SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Winter liveaboards, what's it like ?

12K views 34 replies 25 participants last post by  SteveRobison 
#1 ·
What is it like living on your boat in the winter ?

I am just curious what it's like if someone has the time to write a little about it. Is it cold, hot, do you get ice on your boat ? Is it tough being inside the boat all winter, do you find you have to get away sometimes ? Do you sweep the snow off of the boat ? Do you wrap your boat in plastic, and if so do you actually go out on deck during the winter, is it warmer ?

I'm just curious what it is like. I've never been on the boat for long periods of time during the winter.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
>Is it cold, hot, do you get ice on your boat ?

The coldest night so far was 10F and inside was 65+ w/ only a 1500 watt elec. heater. A few small ice spots inside until I sealed the drafts.

>Is it tough being inside the boat all winter, do you find you have to get away sometimes ?

I'm within walking distance (<1/4 mi.)to a grocery store, 3 bars/clubs, 4 restaurants, a drug store and a few other specialty shops so it's easy to get out.

>Do you sweep the snow off of the boat ?

I didn't, until I turned on the bilge pump one day and it back fed into the boat when I shut it off (it wasn't pretty blowing into the hose to clear the line) because the outlet was below the waterline since there was 8"+ of heavy/wet snow on the decks.

>Do you wrap your boat in plastic, and if so do you actually go out on deck during the winter, is it warmer ?

No wrap, even though it was suggested. Weather here has been strange, from 10-55F all winter, today was 45
 
#3 ·
You really need to get the snow and ice off the boat as soon as possible. Lots of boats have sunk because of the additional weight of snow and ice put "above waterline" through-hulls, below the waterline...

Shrink wrapping or covering the boat can help the boat shed snow and ice. They also act to help insulate the boat a bit more and keep the wind from cooling the deck and cabintop as much as they would if the boat weren't covered.
 
#4 ·
What is it like living on your boat in the winter ?
I have a diesel-fired forced-air heater that keeps the boat very warm and allows me to keep five ventilators open so that the air is fresh.

When we get ice and snow in the Chesapeake it doesn't last long -- a week at most and even that is rare. I keep my aft deck and side decks clear, with attention to the deck drains and don't worry about the deck forward. I might be more concerned if the snow was deeper.

Being in the boat is not much different in winter than in summer (perhaps quieter without A/C running).

I don't use plastic on my boat. When there is a warm day I mop the decks and do an inspection. It's much less work than the house I used to live in.

The biggest issues are getting water into the tanks, hauling laundry on and off the boat, and getting groceries aboard when the docks are slick.
 
#6 ·
cold water, not cold weather, really is the issue up here. the cold sucks the heat out of everything below the waterline. the temp in the salon can be 20 degrees (C), but the settee is cold and the sole is cold. so cold that even with slippers on, while standing cooking something for dinner you can feel the heat seep out of the bottom of your feet. the v berth is the same thing - even with 6" of foam underneath, the heat just drains away.

i started wearing shoes all day because of the cold sole and wound up with athlete's foot:rolleyes:

even if we had ice at these latitudes, there would be a ring of open water around my boat from all the heat loss :)
 
#8 ·
no wrap, and i run on propane and electric. i am always getting asked "isn't it cold?" it all depends on the person and how energy conscious you are. i can keep my floating home just as warm as any house. i will say that i keep it at a lower temperature to conserve electric and propane, but that is my decision. a fellow a few boats down from me keeps his vessel at a toasty 72 degrees.

the biggest pain is battling your way to the shower house. but once you are there you are fine.(until you have to go back to the boat. memo to self... dry hair completely).
 
#9 ·
Out of curiosity, how do you deal with pumpouts (or do you always use the shore head) and fresh water in very cold climes? I would think they would shut off dock water so the pipes wouldn't burst, and can you leave your slip to pump out?
 
#11 ·
Before I moved to LA, I enjoyed the Boston liveaboard experience. For the winter liveaboards there was a tremendous amount of time preparing for winter. Practically every liveaboard would shrinkwrap, insulate and sure up the boat.

It is important to get fresh water out of areas where it might freeze and try to keep all possible seacocks closed since hoses connected to seacocks could easily sink the boat if the hose freezes and breaks. We'd winterize the engines and I would pump anti-freeze throughout my freshwater system, switching to bottled water and marina showers.

IF the water around the boat can freeze, you'll need to take extra precautions there too to be certain that your hull is not crushed.

But man did I love it. Toasty warm, a nice TV, gentle rocking and cozy. Others found it confining - but it can certainly be done.
 
#12 ·
Well, seeing how's it's 80 degrees outside, I was thinking of getting an air conditioner. But so far the north wind has filled in and brought the temperature down to about 70 degrees at night, so it's quite comfortable for sleeping. So living aboard during winter doesn't seem to be a problem here. Summer gets a bit warm.

What's with this shrink wrap, don't tell me they wrap boats up in plastic? Why would anyone want to live like that?:D
 
#13 ·
This is the 2nd winter my wife and I have been living aboard our Pearson 424 Ketch in the Toronto area. We shrink wrap the boat to keep snow off,keep drafts to a minimum and it helps insulate the boat. We keep a bubbler going in the water when the temperatures drop below freezing. The bubbler aggitates the water and brings warmer water up from the bottom and forces it along the length of the hull. We haven't had any ice to speak of this year so far, but February can be a bear.
For fresh water our club has hoses that we put out under water with caps on the ends, we just pull them up and top up our tanks, this is ussually done on warmer days. As far as pump outs go, the club has a portable pump-out cart and we use the club house when convient. We also shower in the club house.
We have 60 amps of power that lets us use 2 or 3 electric heaters that keep the boat quite warm, 68 to 72 degrees. We sit around in jeans and T shirts. An electric blanket helps at night, and we have a small bulkhead mounted heater for back-up. Cooking on board warms things up also, at times we have to open hatches to cool the place down.
During the day when we are at work my wife turns a small occillating fan on and pulls the backs of the settee cushions ajar to let the air flow in the lockers, good air circulation is important.
All things concidered, it's great. You can work on some of those projects all winter and you get more time on your boat.
 
#14 ·
The shrink wrap certainly does close things i a bit. But it is placed over a frame and for liveaboards is typically fairly transparent. During the day it works like a big greenhouse and I have sat on deck during a sunny day quite comfortably with the temperature well below freezing outside. If you can handle the winter, it really isn't that bad.
 
#16 ·
The way I see it... if you don't expect to replicate living conditions of a suburban house in your boat, it is quite simple and livable.
It will present challenges, but whoever is considering liveaboard lifestyle has to be somewhat adaptable, anyway.
I personally, love it! Imagine, my only maintenance chores include cleanup and occasional peaking in the bilge...
Boat rocks me to sleep, I feel like I am surrounded by the natural world so intimately, and affected by it directly... I am a lot more aware of things around me...
Winter doesn't bother me, it is just another way to experience mother nature.


The seeker
 
#17 ·
lining aboad

I have lived aboard for 3 winters now on Puget Sound.:) Because of the large amount of rain the most important item I have is a dehumidifier and I don't mean the crystal type. You need the ones that use freon. This also keeps the mold and mildew to almost nil. MY heat comes from the onboard Wallace furnace and an electric space heater. Life is good.:)

SV Pegasus
c&c landfall38
 
#18 ·
Greetings folks.

I've been living aboard my '80 Hunter 33' for almost 2 years now in the SF bay area. We don't get the kind of cold some of you are experiencing...rain is our issue not snow, but our damp cold is still cold. I have a bulkhead mounted Balmar (Sig) diesel heater and an oil filled radiator style AC heater. I use the AC heater mostly since the diesel heater requires cleaning every 12 hours or so (not sure why, but it peters out and dies if I don't)...which is a bummer since the diesel heater puts out more heat than the AC heater when it is working well. I save the Balmar for the coldest day/nights.
I use thick throw rugs on the sole to help keep my footsies from freezing, and wool lined slippers are standard indoor wear. My biggest winter problem is leaks. I need to rebed some deck hardware (on my summer task list) and am dealing with the leaks right now by stuffing cheap towels up into the deck/hull join where the leaks are. I toss the towels in the washer/drier occasionally and the leaks stay off of the cushions and the carpeting on the hull sides...works well and is only a minor pita to deal with.
I love living aboard...but then I've never been claustrophobic :) which would be a prob for some in my narrow beam boat (10.5'). Storms are kinda fun as I sleep VERY well in a rocking wind tossed boat...kinda lulling actually. I've had to spend money on bungee cords to secure my neighbor's halyards from slapping around which definitely will keep me awake, but now we have a nice quite dock. :)

Life IS good :)
 
#19 ·
About the best 2 years of my life ...

I spent two winters on a 30 foot sailboat in Southeast Alaska. I loved it, plan on doing it again. The inside hull was insulated with one inch closed cell and then covered with rug material. You could lay up against this in a T-shirt and it felt warm. This insulation was already in when I bought it. Being in a harbor with commercial fisherman insured a great water supply as well as fresh fish almost on a daily basis. Heat from the smallest sized diesel heater keep it plenty warm. With a little snow on the deck that acted as insulation, I usually had to open the hatch to keep from over heating. Since the heat was dry, no moisture collected except when I occasional boiled water cooking. I had no problem having a 'dirty heater' that required cleaning. We had winds gusting to 100 mph once in a while in our floating harbor. Like MattGardner said above, it was great. Being in salt water, it didn't require extra circulation. Could hear the whales singing occasionally through the hull.
 
#20 ·
I live off the Chessie in Maryland and have been quite comfortable this (my first) liveaboard winter. I have three 1500 watt heaters set up on timers. They come on about 1.5 hours before I return from work and shut off a few minutes after I leave in the morning. I also have an electric blanket.

For the one real snow, I shoveled the side deck and the dock and put salt on the latter.

That does nicely for now.
 
#21 ·
Since 2003 I have lived in my ship in the inner fjord of Oslo, Norway. The harbour of Oslo is ice free most of the year. I have a diesel heater that gives air born heat: It keeps the temperature around 20 centigrades and the humidity around 40%. Specifically I put a hose from the heater to the bathroom/toilet, so it is 30 centigrades there.

The only slight nuisance is that I must fill water about once a week. The benefits are that I live so central in the city of Oslo that the expenses are saved in that I can walk anywhere.

The ship is a wooden ketch, oak on oak, buildt in 1935, gaffrigged with 7 sails, topsails om both masts above the gaffs, three foresails, fock and two jibs ( I do not know what they are called in english) Volvo MD47 for engine.
 
#23 · (Edited)
the odd storm

I live wiht girlfriend on my Pearson 424 on the West (wet) coast of Canada. The best investment we made was a dehumidifier. You can get e good one for about $200. No more mold or mildew anywhere. Check out the video below for an idea what it can be like when the wind pipes up Check out about 1:56 into the video, it picked up to about 60knots around that point.

YouTube - Quadra Island Storm Nov 07
 
#25 ·
I don't wrap my boat. I have an extension (not an enclosure, more like a auto convertible top that folds up to meet the dodger) to keep the cockpit a bit warmer than outside.

My Webasto diesel heater exhausts through the side of the boat just below the toe rail.

If you use a bulkhead heater and choose to wrap your boat you can get an insulation ring mounted in a wooden disk to carry the chimney through the plastic.
 
#26 ·
We live aboard in NYC and have a Hydronic heater and i just went ahead and installed a radiant floor which will see it's first winter coming up. The 2 year old knows no better and we shower and use the galley in the "clubhouse" a lot but otherwise we are pretty warm. We to use a dehumidifier, but hopefully the floor will put an end to most of the moisture.

Noel
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top