I’ve heard I don’t have to winterize but it’s going to be 18 degrees....

I know I know, nobody has ever asked a question like this before...well somebody has to be the first.

I’ve got a 31’ Mainship in Myrtle Beach and this is our first winter with it. I did a lot of reading and the concensus was nobody winterized south of Virginia Beach. Well, this weekend is going to be highs in the 30’s and low in the 20’s and teens.

What’s really bugging me is the last time I left the boat, I turned the water from the dock off but left the hose connected. Also I left both AC’s on the away mode, not on heat.

Do I need to get on the car and go down there tomorrow? Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks guys,
Steve

Don't make up excuses to go to the boat! Just go!!

Ted

Ted said:

Don't make up excuses to go to the boat! Just go!!

Ted

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Ha well we are planning on going soon, this would be an emergency trip. What needs to be done? I’m more worried about the interior than the engines. Water lines? Holding tank? I haven’t got a clue what to do with those.

I'm sure your boat would appreciate your attention. (At least spend some time in the saloon reading a boating magazine.) I'd empty/store the hose. Also, I'm wary of live electrical conditions when not with the boat, but will admit to having the refrigerator and battery charger connected to live electricity. But then, rarely have sub-freezing temperatures here and the water never approaches freezing temperatures.

Well Steve, I have been wrestling with this all day. I’m in Florida of course but this coming week starting on the 1st is going to be much colder than I’m used to. I will be onboard tomorrow and leave on Monday. I’m going to leave my heat on. I always shut the water off. Good practice to do. I never disconnect the hose unless I’m leaving the dock. I imagine the water temp where you are is not below 50? I’m assuming you are in salt water? As far as disconnecting the water line, did you open your faucets so there is no water in the line? I think if you did that you should be fine with it. How long are you expecting temps to be below freezing?

I would go the boat and disconnect dock water supply line and leave it on dock to thaw. Close all seacocks and put a small heater in engine room. Saltwater freezes at 28 degrees so if you go during the day, you should be good. block engine room vents and leave engine room hatch cracked, blocked open a bit. NC gets cold, but not that cold.

markpierce said:

I'm sure your boat would appreciate your attention. (At least spend some time in the saloon reading a boating magazine.) I'd empty/store the hose. Also, I'm wary of live electrical conditions when not with the boat, but will admit to having the refrigerator and battery charger connected to live electricity. But then, rarely have sub-freezing temperatures here and the water never approaches freezing temperatures.

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I leave the ac units on away mode so they dry/circulate the air every 4 hours. Those and the fridge and charger are all that’s left on. Last time I left the boat (few weeks ago) we were supposed to go spend the following weekend on it but we all decided to get sick instead. Otherwise I would have at the very least unhooked the hose and left the heat on.

Is that all these boats need to keep from freezing? It’s going to be in the teens, it even still the below feeezing time isn’t all that long.

Before we pulled the boat, we had a few very cold nights. Went to the boat, ran the engine and generator (under load) for a while to heat up the bilge, ran cabin heat, ran hot water through everything after the boat was warm- shut it all off and went home.

No issues.

Don't forget that even if temperature is freezing your boat is in water with temp much higher what will mitigate the effect. At the end of the season last year we spent 3 days at the anchor while it was freezing outside. Deck was covered with ice however it was between 16 and 18c in the boat just because we were lying in warmer water. The water heat will warm up your boat above freezing point for some time. Of course if it is -30c outside you better run to your boat immediately

L

I know nobody winterized on the coast of NC or SC...but I wasn’t sure if that was just the engines or everything else.

So you guys think that the warm water is all that’s needed to keep the water lines from freezing?

Here in the PNW, I keep a dehumidifier running in the main salon. It puts out a little bit of heat and keeps the air moving. I also have two dehumidifier heater thingies running. One in the bow and one in the stern area of the boat.

The water (Puget Sound) stays around 50 degrees even if we are 15 degrees outside. The engines, tanks and such are all below the floors and never have been frozen (even with open engine room vents) I do keep the water tank full (under the bed in the aft cabin) and the waste tank (under the forward cabin floor) empty. But, no issues with either freezing in cold weather.

I have an outside (on the sundeck) sink and faucet. This is drained during the winter. If I don't drain it, it will freeze and break. The inside water has never been an issue even with cold weather.

The nice part of living in the coastal Carolina's is that the cold weather only lasts a few days. Same here in the coastal PNW. It is hard for the short spell of cold air to get into the boat and freeze your tanks and such.

But, as others have said: go to the boat, check on her. You will feel better for doing so. Take an infrared temp gauge with you so you feel good about knowing temps you are seeing. Plus, you will be checking to see if there are any issues that are not temp related to ease your mind when you leave.

Steve91T said:

I know nobody winterized on the coast of NC or SC...but I wasn’t sure if that was just the engines or everything else.

So you guys think that the warm water is all that’s needed to keep the water lines from freezing?

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Yes that is my opinion.

Dont worry

The water in myrtle beach is probabky 50 Degrees or more. Your boat is sitting in a big bath tub of warm water. The hull will radiate heat inwards the same temp as the water. Doubt you have any issues.

I would have some form of heat in the engine area. I look at the forecasts right now and for seven days it's highs of 35-40 and lows of 24-26. I'd also be concerned about a water hose and pipes inside the boat. I'm too much of a worrier not to go. It's probably ok based on the current forecast but a slight down turn could change it. It's often duration so lower it slightly and have 168 hours below freezing and all the boats won't have problems but one out of 50 or 100 will. I remember when I was a child, one year on Lake Norman that was exceptionally cold and about two days in the marinas and dealers got more winterizing calls than possible. Among hundreds of boats and no idea how many were winterized, one marina had 2 in the water to freeze and 4 in dry storage. I know a few years that we checked on our boat every morning and evening to make sure we still had heat.

I've never winterized but always been close enough to do what was needed.

If I wasn't going, I'd have someone there prepare it a little better for that week.

Put another way and I don't know the odds. But if the odds are 100 to 1 you don't need to go, what do you do? What about 500 to 1?

I don't live anywhere near you but I do also live in a mild climate area but I still prep. my boat for freezing weather without electric heat. We do periodically get freezes. It's possible there will be a power outage and failure to provide can cost a lot of time and money for repairs.

Not trying to scare you but take care of your boat.

I used to be able to get to my boat daily or every two days so I did not winterize. I do now since that has changed. My boat can survive a freezing.

I would suggest as a minimum you drain water hoses and drain the fresh water system such as the hoses and the water pump. I've had those freeze.
At the very least depressurize the system.

If you are running an electric heater then open the locker or cabinet doors to the galley and head sinks and water lines. It does not take much heat to stop damage. But if the doors are shut then the outside ambient temp will take over.

I'm reading this thread thinking that on Sunday night it's forecast to be twenty nine degrees below zero here. Our boat is a popsicle on jackstands.

My boat's sold last summer, so I'm not worried about our current NC cold snap. I would always put a bilge heater in the ER, near the water heater and raw water pump. It was programmed to turn on if the temp got to 40. That's about as cold as it ever got. I had the luxury of being only 5 minutes from the boat, so I'd go down when the temps dropped, used an IR gun to check the bilge temps, and they never went below 40 even when night time temps dropped into the teens.

In all my years of boating on puget sound, I've never had a freeze issue, EXCEPT..the line that runs to the cockpit shower. Most of the time i have a small dehumidifier going in the engine room, but that's it.

Does your marina have wifi ?? If so something like this would be worth it for piece of mind. It would let you monitor your bilge temp from anywhere.

https://www.amazon.com/iHome-iSS50-...d=1514622146&sr=8-6&keywords=wifi+thermometer

Steve91T said:

Do I need to get on the car and go down there tomorrow? Any help will be appreciated.

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No. The only risk is an outside hose freezing and splitting. It would have to stay at 18 F constantly for close to a week to get the inside of the boat below freezing. You would only be getting freezing temps for a few hours at a time. The risk is a car accident driving to the marina is higher.

A lot of guessing going on....rightly so as many have had different experiences with boats and freezing temps.

There is a huge difference between water lines in the bilge and in the superstructure and where they penetrate the topsides.

Cockpit showers, city water inlets, topside sinks, fresh water washdown spigots,vetc can all freeze and break with just one solid night of low 20s temps....if the temps get down fast and stay down all night and the fixture is in the shade.

Bilge piping, especially the salt water stuff is good for 2 or 3 days where the nights might be freezing but the days are above 32F.

psneeld said:

A lot of guessing going on....rightly so as many have had different experiences with boats and freezing temps.

There is a huge difference between water lines in the bilge and in the superstructure and where they penetrate the topsides.

Cockpit showers, city water inlets, topside sinks, fresh water washdown spigots,vetc can all freeze and break with just one solid night of low 20s temps....if the temps get down fast and stay down all night and the fixture is in the shade.

Bilge piping, especially the salt water stuff is good for 2 or 3 days where the nights might be freezing but the days are above 32F.

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So let’s say I go to the boat this afternoon, what do I need to do to prevent those things from freezing? Rely on the shore power to keep the heat on? In a few days the highs are going to be only in the mid 30’s and lows in the teens and 20’s for 2 days straight. Then the highs will be in the 40’s for the following week.

Drain the freash water systen would be the easiest if you are keeping heat on. ...as you only need to get the water away from the outside fixtures.

Actually if keeping heat on high enough, most of those items might be OK anyway . Only the ones where the feed pipe and fixture are in unheated spaces.

I'm with the go check contingent. Much, MUCH easier to do prep than it is to do damage cleanup!!

At the very least, I'd drain down the water system. If you have a good shop vac, blowing or vacuuming as much water out of the system as possible would be good insurance. If your water lines are PEX, potential freeze damage is significantly minimized, but water in valves will freeze faster due to lower volume and there's potential for hydraulic freeze damage, increasing with exposure. Perhaps a quick and dirty application of some pink stuff or cheap vodka may be good insurance. But leave all the valves open so the water doesn't trap in fixtures. If there's concern about waste lines, just flush some pink A/F. EZPZ. But that's low on the list of potential freeze.

I doubt the engine room gear will be at risk, but I think I'd still close all the seacocks. If you have reverse cycle heat, I wouldn't leave it running unattended, too much can go wrong, and if the water temps drop into the 40's, the HX coils can ice internally and that can quickly snowball unattended.

One thing for sure, the more you prep, the better you'll sleep. I'd sooner flush out pink stuff than repair damage. In the end, you have to weigh your own risk tolerance against the weather odds.

Here in SE NC we get about the same weather as Myrtle SC. Never heard of engines having freeze problems with the boat in the water. But definitely have fresh water piping freeze and cause damage.

What I do is turn off fw pump and then open all spigots. My boat is arranged where they will drain down toward head sink and then all good. Night before the cold snap I start engine and gennie for maybe ten minutes to put some heat in engine room. Probably not needed, but easy to do.

If you have doubts about your fresh water system, you can open up spigots and turn on pump and let it run tank out, then one at a time open each spigot and let it spit air/water. As long as the pipes are not "solid" with water, a little ice inside won't hurt anything.

I don't do anything with the HVAC. I leave it off. But I am in probably 80% marine salinity. If in fresh water, I might set tstats to like 50F.

That's what I am doing to my ride sunday nite. Forecast is for 18F. Brrrr.

Ski in NC said:

Here in SE NC we get about the same weather as Myrtle SC. Never heard of engines having freeze problems with the boat in the water. But definitely have fresh water piping freeze and cause damage.

What I do is turn off fw pump and then open all spigots. My boat is arranged where they will drain down toward head sink and then all good. Night before the cold snap I start engine and gennie for maybe ten minutes to put some heat in engine room. Probably not needed, but easy to do.

If you have doubts about your fresh water system, you can open up spigots and turn on pump and let it run tank out, then one at a time open each spigot and let it spit air/water. As long as the pipes are not "solid" with water, a little ice inside won't hurt anything.

I don't do anything with the HVAC. I leave it off. But I am in probably 80% marine salinity. If in fresh water, I might set tstats to like 50F.

That's what I am doing to my ride sunday nite. Forecast is for 18F. Brrrr.

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Same. You are fine. We are in New Bern and haven’t winterized in 10 years. We do run a couple of oil heaters. One in the main cabin and one in the engine room just as insurance, but we don’t really have to.

Ski in NC said:

Here in SE NC we get about the same weather as Myrtle SC. Never heard of engines having freeze problems with the boat in the water. But definitely have fresh water piping freeze and cause damage.

What I do is turn off fw pump and then open all spigots. My boat is arranged where they will drain down toward head sink and then all good. Night before the cold snap I start engine and gennie for maybe ten minutes to put some heat in engine room. Probably not needed, but easy to do.

If you have doubts about your fresh water system, you can open up spigots and turn on pump and let it run tank out, then one at a time open each spigot and let it spit air/water. As long as the pipes are not "solid" with water, a little ice inside won't hurt anything.

I don't do anything with the HVAC. I leave it off. But I am in probably 80% marine salinity. If in fresh water, I might set tstats to like 50F.

That's what I am doing to my ride sunday nite. Forecast is for 18F. Brrrr.

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Same for in water vessel in Sidney BC

I left the Boat earlier this month with the fresh water pump off and the tank mostly topped off. Basically I need to decide if driving 3 1/2 hrs each way today will be worth it to just open come cabinets.

Is there a key on the boat or does dockmaster have one? Call dockmaster and give him like 40 bucks to do what you want. Our local dockmasters are always doing that sort of stuff.