preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

[rthomas]

this year im going to moor the big boat in my sig at the marina starting next mo. until oct or so. i plan on replacing the drive bellows and adding a new float switch to the bildge pump. i also plan on adding a battery maintainer. my zincs are in good shape and i have no leaks, what else? thanks-Russ

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

back up battery, and second independent auto bilge pump. make sure all thru hulls, hoses, clamps are in top condition.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

Hope you have some antifoul bottom paint. Without it, all kinds of things will be growing on its bottom.

 

[mattttt25]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

That's about it. Once you keep a boat in the water, you'll never turn back. Really not a big deal if you cover the simple things. I stay in from April 1 to mid Dec or Jan.

 

[rthomas]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

thanks guys, i like the second pump idea, also the parts guy at my fav. local boat shop said i can get an alarm that would sound if the pumps failed and the water got to the sending unit, this marina has 24hr security so this might be a good idea. i'm going to wait and see about bottom paint, this marina is near the mouth of a river so bottom growth might not be a big problem

 

[mthieme]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

Algae, barnacles, etc. can be a problem even with bottom paint...don't go cheap. If you have no paint on the bottom, plan on pulling it soon after putting it in.

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

I left mine in the water all last year. I did not put bottom paint on. Perhaps i should haev but i think it is ugly and i see plenty of boats with bottom paint still covered in junk

I hop in the lake once a week with a microfiber washclocth and i just go around the boat and wipe it down. I was able to keep the bottom virtually spotless all year. When i pulled it in the fall yes there was some growth in some spots i could not reach by hand (This year iw ill have a telescoping pole. But even those wiped right off

Now if i left it for more than say 3 weeks without doing this i imagine it would have been a nightmare but i like going around the boat and checking the condition of everything anyway. and you are going to need to wipe the drive down anyway so whats the big deal

I won't do bottom paint, once you do it you have to keep doing it or it looks even works and i question how well it really works. Now i only have a 19' Chris Craft bowrider so with a huge boat i would imagine this would not be practical, but for small runabouts i saw just wipe in down once every week or two.

 

[KurtG]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

on a boat that age, you might get gel coat blistering if it's left in the water without proper painting. I can't comment on the brand/resin used. I think you might need a barrier coat and anti-foul.

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

I wonder about blistering too. I got some right under the waterline on mine (I just bought it last year and it was the 1st year it was left in the water (Lake Norman which gets a surface temp near 90 in the summer).

I was told by several shops that do actual paint and repair from friends i made that

1) Blisters don't really matter anyway, they rarely cause any tangible problem outside of superficial cosmetic problems

2) The blister repair industry is a sham as again in most cases you are just repairing something that is not consequential which will happen again anyway

3) While paint may help you can still expect blisters depending on the hull resin used

My Chris Craft is a 1995 MY and is prone to this, i did not see it until the water temps got really hot and at first i freaked out. After doing a lot of talking to others and reading I now no longer concern myself with them. I have hundreds on tiny pin head size ones around the water line but they got that way in June and when i pulled the boat in October never got bigger and look the same now in March

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

Your gonna want bottom paint, no matter what anybody says.

And yes things grow on bottom paint too if the boat doesn't move.

Which brings you to the critical don't just leave it sitting there!

Seriously consider a barrier coat too.

I really don't understand Robert saying he wouldn't bottom paint and then after not doing it his hull blistered but that's o.k. it only looks ugly???

Blister don't matter? Now that's news!

And no if you protect your hull it will NOT blister anyway that's just nonsense.

Just cause someone works in a shop doesn't mean they know what they are talking about, most just know what they've been told.

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

This is a good article about blistering that really lays out facts with the good, bad and Ugly


http://www.yachtsurvey.com/BuyingBlisterBoat.htm


The bottom line is they are definitely not desireable but at the same time in the vast majority of cases are primarily cosmetic in nature and by the time they became anything more than that the boat would have run it's life cycle in a lot of other ways

My likely solution is to install a lift at my slip but at the same time for this season as i am still leasing my slip while i look for a deeded one to buy I am not worrying about blisters. I wipe her down every week in the water to keep the cru off and the drag low and enjoy the ride

 

[rthomas]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

interesting article, i dont think blistering is big issue for my boat because it dosnt have any, and it was lake moored for a few years by a PO in northern cal. from the way that article read it didnt sound like paint had a big affect on detering blisters. last year i put 90 hrs and 850 miles on this boat from july-oct so i hope with that kind use growth wont be a big deal

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: preparing to leave boat in water for the year??

I didn't notice anywhere that paint didn't have an affect.

Bottom line it's your boat do what you want.