volvo sx- drying out berth??

[seventeen2]

Hello all,

I am a bit confused and concerened!
My boat is on a permanent marina mooring which dries out when the tides is out. i.e the boat is left sitting in soft mud.
Normally throughout the summer i leave the drives in the fully tilted up position to keep them out of the mud.
The weather here is now frosting up at night and still remains cold during the day and im extremely worried about the drives freezing.
The mud is soft and occasionally the drives have been left down with no effect.
Should i leave the drives up or down??


Kind Regards
Danny

 

[Windykid]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

I think up would be better to not cake mud in the water intake!

 

[seventeen2]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

Thanks windykid,

I think the same as you, but at the moment the temperatures are below freezing, and im concerned if left up the water in the drives will freeze?

Cheers
Danny

 

[Windykid]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

No way to pull boat and winterize???

 

[ziggy]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

i know nothing about volvo drives. but my mercrusier drive gets pulled and stored inside over the winter. my boat is driveless right now.
perhaps ya can remove your drives to eliminate the problem..

 

[seventeen2]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

Thanks Guys,

The boat is 32feet long and unfortunatly not trailerable, all maintenance was carried out mid last year and I do use the boat in the winter months.
It has only recently become apparent that it is possible for the drive to freeze in the "up" position, but as I say my marina is tidal.

Still confused!!!

 

[Windykid]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

Better leave down then, as long as the water around boat doesnt freeze the outdrive should be good, but if water frezzes around boat, probably going to wish it was hauled.

 

[seventeen2]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

Hey,

Salt water here, we dont have the luxury of nice freshwater lakes!!lol!
I think ill leave them down as the mud is pretty soft, it should just sink into it.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[1fishbone]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

Salt water doesn't freeze like fresh water.
It depends on how much salt is in the water...ocean salt water will freeze at about -1.91 degrees C.

If it's more brackish, it will freeze at a different temperature than pure fresh water.

The small amount of water left in the leg when up would probably would do less harm than letting the weight of the boat sit on your out drives and transom.

I would be more concerned about the bilge pump freezing and fresh water lines etc. Areas out of the sun (bilges, fresh water lines from tanks etc) will continue to freeze with extended periods of 0c and below.

 

[Lou C]

Re: volvo sx- drying out berth??

I would think about pulling that boat out for the winter, either way that is not an optimal situation. On the one hand you have the full weight of the stern sitting on the hinge pins for the gimble/tilt assembly. On the other if you leave em up and it rains, then the temp drops, water that gets into the exhaust housing can freeze and break the housing. Salt water here freezes at about 28*F and we have had cold enough weather that the harbor behind my house will freeze solid. The only people who leave their boats in are those with docks with bubblers otherwise its far too risky. Some with outboards leave the engine down but the same warning applies. I would not do it.....

Here's the view from my living room...that's all ice down there...thick enough to walk on...no place for a boat esp with outdrives....some do leave boats in but like I said it's too risky to make any sense...

If you suck up mud into your cooling intakes that's gonna be a bad scenario, overheating and a lot of work to get it all out....

Sounds like you in what we call a tidal flat. The harbor in the pic is also a tidal flat... Some areas of that harbor in the pic do get so shallow that your boat would be on the bottom at dead low tide, I try to get a mooring spot that gives me at least 5 feet at low tide so I can leave the drive down to keep the strain off the bellows...