Winterizing in the Chesapeake

J

jandjonland

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
RO Number
19788
Messages
6
This is our first year (winter) in the Chesapeake Bay. We have spent the last five years in the tropics and are from California so this is new ground for us. We have researched all of the things that one might do for winterizing the boat but none of the information is really specific to the Chesapeake Bay. We are at the Georgetown Yacht Basin in the upper Sassafras River.

Some of our questions are:
1. Do we really need to winterize everything? (engine, water tanks, hot water heater, all pumps, watermaker, etc.
2. Do we need to "tent" the boat or cockpit?
3. We have three big solar panels that are flat on top of an arch, do we need to remove them or somehow allow for lots of snow?
4. Should we remove the sails.

The marina will be providing a bubbler around the boat. Thanks.

Joe and Jacque
Marna Lynn
Wauquiez 47
Alameda, CA
 
I live ten miles north.

We can get anything from no snow to over two feet of wet stuff at a shot.

We can have a warm winter, or we can spend a week or two where it doesn't get out of the teens (F) for a high and is zero at night.

So the answer is definitely yes to winterizing everything, if you don't shrink wrap depending on your setup you can have a pay me now or later approach....the worst comes if its a wet snow then it rains....stuff weighs a ton. If you don't come down here and get the snow off anything that is not hardtop will break.

No idea on sails, no idea on solar panels.
 
Joe,

Assume the worse and plan to fully winterize everything. We have had fairly mild winters recently (mild being that the bay doesn't completely freeze over). Even so, as psugar mentioned, we can still have a winter with a 20 inch snow storm and below zero temperatures for at least a short period of time.

Remember, water freezes at 32 degrees and will expand at the freezing point. You could face major damage to your engines and your water lines if you do not take the necessary precautions. You may need to spend a few hundred dollars if you don't winterize it yourself but you could face thousands of dollars in damage if you don't winterize at all.

marko
 
Joe and Jacque,

I think we are right next to you on E dock at GYB in "Still in the Mood" (50' Chris Constellation). If you are going to be in the area and can periodically check on it, you will be better off (get heavy snow accumulations off boat/tarp, check lines, etc). If not to be used during the winter, fully winterize the fresh water system, the heads, the engine, and genny. Most folks take sails down and take home or have stored in the sail loft. This keeps bugs and critters from nesting in late fall and early spring and keeps clean. Also good time to perform any needed repairs.

The other option is to keep heat in the bilge to keep everything above freezing. The real danger here is if a blizzard/ice storm comes in and power is lost, everything WILL freeze (read really $$$). I've been in GYB for 4 years and the power has gone off a couple of times...

I am in favor of removing all canvas (it will not stand the snow load) and cover the boat cockpit, etc with a tarp to protect and keep clean. On your boat, a flat blue tarp stretched over the spar can cover the cockpit nicely and give enough tenting to not hold snow/rain. I would not want to predict what the weight of 2 feet of snow and ice would do to the solar panels - I'd have them under the tarp and protected (belt and suspenders). I would remove spare fuel cans and other loose gear(store below empty or remove as the fuel will not likely be any good next spring anyway).

Inside, cabin moisture can be a major issue as well. Ventilate the cabin as well as you can (if under a tarp, keep some vents open, or ports that will not take rain/snow water). a small fan running is also an excellent idea. Remove bedding and other soft goods as well - the temperature swings will indroduce moisture into everything - on a sunny 35 degree afternoon, the cabin can be 60 degrees + then cools to outdoor temp after sundown - guaranteed moisture situation!

If you are around, please stop by and say hi or leave e-mail here! We anticipate being on our boat throughout the winter periodically - we will winterize the engines and fresh water system (bottled water used, raw water heads) and cover the flybridge with a tarp/frame in late November.

Delaware Jim
 
It is going to be our first winter at the Bay too and had the same dilemma and still debating about it. I had in mind to leave my I/O's in the water during winter, everybody told me "that's not a good idea" so I finally decided to haul it by mid to end of November and launch it again the first week of March or so.

I will use that timeframe to check zincs, anodes and bottom paint if needed, at least will power wash it. Then, second question, how to cover it. Purchased the factory Cockpit Cover for winter usage only, well.... again, you need a tarp, to shrink-wrap, to protect the investment. So I am sure for now it will be winterized, hauled, blocked, power washed and covered and 95% I will be shrink-wrapping.

I did that before on my previous boats and it looks like I will continue to do it. Better spend a couple of thousands to prevent that a couple of thousands to fix.
 
At our marina I'd say we're about 60-70 "leave-ins". I've been leaving our current boat in since 2004. Granted, I check on it weekly, and others on the pier call from time to time when they're checking their boats. I've got outboards, so I just tilt them down for the winter and start them up every week for about 10-15 minutes (Honda does not recommend fogging). I decided last year to invest in some heaters so I didn't have to winterize anything down below. I purchased one Xtreme heater for the cabin and another for the forward port sponson where my Electro Scan and holding tank are. I then installed an internet monitoring system so I could keep an eye on 4 different temp sensors from anywhere in real-time. Granted, none of this was much help when my wife's grandmother passed away during some lovely single-digit days and the power had gone out. But sitting in water that's well above freezing really does help. I had no damage. The cabin only got down to 38. The freshwater tank stayed around 40. The waste treatment area did dip to 28, but it's full of ocean salinity solution, so the freezing point I believe is 26? If it wasn't for the funeral I would have started up the genny for a while to warm things up.

That made for some great boating last January when it was in the 60's. And makes it really easy to pick things up again when a nice day or two in March comes around. I take the approach that a boat was meant to be in the water. Bay water is warmer than the air, so that helps. Snow doesn't last long as soon as the sun hits the isinglass. And lastly, it's much harder to steal my outboards in 40 degree water than in 30 degree air!
 
I will say I've never paid for shrink wrap.....I've kept boats in the water over the winter with heaters and lived down here. I will also say I have two gas generators.
 
Mixman, which Internet Monitoring System did you get? Will you folks leave a pair of sterndrives on the water during winter?
 
Get an ice eater to keep the warm water coming up from below. The drives will be fine (it's above freezing in the water).

I use a TemPageR to monitor temps. I use a Netgear print server to pull in the marina WiFi signal and convert it to ethernet. The TemPageR just needs an IP address in order to access it. This might be an issue for some, but I'm the IT guy at our club, so I've got the tools :-)

There are other systems available that use a phone line to connect to. I think they'll call you if there's a problem. But for me, the WiFi solution was the easiest and most affordable (it e-mails me if there's a problem).
 
Thanks everyone for the great advise. Sounds like we do everything. I think I will take the solar panels off.

One complication that I didn't mention is that we will be in California for most of the winter.

Joe and Jacque
 
Joe and Jacque,
I am sitting aboard my boat looking at yours next to me! Let me know when you may be in the area to do winterizing (or a visit) and I'll see if I can be here for an assist. If you'd like to send me a private e-mail with your phone # in California, I can have it aboard "just in case".

BTW, I have had two different people ask me about your boat and one said "if it is going up for sale, let me know"!

Delaware Jim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top