Boat Cold Storage

The 2452 in the North Harbour

During late spring, summer, and early fall, our "ocean boat" is in Powell River's North Harbour. There she's ready to cruise on a moment's notice. But during the cold months, we pull her out to go into winter storage. That way we can conduct our annual maintenance, and keep ahead of the critter growth on her hull and leg when she's not in use.

Heading into Forward Harbour

This is the first season our Bayliner 2452 has been in Powell River. She arrived via trailer from Bellingham last spring following an engine change in Port Moody. We had lots of fun cruising during the warm months to places like Nelson Island, Campbell River, Quadra Island, and up the coast as far as Blind Channel and Forward Harbour.

We took our boat out of the chuck (ocean), and put her into Powell Lake to flush the salt water out of her systems, and to give her a fresh water bath up at the cabin. Then we put her on the trailer and took her to the hanger at the airport for what I call "cold storage."

Because we do get freezing temperatures, Wayne put antifreeze in her fresh water system and the holding tank for the head. We drained any residual water out of the engine's leg, and put boat heaters in the interior to keep mildew at bay, and in the engine compartment to keep anything from freezing.

This month we'll pull he out for an engine run. It isn't good for engines to sit idle for too long. But we won't put her in the water for that. We'll use muffs and a hose to water cool the engine while it runs on land.

Do you have a boat? How do you handle winters? - Margy