Mothballing or Laying Up a Yacht for an Extended Period

This past winter another Capt. told me that they had to spend alot of money on his boat after it was sitting for 6 months. They had to re-do the drive train as there was corrosion and pitting on the shafts and the cutlass bearings were damaged.
If a boat is sitting the engines should be turned over every couple of weeks and mechanical equipment should be used at least once a month.

Assuming a So. Florida location and that the vessel will be sitting for about a year or so, would you recommend laying up in water (with very little service) or mothballing on land for something around 50'.

Mothballing any complex piece of equipment for a 6 months period isn't an inexpensive proposition.
Just starting up an engine every 2 weeks isn't a solution. They need to be run, and run under load at operating temps or you might as well just leave them sit and be prepared to pay the bill for damages. Draining tanks and on and on...
With the number of systems the list of items to be prepped properly has got to be significant.

Boats in the north are generally mothballed on land every winter. I wonder whether, in So. Florida, if the boat is better off set up in land storage or left in the water ready to roll assuming that she'll be sitting at least until if not through next winter?

CaptTom
We have a company motorhome that the guys could book out and use on vacations. When Katrina did it's dirty, the coach was in Phoenix and we needed the man on a plane right away. Put the coach in to dry indoor storage after quick clean up and draining, and one thing and another it sat there for 7 months. By the time that anyone got back there the thing was a health hazard. Water and sewage was was an unspeakable mess, genset and motor pooched. 75K later and the darn thing still smells. That was in DRY Phoenix, not in Florida.

You're better off leaving it in the water with someone managing it. The a/c's can then be left running to keep the humidity down. The engines and generators can then be run every two weeks as well as all other systems. You can get the generator loaded up and to operating temp at the dock. Running the engines every two weeks can get some temps up and keep the top end lubed. It can stay clean if washed every two weeks or more often. The person managing (or company) can be paid to take it out and run it for a few hours every month or so. I manage many that are for sale and are not being used and haven't had any engine related issues.

If kept on land the heat and humidity will kill the entire interior and engines and generator. Especially if shrink wrapped where it gets hotter and moisture can't escape.

Hi,

You can get the engines up to temp with Jacket Water heating, add Lube Oil priming pumps and the battle is nearly won.

Flexible Impellers can be removed to reduce blade set. These can be refitted and re used afterward.

F.W. Tanks can be filled with a 50 ppm hypo chlorinated solution which is the normally accepted sterilization method on ships and it can be drained and flushed when boat is got running again.

Waste Tanks can be flushed out as much as possible and a stronger Chlorine Solution added to stop anything nasty growing.

Your Fuel Tanks are at the greatest risk of getting problems for long spells in warm humid climates. Keeping them full is a good way to reduce the amount of condensation that can form on tank walls and drain down to the bottom of the fuel.

It is in the interface between the fuel and the water that the fuel fungus - (cladosporium resinae) grows.

Fuel Conditioners and Biocides can be used but these can sometimes make any problem worse than it would be as they can turn the goo to a jelly type substance which is really bad for your filters and anything else it comes into contact with.

Pumps in systems with Mechanical Seals which have been drained should be turned by hand if possible before going back into service.

If leaving the AC on at a higher temp is not possible then at the very least a de humidification unit should be used.

Above all a regular check of the boat should be made as a small fault/change noticed not long after it occurs can be remedied a lot quicker and cheaper than that leaving it for 6 months or a year.

If you are leaving anything running that has sea water pumped through it, it would be prudent to have a second automatic bilge pump fitted in the same compartment as the pump and to have the system shut down when a high bilge alarm is received. The alarm system should also be set up to send a page to someone ashore who can attend the vessel and check on things should there be an event like this.

It costs a bit to set some of the above in place but it if thought about carefully and done properly it will save a lot of time/money and grief later on.

If you were in S. Fl and left a boat un attended with the A/C running hoping to preserve the interior.. your sea strainers would be plugged up in a month if not less. Then you will hope the saftey features will be working properly.
The cost of crew vs the cost of repair that could had been prevented..
I guess if you don't have the money you just don't have the choice.

If you have someone managing the vessel that stops by once a week and checks on everything. It's no different than many boats, in fact very few under 60' are checked on even weekly from what I've seen. It takes a bit longer then a month in most places in south florida if even 2 months for the a/c strainer to get plugged, especially if the a/c's are only in humidity mode. We usually put bromine tablets in the a/c sea strainer and that keeps algae out completely for the first 3 weeks and keeps all of the hoses going to the units free of algae and barnacles also......We do get the occassional bag blocking the intake, but that can happen overnight even.

Hi,

I made this statement thinking that a check at least once a week would be ok more often better. Ideally the checks would be done by someone who is already on a boat in the same marina or close by and can monitor things as a part of his or her regular routine and take the appropriate action as required.

Another thing to do IMO would be to wash down the outside occasionally so as to reduce the chances of that black dust that falls from the sky all over So Fl and elsewhere staining the finish

Our yard currently has two vessels (50 meter) which are docked in water with no immediate plans for departure. By no means can a vessel this size terminate all crew and just have someone stop by on a weekly basis to check bilges as one might on a 60 ft vessel. But by not moving the boat and by suspending usage, the vessel can be relieved of hotel staff and "save" money but curtailing sailing insurance, provisioning, etc. There is still plenty of activity on board as crews continue to maintain or upgrade equipment, but owners are in fact tightening up on their budgets.
From the yard's perspective, it is less costly for us to accommodate these vessels in water rather than position them upon the hard for an indefinite period. The number of spaces we have for a 50 meter are somewhat limited and we stand to gather more revenue from an active work order on a boat this size rather than parking her and supplying domestic services.
Last but not least, it is much kinder to the vessel to keep her in her natural element, water, rather than let her remain on the hard with point loading on hull plating, etc.

The only thing I can recommend to you is to e-mail Caterpillar or your local Cat dealer with exactly what you wrote here, and print out Caterpillars answer so you have it for referance if there is an issue. They can't deny a warranty claim if you did exactly what they told you to do, and you have it in writing from Caterpillar

True about the sea strainers on smaller boats with the raw water pump coming on and off for when cooling is called. On the larger boats, the raw water cooling pump usually stays on indefinete with the chiller causing much growth in the strainer as you probably know. With that, can you please tell me more of what you know about the bromine tablets, what is that exactly?

Hi,

I don't personally have any experience using these but here is a detailed explanation of what they are and how they work to supplement Rocky's description above.

http://www.bromine-tablet.co.uk/

Bromine is a form of Chlorine that is used in a jaccuzzi, they don't give off the chlorine smell like the chlorine tablets do. I get the one inch tablets for the smaller boats and put a few to half a dozen in there depending on the strainer basket size. Basically no more then 1/4" of the basket heighth in tablets. It slowly releases and basically keeps all algae and barnacles from growing in your entire a/c system. I've never had to flush/acid wash any of the a/c units on any of the boats I've used them on. Also, if the unit does cycle off and on, it keeps the thru-hull free of barnacles as well because some of the water backflushes out of it when the pump shuts off.

No detrimental effects !!! What about the death zone that surounds the vessel that releases a volume of bromine/chlorine thats primary purpose is to kill aquatic organisms A good marina operation should be able to provide a inspection service to monitor and clean ac intakes,over a prolonged lay up>