Winterising for liveaboards?

[Wardy]

What do you actually do to winterise your boat if you live aboard? If anything!

Looks like we're approaching completion on the house (next week), ready to go the next stage and find a yacht to live on, just for when the coldest part of the year arrives (not the best plan in the world, but if we can cope with British winters aboard...)


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[Nauti Fox]

Close the doors.
We actually moved onboard last year in November and let out the house.The idea being that if we made it through winter then we'd be ok.We were and the house is almost sold.
In fact it was almost nice to have the colder weather in that alot of the activity along the river slows down and its kind of like getting the place back to yourselves if you know what I mean.
Regards, Al.


<hr width=100% size=1>No dear,the water goes in the other one.

 

[AndrewB]

Get the dehumidifier running.

You'll be surprised how quickly you acclimatise to the cold. When your guests all keep their coats on aboard, you'll know it's happened.

If they keep their oilskins on, you haven't got the dehumidifier on a high enough setting.

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[PaulS]

In the colder parts of North America some live-aboards shrinkwrap their boats if they won't actually be sailing them. They say it actually gets quite warm under ther shrink wrap. The cockpit becomes almost like a sunroom

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[ccscott49]

The best thing I have found after quite a few winters aboard in Holland and UK, was an overall cover! Keeps the rain off the boat, channels air through, to keep the boat fresh and aids the heating. the eberspacher type heaters are excellent, dry air is really good for keeping moisture levels manageable. Nice thick quilts, which you can air under the overall cover. Keep the cover off the boat, over the boom and propped up with timber or whatever. Worked for me.

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[baroque]

Yes, good ideas! My question is what about insurance?Especially if we only take our boats up when required. I'm going to be in Brighton next winter. The insurance I've looked at so far states that I must winterise from Nov-March. Any tips?

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[Trevethan]

We do all the usual enginey things -- drain the coolant and refill, change oil etc.

This year we are going to run the engine once a month too.. in gear against rope for an hour. We didn't last year, to no ill effect, except a very smokey first firing.

I know pow people talk of bore glazing etx, but an hour under a light load for three months shouldn't be an issue. just think its good to slosh the oil around a bit.

In terms of living comfort -- top up the fuel tank and get your heatter sorted out -- we have a Newport diesel, which I clean out, de-coke and generally tidy. I'll stick a vac up the chimney too.

If of eberspacher type, sort our a spare glowplug and check your batteries are in good shape -- those thing are pretty finickly about voltages so check the wiring too -- nothing worse than no heat in a boat in winter!.

Insulate where you can.

Buy a dehumidifier and some electrical heater gear -- we have a couple of 500 watt panels that stay on all winter on frost protect setting, but we also have a small 2 kw convection heater, which is great for a bit of quick warmth.

Buy an electric blanket -- I scoffed at another boat owbner who had one, but bought one and its great -- After an hour the bed is lovely and aired and warm and dry Wihout it could feel a bit clammy -- not sure whether that was damp or cold or both, but the -- and used next to no energy -- one of the best things we have bought.

Anyway good luck and enjoy!

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[robind]

Speak with them (your insurers) about having the Lay up period afloat.
Regards
Rob

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[charles_reed]

1. Make sure of your shorepower supply - I always run a fan heater in cold weather.
2. Line your deckheads - this is especially true of internal locker deckheads, or you'll get condensation. I used the aluminum foil/polystyrene sheet you buy for insulation behind radiators on external walls and foung it very successful.
3. Have a boom tent, under which you can stand up, which is waterproof and have a hanging line for wet gear.
4. If you're cooking by butane you may have to turn a fan heater onto the cylinder in very cold weather - I avoid the issue by using an electric kettle.

I've enjoyed down to -8C, when the water round the boat was freezing and don't think you need to take many other precautions.

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[charles_reed]

In fact

if you use a source of dry heat such as a stove or an electric fan-heater a dehumidifier is entirely superfluous.
If anything you'll need to humidify the air to prevent sore throats and blocked noses.

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[PaulS]

That reminded me...if you have the boat somewhere where cold enough for the water freeze you may wish to see about a bubbler to keep it from freezing you in.

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[cliffb]

Showing my ignorance here... but what's a bubbler? I've heard of folk hanging bits of carpet from the stantions... but is this a bit of custom made kit to do the same?

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[pragmatist]

Interested to hear about vacuuming your Newport chimney - ours has just been decoked (HWMBO not me fortunately !) but is not running at full power - we wondered about the diesel filter but maybe the chimney has something to do with it.

Although I like electric blankets we don't need them to remove damp as the Newport diesel is normally superb at reducing humidity - highly recommended.

<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is a sailor who now believes it will _always_ rain

 

[PaulS]

Here in the N.E. U.S. marinas with boats in the water all winter drop hoses with little holes in them all around the slips. when there is a chance of freeze they pump air through the hoses which then bubbles up to the surface preventing ice from forming in the relatively still water of the marina.

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[Trevethan]

Our boat has a galley and saloon forward, where the newport is, then a pilot house and an aft cabin. The Newport does a great job of warming and drying the first two thirds of the boat, but doesn't do much for the aft cabin have a webasto for that but needs fitting properly, which involves a rebuild of the pilothouse seating and I can't face that at the moment.

You should try the electric blanket though -- Makes the bed lovely even when swmbo isn't in it!

The other problem we find is that there is a pretty hefy temperature gradient from cabin sole to deckhead. We have a fan that can blow over the chimney which helps a lot, but I was thinking about fitting a steel box around the top of the chimney with some ducting coming down and a fan drawing that heated air down.

The other option is their heatex system, but can't seem to find them over here.



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[Trevethan]

They do much the same in Norway -- even with a foot of ice in the fjord, themarinas are ice free. Not sure if they use air or circulate water around.

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[cliffb]

PaulS...Thanks for that.
Fascinating.


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[PaulS]

<<You should try the electric blanket though -- Makes the bed lovely even when swmbo isn't in it!>>

Have to agree! For liveaboard in winter nothing beats an electric blanket for efficiency and comfort.

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[jimboaw]

Shocking results reported by users of electric blankets over more traditional methods

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