Why I pay to have my boat winterized

jmoen438 · November 2013

This is one of my marina neighbors who just winterized his boat himself about 45 minutes before this photo was taken.

Black_Diamond · November 2013

That will buff right out. ouch

TikiHut2 · November 2013

What did he winterize it with, a torch ?? Yikes Getting ready for next season will take some effort....especially if his adjuster decides he should have known better than to do whatever he did. Like leave that magazine in the toaster with raw gas in a bowl next to it.

Hope no other boats were hurt. Any idea of the cause besides the obvious.

It's still hot down here. 83* today. It's been a long hot summer and I'm ready for some fire retardant to cover myself with. :-t

212rowboat · November 2013

with the lack of work ethic around here, that is what would likely happen if you didn't do your own work.. seriously.. if i do it i know it's done right, and there will be no surprises...

but tell your friend: put the flame out before you shoot the dr. peppers, man.

212rowboat · November 2013

green grass, huh?

there is a place in Bolivia, on the high plains, that has never, since the beginning of record, been below freezing, or above 90*f...

problem: there ain't no water.... I bet you could buy a used boat cheap there.

Dream_Inn · November 2013

I'd really love to hear what happened. You don't just get a fire from winterizing. You get it from either using a torch for the shrinkwrap (not here since they have a cover), or from leaving a heater on board (stupidity), or maybe playing with gasoline. (all 3 that really don't need to be touched for winterizing - sorry, I don't fog my engines for only 3 months, just add stabilizer)

Let us know what you hear so we can all learn something.

TikiHut2 · November 2013

RY, It's not the transients that complain as they fly back and forth for the ideal seasons down here (and those seasons are awesome). It's the rare multi-generational native schleps like me grinding it out decade after decade who have expensive boat/wife habits and can't afford that 2nd home up north to escape yet another ENDLESS summer of humidity/bugs/monsoons/lightning/hurricanes. After I'm done buying my medicinal rum for the year to cope with the heat I can't even get a Greyhound bus ticket to po-dunk peanutville S Georgia.

And I know it works both ways too for those stuck in their hometown up N. I really can't begin to understand shoveling/driving in snow/sleet/freezing rain and the endless grey days.

The weather is finally turning nice down here so I'm sure there'll be no pity from my snow country friends as I post a few pics of my long winter on the beach.

If you listened carefully whenever you guys would post a picture of your awesome summer boating you would've heard a long low sigh of resignation coming from deep in the tropics while I waited and waited for our turn.....and it's here until some sad day in June when I "Summerize" with more success than the poor schmuck in Jmoens pic above.

Hope some of the RBOC can make it to the Miami show in Feb when the weather is awesome.

Drew I missed the Dr pepper cue... And Bolivia boating would be a challenge. Recently saw an incredible pic of an entire abandoned train in the middle of an endless salt flat down there. Not boating friendly for sure.

212rowboat · November 2013

flaming doctor peppers... equal parts beer and spiced rum, a touch of amaretto, w/ additional splash of bacardi 151 rum floating the top.. drop a flame on it, and watch it burn for no more than a second before COVERING THE TOP with your hand, and slamming the drink... if done correctly, it tastes precisely like a Dr. Pepper.. slap the empty shot glass to the bar, reach for the flaming drink beside it.. DON'T FORGET TO PUT IT OUT before slamming it.. tap bar with empty, look across to see how your competition is doing and if you're ahead or not- pick up pace just in case, DON'T FORGET TO PUT IT OUT, slam it..

if you're behind your opponent, putting it out is optional.. flaming jawls is a good excuse to extract yourself from the competition..

TikiHut2 · November 2013

Now that's some funny s*it right there...

)

) .....until that 2nd one hits home (then just hit me in the head with a hammer to stop me before it goes any further).

...and we now have a new pain killer ritual on that sad day when we "summerize" our sea sled. Thanks for the warning, we'll try not to burn down the shop like Jmoens marina guy

212rowboat · November 2013

it's an island ritual for us to be sure.. me and five other Marines floated the Caribbean for six months on coast guard cutters, intercepting Haitians on the open sea, and running recon patrols into Haiti to get information on how many to expect (how many floating devices the Haitians had, that almost always fell short of being called a boat)...

we'd hit port in some poor unsuspecting town and the above described race kicked off festivities.. the winner didn't have to buy a drink for the rest of the stay, unless challenged.. this was circa '91ish..

to this day, when we get together, we do it all over again.. last time was St. Croix and some of the cruzen selections.. no matter where we go, though, we've never burned down a boat.. we may have wanted to burn those wobbly things that don't agree with beer flu, but we never did. mostly because the notion of swimming was unsettling.

Michael T · November 2013

Well Mike, (TikiHut2). Here's my take on "weather torture" - gas is heading to $3 per gallon (or less) and I have to put my boat up for the winter *&^%!!!!! If it weren't for the snow and freezing temps I could be cruising up and down the St. Lawrence in my RINKER EC 360 with its "gasser" 502 magnums at 50 mph for peanuts and sending the video to RY! BTW My buddy said that if we ever get that Keystone Pipeline built from Canada through the United States there will be so much oil coming from Canada that gas will be at most $3 per gallon and there will be so much employment generated that everyone within 200 miles of it will be busy for at least a decade. Added bonus - the friggin Saudis will be begging for work in car washes and laundramats in Detriot. Not intended as a political comment - just talkin' gas! MT

Black_Diamond · November 2013

@Michael, reality with the Keystone XL is the oil is for export - not one drop is required to stay in the USA. Canada could (could) get more money for the oil IF they can get it to a port to export. It's also not a profitable product until you are well over $100/barrel or more, it's very expensive to get this slime out of the sand. You should see these operations..go there in 2 months when the temps are -40C lol You cannot shut off an engine unless you plug in heaters or it won't start until spring.

You also have refinery capacity. While no 'new' ones have been built, the bigs ones have expanded magnitudes and the small refineries closed up. Not a lot of profits in refining, or should I say not 'enough' profits.

212rowboat · November 2013

aside from the oil itself, there is another reason why prices plummet in the winter: the profit margins go up, which allows the price to go lower without loss of revenue.

winter blends are mucho cheaper to produce with the inclusion of abundantly available products going into it, and when the content of collected by-products of refining are put back into it...

yeah, the price dropped 20~25% cents on the gallon, but the profit margin increased likely 30~35%...

TikiHut2 · November 2013

Hey MT I feel your pain...but during the summer for me. Hey, throw off the heatshrink and put that thing in gear and take a heading on that compass somewhere near 180* and don't stop until you see palm trees. Then just roll it back around to somewhere near true North next spring. We have room for another boat from the north. Come on.

PS gas is nowhere near $3 at any marina I drive by down here....but what's a few bucks diff anyway as long as you're using the boat. I'll spare you guys the weather in paradise report today.....(80* sunny and awesome

).but I'm tied to my desk anyway if that helps you feel better.

Black_Diamond · November 2013

Sunny and 43F here today

A friendly pic of Lake Mich out the Holland, MI channel today. Better picures a few weeks ago with 12-16' breakers.

212rowboat · November 2013

Pray you meant " instead of '. If not, that is a helluva lot more interesting place than i thought it was... :-D

Michael T · November 2013

Mike, my parents spent 6 months in Ft. Lauderdale for 18 years - I know how lucky you are at this point in time. :-) As for the oil discussion above in the thread - the recent drop in oil commodity prices in the U.S. is due to a very big and real surge of absolute production volume in the U.S.A. (yeah) and the direct result of new and advanced extraction technologies in the U.S. - period. Well. not quite period - we have to add in the huge increase in the use of natural gas by business and homeowners - now period. As for Canadian extraction it is as clean as anywhere in the world except for the "Tar Sands". Where, granted, it is a bit messy - I have been up there - but compared with many areas (most of S.A. for example) it is acceptable. Like in the U.S. there have been recent extraction and polishing technology changes in Canada too that will render oil sands oils cheaper and cleaner to extract as we move forward. The transit of oil " commodity pools" in N.A. can entail a pretty exhaustive discussion - but whether Canadian oil gets shipped from N.A, via the U.S., used, or co-mixed in the U.S. is, to me, less relevant than the fact that it will reduce our dependence on Al-Quaida supporting nations. Even better, if refined in Canada and the U.S. it will create jobs and keep refineries at capacity and actually require more to be built - again, more jobs. As well, the Keystone build process would be akin, for Americans, to the "build USA" programs taken on by the U.S. Fed. and State governments after the depression (first great) that jump-started the American economy for a generation. With the present growth of the U.S. economy at around 2% and the P/E ratios of the stock market at 15 the U.S. in my opinion, would get a huge shot in the arm from the building of Keystone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not supporting Keystone because I think it would be a salvation for Canada, we're doing all right - Canada has arguably the largest deposits of fresh water (soon to be the most expensive commodity in the world) the largest natural gas deposits and the largest oil deposits. We don't need the Keystone pipeline to run thorough the U.S. but I would rather do business with friends/neighbours/brothers-in-arms than the Chinese or Europeans. My hope is that the pipline goes South to the U.S. instead of west across Canada to the Far East or hooked-up to Canadian internal pipelines to go east to Europe, which is a distinct possibility if Keystone drags on too long. There are a group of dim witted liberal Canadian and American celebrities, most of whom couldn't pass a grade six science test, attacking every rational use of oil - in my opinion. My bottom line - the cheaper the gas/diesel the more I can feed those 502s. I do all I can to recycle and conserve - but when it comes to relaxing with my toys (most of which burn oil derivatives) - no apologies from me! Time with toys - Yahoo! My 2 cents from north of 49. MT

Black_Diamond · November 2013

@Drew: Lake Michigan and Superior can get especially violent. Upper Lake Mich had 26' waves while we were getting 12-16'...when NOAA has warnings for the big ships to seek harbour you know it's serious. Loopers that live in the south often come home with a lot more respect for the Great Lakes if they never experienced them before. They are amazing on the days when they lay flat..just as amazing when whipped up (from the shore!) and it can change in just a few hours or less at times. Oct/Nov it gets bad from the wind shifts and Canada sharing it's cold air.

The pic attached is from last Thanksgiving, leftovers from Sandy. That channel marker is about 30+' high as a reference. The really big waves break farther offshore than this. Usually the surfers fly in for days like this..the Coast Guard tells them all 'no rescue' of you go out, yet they do.

Black_Diamond · November 2013

I made a run in the summer out into 8-12's. When 45-50' cruisers turn back it's not a good sign. You could not even 'get going' at full throttle the water was just moving too fast, so had to leave the boat at the transient slip for a few days to let it all calm down (not home port). Such is life around here some days!

212rowboat · November 2013

Sweet baby James.. Edmund Fitzgerald and Mr. Lightfoot or not, I'd no notion of that... I reckon those gales of november is a real thing, huh? I don't care to find out about the ice water mansions.. no sir..

Black_Diamond · November 2013

Yup. Very real! At least Lake Mich usually coughs up drowning victims 6-12 months later. Happens too frequent really, as almost all of them are easily preventable with common sense. Rip tides, undertows, big waves, drop offs just like you ocean guys have there. Just our water is salt-free and no sharks! lol

Michael T · November 2013

Hey Rinker Yan, regarding your dollar - it is still the benchmark of the entire world - and I believe it will be for my lifetime. We just moved most of our investments to American markets. The USA may be having a small and brief hiccup right now but anyone who short sells the USA is nuts! I spent 4 years in American schools and I know first hand that Americans never quit and man, I LIKE that - a lesson for all! MT

TikiHut2 · November 2013

......and then back to winterizing......

212rowboat · November 2013

Sorta about winterizing: Al, have you ever used muratic acid to clean stains on hulls? I'm thinking about it... The toilet bowl cleaner w/ 10% acid didn't work...

212rowboat · November 2013

Sweet!! Thank you, sir.. its for a water line on the pool, which is fiberglass with gel coat.. same principle, though.. boat gets scrubbed after every use, but a bud did this to his last week.. I just didn't have gonads to pull trigger until now..

Michael T · November 2013

Al is 100% correct regarding procedure, equipment and caution. As a former long time user of both acids for cement, brick and stone work (cleaning/etching) in construction. I know the respect that is required when handling these acids. Muratic is one thing. Hydrochloic acid is another cat altogether - be very careful around it. At higher concentrations when atomized as a spray it can permanently burn and scar your lungs or blind you (real fast). Greatest care for eyes, nose and lungs - please! MT

Michael T · November 2013

Capt Ron · November 2013

Why play with all that acid to clean the bottom. Try Capt Phab bottom cleaner... it's an enzyme based cleaner...no acid involved. I found it cleans the bottom just as good if not better than acid. I buy it by the gallon for about $24 dollars and spray it on with a weed sprayer... leave it on 5 minutes and then just hose it off with a regular garden hose, no power washing necessary... I was very impressed with the results so I just sharing with the folks who still use acid that takes a little bit of the gelcoat away every time you use it .. Here's the link
http://www.captphab.com/Cleaning.html

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