PNWesters: When DOyou close up for winter?

[tager]

I button up my boat before heading to the v-berth for the night, then I open the hatches back up in the morning. I do this all winter long!

[DwayneSpeer]

I'll second, third, forth, etc that. We don't put ours away. We traditionally join in the other darn fools who choose to sail all winter long and even participate in the Christmas lighted boat parade. Of course I've had to brush the snow off a few times but we are usually in our boat almost every weekend. We keep a heater on with a thermostat that turns it on when the temp falls below freezing just because we like it warmer when we visit.

A couple of hundred miles east of you on the Columbia (TriCities).

[Waltthesalt]

Welcome to the PNW. If you're new here this may be of interest otherwise it may just be overkill.

Out here almost all boats remain in the winter and only a few button up. The water temp is in the 40’s all year round. Being on the hard would have more of a freezing risk. The bigger concern is winter humidity and interior condensation. In our marina most just use a 100W light bulb to provide the heat. I do it in the engine compartment to keep down rust. A slightly more expensive option is a low wattage plastic heater shaped like seat cushion that West Marine sold forever or their current dehumidifier. What else I’d do in the winter is to double up the docklines as wind storms can cause significant chafe.

As for sailing, unlike in the east this is a maritime climate so our weather predominantly comes off the Pacific. It cam be warm and wet… like today in the 50’s… we call that the Pineapple Express. You can get these type of spells all winter. Mostly it’s in the 40’s We can however get weather out of the Alaska/Canadian interior that can be in the 20’s for a week. This is rare but most likely happens from Christmas thru the first part of Feb. We’ll get snow however (but not the hard freeze) and those who don'e use thier boats in the winter may take off canvass and sails and rig a blue tarp over the boom. That weather depends a lot on where you are.. I’ve never had freeze damage but your water system may want to be drained if you see that coming.

Forget what you learned about weather in the east. Here it’s driven by the systems coming off of the Pacific and the terrain. Even Lee Chesnau’s courses really don’t get at what’s happening in the inside costal waters. His info is about what’s happening on the ocean, it can change a lot when it comes to inshore waters. A great local weather course… the only one I know of is run by the Seattle Sail and Power Squadron. It starts real soon in Nov and runs thru March. Google their website and you probably still get in but may not have a book for the first class or two. If you’re content to read Jeff Renner, a local TV weatherperson and sailor, has a concise 150 odd page paperback on the local weather “Northwest Marine Weather”. Going deeper is Cliff Mass’ recent book “The Weather of the Pacific Northwest”. Cliff is the prof at UW who runs the modeling computers that NOAA uses for weather here and in the Gulf of Alaska. Even more specific and technical for Canadian waters e.g. Gulf of Georgia a book put out by Environment Canada. This is more of a reference for specific information at specific locations. Welcome!