Cold weather on a boat isn’t much fun
Cold weather and rain while boating isn’t our ideal afternoon. In fact, Scott and I don’t plan on doing any kind of boating in that type of weather. What we do need to do, is keep the boat dry and warm during cold weather. I have been talking about this for weeks now. In our “prepping for winter” blog, we talked about the different heaters and de-humidifiers we bought for the boat. Since the weather has been so nice up until this week, we haven’t really used them.
Last Friday, October 13, 2017 it was sunny but cold and crisp. In fact, it hailed at our house as I was leaving for the marina. I wanted to check on the boat and see how the warm air circulator was working.
We are fortunate here in the PNW that our saltwater marinas rarely, if ever, have frozen over or had feet of snow. The saltwater stays a constant 45º-55º all year round. With that said, I wanted to see what the temperature was inside the cabin of the boat on a cold day.
Last weekend we replaced the weather stripping that the previous owner had put in along the sides of the boat. This helps keep the water out, as the canvas is not a tight seal. I will be curious after this week’s storms, how well it worked.
It made sense that the cabin was still about 52º as it was sunny outside, warming up the inside. Know that a series of storm were arriving this upcoming week (October 17 – 21st), we decided to put the Ceramic Space Heater 
The warm air circulator is now up on the counter and we left de-humidifiers all over inside the cabin too.
What kind of weather are we talking about?
Look what’s headed our way!
Yes, call me paranoid when it comes to weather. Think about it. We have left our boat, tied to a dock, with heaters on it during three big storms. Since I’m not working right now, I have the time to go down and check on it. Thursday, October 19th will be the second round of storms, so that will be a good day to see how it’s doing.
October 19th weather update
Well, they are referring to that stream in the image above as a 5,000 mile long river in the sky heading right for us! Last night we had torrential rains with wind gusts of 55mph. Luckily for me, when I arrived today at the marina, it was not raining! Miracle.
The first thing I had to deal with, was the boat lines seemed looser and the boat was about 3′ from the dock. Luckily, we no longer have a slip neighbor. So I pulled it back in and tightened it up.
What was surprising was our owl is still hanging out and keeping the herons off, even in all that wind! LOL
The cockpit was definitely wet. I should have taken more photos. The bimini just isn’t waterproof, so with 10″ of rain falling we can only expect it.
The inside of the cabin was 58º, but outside it’s actually in the 60’s. The heater I left in the bathroom has not kicked on, since it’s not cold enough. All in all, considering what a big storm it was yesterday, things looked surprisingly normal. We have two more huge storms coming today and Friday, so we’ll swing by this weekend and check on things.
For me, it’s a nice drive and diversion. Even with bad weather, who doesn’t want to be at a marina with a view of Seattle?
Have a great weekend! Ally
PS, wondering what to make for dinner this weekend? Try my smoked salmon pasta! Everyone loves it!
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