Cold Weather Start Question

[mjgill1]

Boat is a 2012 Seaward 32 RK. Engine is a Yanmar 3YM30.

The winter here is holding on much more than we would like. The anticipated splash date was 4/2.

This will be our first year berthing this boat in our lake. The forecast for the foreseeable future is to have 40's for a high and 20's for a low ( terrible).

I am concerned that if we splash the boat and run the engine, that we may have freezing issues in the raw water cooling system. Am I correct, or are my concerns unfounded? If we need to wait to splash the boat we will reluctantly do so. If we are safe to put her in the water, we will be happy to do that too!

Your advice is appreciated.

Best,

[mjgill1]

No Takers? I was thinking some of you folks that haul out in the NE would have an answer for me. When do you put back in? Do you leave it winterized, just leave your seacock open? Just trying to learn the ropes without making a stupid mistake. We would really like to get that boat in the water if possible.

[Sailmonkey]

more depends on the water temperature. If your low is in the 20s and the water is only in the 30s to low 40s you may have problems. But if you're tied to a dock with power, just put a 100 watt light bulb in the engine compartment and relax.

[mjgill1]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

more depends on the water temperature. If your low is in the 20s and the water is only in the 30s to low 40s you may have problems. But if you're tied to a dock with power, just put a 100 watt light bulb in the engine compartment and relax.

That's a good idea.

[Suijin]

It's hard to with any confidence tell you it's ok or not ok. If it's going into the 20's at night but hitting the 40's during the day you're likely fine. If you have a string of days where it's in the low twenties or below during the day then I would be concerned. In addition to a 100 light bulb there are rod (closet) heaters that you could get. Just slide it under the engine.

[mjgill1]

Originally Posted by Suijin

It's hard to with any confidence tell you it's ok or not ok. If it's going into the 20's at night but hitting the 40's during the day you're likely fine. If you have a string of days where it's in the low twenties or below during the day then I would be concerned. In addition to a 100 light bulb there are rod (closet) heaters that you could get. Just slide it under the engine.

That makes sense. I have never heard of a rod heater. I searched it and kept getting rod dehumidifiers? Is that what you are talking about? How about a link? Thanks.

[Tayana42]

Look for Goldenrod Heaters, also described as dehumidifiers. They create a constant low heat which warms and thereby circulates air keeping a small space like an engine room or berth warmer and dryer.

[mjgill1]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Look for Goldenrod Heaters, also described as dehumidifiers. They create a constant low heat which warms and thereby circulates air keeping a small space like an engine room or berth warmer and dryer.

Thanks!

[Scaramanga F25]

Launch when the nights are no longer below 30 degrees.

[deblen]

If you are able to launch in a lake,it would seem that the lake isn't freezing over at night ?
Unlikely that your engine space will go below freezing overnight.
But-as suggested,put a small source of heat in the engine space for peace of mind.
Check with your insurance. My ins. provider does not allow any heat aboard while in dry storage over the winter.

Len

[Jammer]

Hello MJGill

I'm local, more or less, lived in Cedar Rapids for a number of years and am now living a little ways southeast of Minneapolis. I'll be launching my boat on Lake Pepin in a few weeks, and know what the weather is like here. Guessing you're talking about Okoboji or the surrounding area? Not much else around there.

Anyway, I have some suggestions.

If your situation would allow you to launch without opening any of the seacocks, that is probably your best choice. That way you won't lose your place on the launch schedule and won't have much risk of damage. The lake isn't going to freeze again and so your thru-hulls and seacocks will be fine as long as the seacocks stay closed. Then you can paddle or just walk the boat along with a line or whatever to get to your slip. Once the cold snap passes and you're confident of the weather, you can open the seacocks and fire everything up. Your biggest risks here are making a mistake and leaving a seacock open, or having one that leaks that you don't know about. If you're not 100% confident of your seacocks, you could pull the hoses off and plug the seacock to be sure. (But then if you're not 100% confident of your seacocks, well,.... that's another thread)

Second alternative, you can get the boat into its slip and then winterize it while it is in the water. Huge hassle in most cases but sometimes it's the best way. If your seacocks do not have drains then this will require pulling the hoses off and plugging the seacock with something for safety. Main problem here is that it's easy to miss something when winterizing.

Third alternative, you can run some sort of heat in the engine compartment to keep it reliably above freezing. Some people use incandescent light bulbs. The "gold rod" small area heaters were mentioned upthread. Heat tape. I personally like to use magnetic heaters for that sort of thing, that is, the kind that have magnets so you can attach them to an iron surface, like a water pump. But there are some problems with this approach.

The first, obvious, problem is that there are all kinds of things that can go wrong and leave you without heat. Power outage. Well-meaning but misinformed individual disconnecting the extension cord. Breaker or GFCI trips. With light bulbs, well, they can burn out (it is customary to use two smaller ones rather than one large which improves your odds). Stuff can just fail.

The less obvious problem is that you can end up overdoing it and melting expensive parts, especially if you misjudge the size heater you need.

The final risk is that there is some risk of fire. You are, after all, using an unattended space heater, in a confined area with lots of combustible bits.

Fourth choice is you can leave the boat on the hard and launch another day. I'm assuming you would lose your place in line, or you wouldn't be asking. Tough call.

Fifth choice is you can take your chances. Only you can decide. With 50 degree days and 28 degree nights I'd probably take a chance rather than fart around with all that. Colder? Windy too? Not so much.

I've lived this stuff for decades with rural water systems and RVs. Boats are no different.

Good luck.

[Cadence]

You may consider a heat tape snaked around your raw water system such that heat is transferred directly to the pump and heat exchanger. The light bulb will probably work fine.

[Capt Nemo]

If it were my boat, I would use a small ceramic heater in the engine room.
It will circulate the warm air much ,much, much better than a light bulb.

[NevisDog]

Why has no one mentioned just draining the raw water system after each use? I once punched a hole in a direct raw-water-cooled diesel engine (no frost plugs in those ancient things); after that I just drained the raw water after every use but I'm guessing, since no one suggests this option, that there may be issues I'm still unaware of?

[stormalong]

If you are connected to shore power and your hot water can be heated both electrically and from the engine just turn on the power to the hot water heater. Convection through the engine loop will keep your block plenty warm.

The 100 watt bulb is dodgy at best. Can you even find an incandescent 100 watt bulb anymore?

Don't worry about short term power failures. It would take many, many hours for your warm block to freeze. If the surface of the water freezes the water below it is still above freezing temp. Unless you had a very long term freeze don't worry about it.