It’s that time of year again.  As the temperature drops and the rain sets in, we must not forget to winterize our boats.  Just a few last chores to do before you can button your boat up for the winter and switch your attention to cold weather sports.  Here are a few tips and tricks to help you make it though the winter and hopefully avoid costly repairs.

1.  Check you dock lines.  Too many people take for granted that just because your boat’s securely tied up today, it will still be secure tomorrow.  All too many times have I seen dock lines break when the winter storms roll through.

2.  For you sailors out there, make sure your sails are secure.  Just last week at Elliott Bay Marina there were 4 boats that lost foresails because they weren’t secured well enough.  That can be a very costly fix.

3.  Check your bilge pumps and float switches.  Some preventative maintenance done before the weather gets bad can really help you sleep at night.  Nobody likes to worry about their boats.

4.  CHECK YOUR SHOREPOWER CONNECTIONS!!!  With the weather intensifying, your boat will be moving around at the dock much more so than usual.  Also with the increase in precipitation/snow, you really need to keep an eye out for signs of failure.  You should check each end of the cord for discoloration or scorching.  If you see any signs of failure, you need to replace your cord-end immediately.  There could be larger issues inside the cord that you can’t see.

One last thing to think about.  As you do button up your boat for the winter, there seems to be a universal train of thought that you should leave a couple of space heaters on inside the boat to keep the chill off.  Remember, depending on which space heaters you use and how they’re set, you could be maxing out your shorepower capacity.  When you stack that electrical draw on top of precipitation and boat movement, that could spell disaster for your shorepower connection not to mention your entire boat.

Next week I’ll talk about the upcoming SmartPlug installation video we just shot and what I found inside a fairly good looking shorepower cord.

Check your shorepower plug!!!!!