Association Forum - winter storage in the water

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

winter storage in the water

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

tom
1st Mate

Member Avatar

USA
52 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/24/2003 : 07:47:20

There is a sailing club that is winter storing in the water they have a bubbler system with a back up. It would save me 1000 big ones.
If I choose this option what should I do to prepare my boat. They tell me most people leave their outboards and roller furling sails on
and go out in the winter on nice days.

Edited by - on

Brooke Willson
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 09/24/2003 : 09:18:46

It depends on where you live, and the probability of many "nice days."

Here on the Chesapeake, I have sailed as late as the first week of December. After that it's just too cold for me.

I take all the sails off and take them home. Every other year I send them to SailCare in PA to be cleaned and re-resined. All PFDs, cushions, electronics, the outboard, books, the PortaPotti, and whatever else isn't screwed down goes home to the garage to avoid mildew or theft. The rudder and tiller go home to be painted and varnished, respectively.

All freshwater is pumped out and seacocks closed.

All lockers are opened up for ventilation. I installed a Nicro solar vent last year in the peak, and it made a huge difference in reducing mildew.

Whatever running rigging can be removed is (mainsheet and vang).

I've probably forgotten something, but there's a start. Hope it's helpful.

Brooke

Edited by - brooke willson on 09/24/2003 09:20:16

Edited by - on

osmepneo
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 09/24/2003 : 11:20:06

While I was looking for a c25 I looked at one on Orient Point, Long Island at the northeastern tip of the island. The boat had been stored in the water for several years and the growth below the waterline must have been 6" long. The next door neighbor, lived aboard his c25, and invited aboard. It was warm and comfy below.

I'm digressing . . ..

Even if you winter store in the woater, a great idea, you still need to take the boat out of the water to tend to the bottom. Clean it off, check for blisters, and repaint. You might not save all that thousand you figured.

Don Peet
c25, 1665, osmepneo, sr/wk
The Great Sacandaga Lake, NY

Edited by - on

tom
1st Mate

Members Avatar

USA
52 Posts

Response Posted - 09/24/2003 : 16:23:12

yes thats true but I repaint every year and thats on top of the $1000 to store the boat. Is it ok for the boat to be in the water all year long?

Edited by - on

JoergK
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
140 Posts

Response Posted - 09/24/2003 : 16:58:54

Tom,
leaving the boat in would potentially expose it to ice. That may or may not be a problem - last year several boats in my marina were frozen in without any apparent damage - although if frozen in, wind and wave action can cause some more or less superficial damage to your sides. If you have a swing keel, though, water storage deducts from the life of the keel cable. At a galvanic contaminated berth, that can be significant. My cable parted after one season in the water! I am now replacing it every year.

Joerg
86C25 SR-SK Second Wind
<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d632b3127cce8cc1e80685990000000010" border=0>

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 09/24/2003 : 17:29:31

Hi Tom...

A bubbler or turbine pump will take care of the ice around the hull, but around here I'd also worry about ice on the sails--you know those coastal slush/ice storms we get. I'd take them off at least Dec-March. Otherwise, I know a guy who wet-slips an O'Day Tempest every winter at Wilson Cove in Norwalk; then has it hauled and painted in August/September for a discount when the yard has nothing else to do. Some say it's better for the boat than being hauled around the boatyard and supported by a few jack-stands with a block under the keel. Why not try it?

Dave Bristle - 1985 C-25 #5032 SR-FK-Dinette-Honda "Passage" in SW CT

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 09/24/2003 : 20:02:08

Tom,

This may not relate to your particular question, but may be of interest to others. However, if you're a racer, you can ignore this.

Antares has been in the water continuously for eighteen years. I believe she MAY have had ONE bottom job, and that was probably at least eight year's ago. I put her on a hydro-hoist this summer to install a bidata system, and scrapped the bottom while she was up. Not a lot of bottom paint, but not a lot of blistering, either.

Winter storage preparation in Oklahoma, where the lake will occasionally see surface ice, is to run marine antifreeze through the three drain lines and then close off the two seacocks. Mainsails with covers are left on, through ice and snow storms, with no problem.

J.B. Manley
<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d609b3127cce8d2e212441c60000008010" border=0>
Antares '85 FK/SR #4849
36°29'58" -94°59'59"

Edited by - on

deastburn
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
334 Posts

Response Posted - 09/25/2003 : 15:32:32

In colder climes, it's the same as for the house. Having the water freeze all around you is not usually the problem. That comes when the water melts. Here in the Vineyard several boats got "beached" last winter because the ice got thick, melted, refroze, and lifted the moorings and floated them off with the breeze that carried the ice to one end of the inner harbor.

That said, I may leave "Wood Duck" in the water this winter. I will float a boom around her to keep any potential "floes" away (last winter WAS the coldest in twenty-five years, and ice is not normally a problem.

One more thing: I always leave the boat with two five-gallon buckets, each with a plastic colander filled with calcium chloride crystals (driveway ice melter--available cheap from Lowes or Home Depot). It is a GREAT dehumidifier and requires no power.

I will remove the batteries to a warm location, drain all water and holding tanks and their respective hoses (better than anti-freeze which can gel hard enough to split a plastic hose or crack a gate valve), close the through hulls and stick a plastic wine bottle cork into the thru-hulls from the outside (yes, I always have a wetsuit on board for those annoying lobster trap lines), and leave all the cushions etc. on board.

Finally, a quick wipe down with Chlorox Handi-Wipes will keep the mildew and mold off the surfaces.

Yeah, I know. There has to be something I have not though of...?

Dave on "Wood Duck" (#2616 - SR, FK)

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.