Summer is here and many people head north for a cooler season. Sometimes that means we’re asked to deliver their boat to their vacation home on the Vineyard or the Great Lakes. If they won’t be near the water, they may ask us to prepare their boats for summer storage. Often, that means a haul out to a boat yard. Throughout the summer we will make scheduled visits to the yard, replacing the chemical dehumidifiers and checking on the boat overall. If a Hurricane approaches we can return to make it storm worthy.
Today we moved a Kadey Krogen 48 Whaleback from Stuart, FL up the St. Lucie Canal to American Custom Yachts for summer storage. We started early and had a 3 ½ hour trip down the ICW, passed the “Crossroads” and up the St. Lucie River, through the Roosevelt Bridge and the St. Lucie Canal to the Interstate 95 overpass at ACY.
All the external accessories were removed except the dinghy. We did soften the air bladders so the hot summer sun would not over expand the air in the tubes. The cover was left on to protect it from the UV Rays of the sun. If a storm approaches we will remove the cover and secure the dinghy if we can’t actually get it inside the cabin.
The systems were shut down, water maker pickled, and the water tanks had a dose of water treatment chemical to keep it fresh. To protect an important investment we stabilized both the diesel fuel as well as the gas for the dinghy. This Krogen holds too much fuel to take a chance. Prior to leaving, the owner emptied the holding tank and treated it with a few gallons of chemically treated water to prevent any particle solidification. He changed the oil in both the main engine and generator as well. Lastly, after the boat was hauled and blocked at the storage yard, the negative terminals of all the batteries were removed to prevent any electrical leak and dead batteries.
If a storm approaches the yard will reset the tripods on plywood bases to prevent parking lot erosion and will chain them together under the keel. Presently we have the two forward and one aft pair of tripods chained. We also would return to lower and secure the antennas and window coverings.
Wish us well this hurricane season, NOAA is predicting a less than average storm year.