Gonna Freeze for a few nights...anyone worried?

D

DLL

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I have to go back to the boat tomorrow, I am thinking about leaving a light bulb on it the
engine room or run a heater at 60 degrees in the the aft cabin. Not too expensive to run
it, it is pretty efficient.

The water at WB is probably about 45 degrees.

What are you doing different?
 
I'm not doing anything differently, yet. Keep in mind my boat is a 26' cruiser. There is a 24" (25-watt) GoldenRod in the forward compartment to dehumidify and prevent condensation from forming. A single 40-watt lightbulb in a metal-shaded clamp-on work light in the cabin to do the same, and another 24" GoldenRod in the engine compartment.

It's not safe to leave a lightbulb burning in the engine compartment unless it's completely enclosed in an explosion-proof fixture. If the bulb breaks on burnout (that happens sometimes) the spark can ignite vapor from fuels or gas from a battery. Same goes for a heater, unless rated for marine engine compartment use.

I'm OK with lightbulbs left on in the cabin space if it's mounted a few feet off of the deck and away from any combustibles. I never trust any space heater unless I'm onboard at the time. Just too much of a fire hazard.

In a covered slip, I'm betting that the water temp will prevail and there will be no need for engine heating. However, I may go out tomorrow and move the GoldenRod that's in the engine compartment right next to the engine block.
 
I have a golden rod, just bought a new 75 watt bulb type lamp. I don't trust lamps much,
fear of fire.

One thing I really don't understand why the thermostats, and I mean the new digital ones, don't go below 60. I wish they went to about 45 or 50 degrees. I think I will leave the
aft cabin heater on at 60. It will cost me a few bucks, but relieve my stress. And the name of my medical game is relieve stress.

I am taking a couple of those "paper" masks down for the painters to use. They should have them there, but I want to be sure.

We are leaving in a few minutes, will catch you this evening.....hey, if you are using a light bulb, a timer might help?? Only run the light from 4pm thru 8am??

I think the water will save the day, but 25 degrees is nippy. If it were in the teens I
would spend the night on it. I would rather spend $20 on electric bills than $500 on water damage and pipes.

If anyone needs anything done at WB, give me a call.....Dave
 
I'm keeping my boat in the water ** 45* instead of up in air ** 28* on the air dock. Other then that, I'm going to suggest that my harbormaster prevent the water pipes on the dock from freezing by having the faucet at each end of the dock open a bit to keep the water running.

In 1990 or so when the delta had below freezing for over a week. The only problem was that the marina burst waterpipes on all their docks and it took several days to fix them. All the boats in the water were fine. A lot of the boats stored in the dry storage had cracked blocked. I hear that insurance carriers would not pay out unless the boat had been winterized.......bummer.
 
Well I just learned something. I have always left a light bulb on in the engine compartment. My boat is covered but outside not in the water. Where can one get a goldenrod. Are they available at hardware stores or is it only a boaters item. And when you say an enclosed light bulb what does that include. Thanks all, its going to be cold down here in the valley the next few days.

DBH
 
Our local marine store has Goldenrods. Maybe some hardware store haves them, too. Goldenrods are a 120V AC heater element sealed inside a small pipe.

If the light in your engine compartement came with your boat, it's the right type. They have a glass dome covering the bulb and metal grill over that.
 
I believe Boatfix also sells the Goldenrods, but you would have to have it shipped "overnight" to get it in time.
 
had g rod in the garage never saw 1 before i had no idea boaters used them anyway i already put it in the eng room, i plan to go there friday to chk things , and run 2 nd small heater at v bunk area , iam looking fwd to it now
i was working on the pool tuesday put my hand in the water to clean the pool cleaner
man it was hard to keep arm in for about 30 seconds it hurt i had to have some warm water
to put on my arm right away, pool and boat are ready , bill bring it on!
 
Thanks for the heads-up/reminder. I just bought from Westmarine a 36" golden rod for the ski boat parked at the side of the house.

I normally winterize and keep in a garage in Tahoe but this year I wanted to see if I would use it in the Bay (closed cooling motors). So far... twice.[V]
 
Flutterby, I'm doing the same thing. Just took my boat off the Airdock and going to hope for the best. I'm in a covered slip and full canvas, etc., so I'm hoping I'll be ok!
 
Well I hope mine will be fine, I'm in a coverd berth and sterned in the center of the shed. Let's just hope this doesn't go more than a couple of days.

Hope you all will be fine as well.

Stay warm
 
Tonight it will be around the freezing mark, so I think that if your boat is in the water, things should be OK. However, Friday night/Saturday morning it's getting real cold so I don't know if even the 45 degree water will be enough to stop things from freezing. So I'll be on my boat Friday night cranking up the heat just to be safe.
 
mantecore, I hope you mean you are deflating the air dock, not moving the boat off of it. That air dock helps to add insulation to protect your engine........
 
San Joaquin River water temp at Sprindrift Marina was 45 degrees when I checked it with a good thermometer yesterday afternoon. That was at a foot under the surface and in the shade.
 
Yep, 45 was about what I got at WB. I left the aft cabin heater on at 60, opened all the cabinets up, and the bilge covers removed.

The golden rod is nestled between our engines so I think I am ok.

Our fresh water storage tank is in the aft cabin and I opened up the access panel door for it.

I may wish I had left the main salon heater on, since it reaches more areas. I have the
oregon scientific thermometers, with 3 remotes. I checked them before I left yesterday
evening. 64 in the aft cabin, 56 in the main salon, V-Berth was 46 and the outside temp
was probably in the 50s. If I were still working, I would love to buy one of those gadgets where you call a cell phone and it reports the temp, or whatever you need to know.

But it is cheaper to tell the wife to drive down there and check it. She has nothing better to do anyway. I have important football games coming up. And if you believe any of that, I have some swamp land I can sell ya. BTW, when I was stationed at Altus AFB, OK
they had a bridge replaced because of....dry rot.
 
Flutterby - yes, you're right - I didn't move it off the Airdock, I just deflated it!
 
Love it! I could be a spokesperson for the thing. Easy to use, good price-point - what's not to like?!
 
I just went to the boat and turned on the engine room lights, I'm not sure how it will help, but I do heed good advice.

Flutterby, thanks to your recommendation and seeing a few of my neighbors with them, I'm getting an Air Dock.
 
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