What maint do you do / recommend when yacht is put into heated indoor storage for winter?

[JeffandErin]

Greetings All -
New owner of a 1984 Carver 3607. Boat is currently docked in a marina in upstate NY.

I have had previous boats (all smaller and trailerable) and have gone through the drills of pulling them out and winterizing them for the winter season. Shrinkwrap included.

I have an opportunity to store the Carver in an indoor heated storage facility for the winter. This seems like a no-brainer - as my gut reaction tells me that I would be able to avoid all the traditional winterization activities - draining the blocks and filling with antifreeze, draining water systems, etc, etc

However, I did not want to make assumptions and I wanted to capitalize upon the huge wealth of collective knowledge in this forum

So, what say you? For those who have used indoor heated storage - what did you do to set the boat up? What do you recommend doing?

Filling the fuel tanks and adding fuel stabilizer is a given. As is oil and filter changes.

All comments appreciated

[bud37]

Welcome to the forum.
First I guess, a question to ask your storage people might be, does your building have generator backup and what is the plan if there is a prolonged outage.......this is the kind of emergency situation that can change how things are done as far as winterizing is concerned.

[Viper]

You can't rely 100% on heating systems IMO. It only takes one night of a deep freeze to destroy your expensive machinery. I always recommend winterizing all systems even in heated storage.

[Midnightsun]

I would ask them what you are covered for. Probably they will say they cannot be absolutely sure of heat 24/7 all winter long. as the saying goes, $hit happens. Better safe than sorry. Whats a few hundred to winterize after all.

[pepmyster]

QR_BBPOST You can't rely 100% on heating systems IMO. It only takes one night of a deep freeze to destroy your expensive machinery. I always recommend winterizing all systems even in heated storage.

Our marina next to us, well, there are 2, that do heated storage. The owners of these boats don't stop bragging about not having to winterize. I agree with you, 1 night of freeze due to system failure, you're done. Who wants to go through the hassle of insurance?

[Viper]

I've been through it at a marina up north and that's just one I've been directly involved with the aftermath. We typically don't hear about these failures or close calls unless you're directly involved, it's not like it makes the local news. It doesn't take as long as one thinks on a cold night, don't forget when they say "heated" storage, it's usually not much above the freezing point, it's just enough to prevent freezing. So it's not like it's coming down from 70 degrees in a failure, it only has to come down a few degrees before hitting the freezing mark, then on to a temp that will actually do damage.

Dealing with insurance or marina coverage isn't the biggest concern if you enjoy boating, the biggest concern is missing part or all of your following boating season IMO.

[km1125]

Just think about all those boats in Texas that ended up with ruined engines when they had their big freeze last year. No one thought they really had to winterize and when the weather hit there were a lot more priorities then trying to get boat engines protected. One really good ice storm is all it would take and unless the site has a generator or other way to provide the heating system power, that's going to mess up a lot of folks.

Doesn't happen very often at all, but what's the MINIMUM you could do to prevent the worst from happening?

[Viper]

Ya km, that's a perfect example, and that's down south. We get that type of weather up here all the time in winter

[Cooler]

I store in heated indoor storage. The guy who owns the building has his own boat in there, as well as redundant backup systems to mitigate any temp interruptions. He also has a monitoring system, so if anything happens, he knows about it. The temp is kept at 50F, and the building is extremely well insulated. Final point, he lives at the same location. I do not winterize, but only because all these factors are in place. If your situation is not as secure, I would recommend you take caution. Good luck & welcome! er

[Midnightsun]

Problem is the backup units for these storage facilities can fail. If it is a major blizzard or ice storm or some other natural disaster, good luck in finding a huge generator in time. Is there a written guarantee by the owner of the facility that states they cover all damages if the boat is subjected to below freezing temps? I doubt it. I would at least winterize the engine/s