyone with experience in cold weather with reverse air heating?

As for places, more on the west side of lake Ontario. just found out that mcdonald marina in hamilton is closed

Im moving the boat from penetanguishene to lake Ontario on August. That will be my first long outing.

Q
Gc

 

[Gabe n Em]

I acquired a 'Bolgeresque' 54 aluminum. It has 4 6000 btu marine air reverse cycle units.
Anyone with experience in cold weather with reverse air heating?

As for places, more on the west side of lake Ontario. just found out that mcdonald marina in hamilton is closed

Im moving the boat from penetanguishene to lake Ontario on August. That will be my first long outing.

Q
Gc

Hi Quarters,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those reverse air units become useless when the water drops below bout 45 or 50 (depending who you ask).

You'll need some other form of heat. We tried electric oil filled radiators in Maryland for a winter and barely toughed it out. We're looking at diesel hydronic heaters for our upcoming winter in Rhode Island....

-Gabe

 

[Quarters]

Yes I imagined as much. I will look at adding a diesel heater...

 

[The Other Gary]

Port Credit Marina allows in water winter liveaboards.

 

[Lepke]

If you winter someplace cold that has occasional power outages, some auxiliary heat source like diesel, immune to ac loss, helps get thru the outage.
.

 

[FF]

"If you winter someplace cold that has occasional power outages, some auxiliary heat source like diesel, immune to ac loss, helps get thru the outage."

YES! almost everywhere gets power outages , sometimes for a week or more.

You might consider a heating setup that does not require any electric .

At least a diesel range , about 20,000BTU should be considered , that will drop into where the existing range is , for winters.

A 24-7 generator could also work , but the water intake must be well below any icing , and a big fuel tank is a plus .

 

[BillZe]

Oreck Heater

I have 2 reverse cycle heaters which in Southern New Jersey work for me most of the time. But I am thinking about looking into an Oreck heater. I know in the retail stores they heat the entire store. If they can heat a store, they can certainly keep my boat warm. They are much safer than the ceramic and other options...

 

[boatpoker]

I acquired a 'Bolgeresque' 54 aluminum. It has 4 6000 btu marine air reverse cycle units.
Anyone with experience in cold weather with reverse air heating?

As for places, more on the west side of lake Ontario. just found out that mcdonald marina in hamilton is closed

Im moving the boat from penetanguishene to lake Ontario on August. That will be my first long outing.

Q
Gc

Port Credit Yacht Club in Mississauga. nicest facility on the lake and cheaper than the marinas if you prorate the initiation fee. .... restaurant, bar, winter water, pumpout and pool if you are up to it.

 

[Quarters]

I like oil filled radiant heaters on there own dedicated power line. One In the forward section of the boat and one aft. The whole boat was spray foamed when redid and I don’t need much power. When you have a lot of snow the ice does not get very thick around the hull my hull is steel and I didn’t care about ice.

Did you winterize your engines?

 

[Quarters]

oops, bad reply.. using android app instead of pc. makes it harder...

 

[The Other Gary]

I winterize both my Cummins diesels by draining the entire engine and raw water system back to the thru hull.
I winterize my 8KW Westerbeke by entirely filling the cooling system back to the thru hull with plumbing antifreeze.
Three time in my 16 winters aboard there has been a power failure of more than a day, once was 3 days when a marina transformer blew. I can bring my generator online in less than 5 minutes for as long as it takes and then I always have enough plumbing antifreeze on hand to rewinterize.

 

[catalinajack]

Hi Quarters,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those reverse air units become useless when the water drops below bout 45 or 50 (depending who you ask).

You'll need some other form of heat. We tried electric oil filled radiators in Maryland for a winter and barely toughed it out. We're looking at diesel hydronic heaters for our upcoming winter in Rhode Island....

-Gabe

We spent the past two winters living aboard in Galesville, MD which is about 10 miles south of Annapolis. Our reverse cycle quit at 42 degrees. Two pil filled radiators supplemented by two ceramic heaters got us through the winter just fine including that 10-day very cold spell in early January. Depends, I think, on the boat as to the adequacy of particular heating solutions. Ours seems to be a warm boat. Even in the coldest of temps, down to five degrees last winter, our engine room never got to 32 degrees. We do not winterize while living aboard.

 

[Benthic2]

Catalina, Do you shrinkwrap the boat ?

 

[catalinajack]

Catalina, Do you shrinkwrap the boat ?

I do not wrap the boat. It's a Defever 44. Am wintering in Florida this year.

 

[Benthic2]

Thanks

 

[OldDan1943]

Difficult to see and navigate when the boat is shrink wrapped. Impossible to dock too.
May we all have a easy hurricane season. I think it is time for NYC to get their collective asses whooped by a couple of hurricanes EVIL GRIN

 

[Benthic2]

I used to study hurricane damage for an insurance company.

Its pretty rare for a significant storm to reach the northeast. As lattitude increases, so does the speed the storm is travelling. That limits severe damage to the right side of the eye. If the storm is offshore, that keeps the worst part over the ocean. If the storm comes ashore, it dissipates quickly with damage limited to a pretty localized area due to the storm direction and the angle of the coast. The eye needs to be over warm water ( >80 degrees ) to maintain strength

Its not impossible, but its so much less likely once you get north of NC

 

[NightCrawler]

We just pulled a Hurricane diesel hot water system out of Shangri-La. Receipts here for nearly $20K for the unit and remote heaters. Tried selling it got not one bite. Going to heat a pole barn in Ohio.

 

[Comodave]

Difficult to see and navigate when the boat is shrink wrapped. Impossible to dock too.
May we all have a easy hurricane season. I think it is time for NYC to get their collective asses whooped by a couple of hurricanes EVIL GRIN

Oh, I don’t know, I think the PO of my boat tried docking many times with it shrink wrapped, at least it looked like it before I did all the fiberglass repairs and painted it.

 

[Lostsailor13]

Liveaboard in Gloucester Massachusetts

My first liveaboard and brought the 36ft willard Vega up from Rhode island on Halloween,the boat had no insulation I removed all teak wall planks and used contact cement with reflectix 6r insulation then cut and glued 1 inch styrofoam insulation,removed headliner and replaced it with reflectix,have 2 1500 watt ceramic heaters and a 8k Chinese diesel heater,and thinking off adding another 5k chinese diesel heater in the engine room,the coldest it has gotten so far is about 20 degrees and the focsle has been up to 80 degrees and the salon in the mid 70s,so far been totally awsome living aboard,the best is the quality of sleep from the gentle rocking and fresh air,I'm never living on land again

 

[O C Diver]

Glad it's working out for you. Be careful of ice on the dock.

Ted

 

[Lostsailor13]

Winter #2 soon approaching

Last winter a Chinese diesel heater and a couple ceramic heaters did the trick just fine,but for this winter ive already started dickinson heater install i found a used Antarctic model for 200 bucks installed a double turn coil and did a thermostat bypass with small circulating pump to use for my primary heat source

 

[FF]

Adding insulation is always a great idea , BUT it must be fire proof or totally covered.

The fastest heat improvement is to cover the windows , inside and outside with plastic to make them air tight , and insulated.

Folks have used bubble wrap , but it makes looking out in the midst of a storm far less enjoyable.

If the windows are insulated shrink wrap helps at spring cleanup time , but seems to do no insulating.

Even worse it keeps the vessel from being covered in snow , which is a great insulation.

A Stiff broom is better than a snow shovel.

 

[boater3]

Adding insulation is always a great idea , BUT it must be fire proof or totally covered.

The fastest heat improvement is to cover the windows , inside and outside with plastic to make them air tight , and insulated.

Folks have used bubble wrap , but it makes looking out in the midst of a storm far less enjoyable.

If the windows are insulated shrink wrap helps at spring cleanup time , but seems to do no insulating.

Even worse it keeps the vessel from being covered in snow , which is a great insulation.

A Stiff broom is better than a snow shovel.

Ive noticed a significant difference with shrink wrap. Perhaps it keeps the cold wind away but I can have a smaller heat source and things stay warmer more easily. My HVAC works hard until the shrink wrap gets put on.