Sleeping in the Water

Today I traveled down to Rock Hall to check in on Seas The Day as she sleeps at her berth on B-Dock at Osprey Point.  We decided to try "in water" storage this year, which means she stays at her berth all tied up and winterized (antifreeze placed in key systems) with some sort of water movers placed down in the water around the boats to keep the water from freezing in the area where the boats are kept.

Line to the water mover by Seas The Day's bow.

This saves the cost of hauling her and rental on the jack stands, though some of those costs will be seen in the spring when we will need to do a "short haul"... taking her out of the water for a quick wash down and check of the underside, prop, zincs, etc.

Several boats around us on B-dock have wintered in the water, so we thought we'd try it this year.  

I see some pros and cons so far.

One big pro is that I no longer have to cart a ladder to do my winter checks.  We're also hopeful that another pro is to be able to quickly get out and sailing when the season starts up - no waiting for your turn to get back in the water, or for other boats to move, etc.  (We were hopeful that we might be able to go for daysail on one or two of those balmy winter days that sometimes happen, but we were told that once the water movers are in place, they didn't want us to move the boats.)

One big con is that the yard never removed the canvas and sails as requested (see photo at top).  I fear that is an "out of sight, out of mind" thing since Osprey Point is a mile away from Gratitude (both are owned by the same people), although it could be a labor issue as well.  Original discussions with Gratitude indicated they could install the winter cover in water, but I did receive a call saying that would not be possible.   Some of the other boats have canvas out and we always wintered our 315 with the sails attached, so I don't think this will be a huge issue.  Still, we paid for a winter cover and it would be nice to use it, so this may be a one-time experiment.

There was still some snow on the dock in places from this week's storms, but I was able to make my way to our berth without having to walk on snow.  (I DON'T want to slip and go swimming.)  It was easy to brush off the little snow that was on the steps on Seas The Day.  I went below and checked that the only liquid in the bilge was the pink antifreeze and then did a walk around to double check the lines, etc.  All seemed well.

Icicles!