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 In this article I'm going to look at some of the issues that winter brings for the liveaboard boater.
The summer months are the best for a liveaboard, those long warm days on the river and calm waters with wildlife all around can be a really magical time. But what about those not so nice winter months, what issues does the cold weather bring?
The shortage of daylight hours in the winter makes daily maintenance and chores more difficult. Maintenance will always need to be done at a weekend when you have light. The daily chores will still have to be done such as filing the water tanks and changing the gas bottle so make sure you have a good torch where it is always accessible.
You will be running your heating system much more in the winter so you will need a good supply of fuel. Unlike houses we do not have convenient supplies of fuel so it will take effort to maintain your fuel supply. If you use gas as a heating fuel you will be changing the bottles more often, you need to carry these heavy bottles to and from the boat and may even need to drive to the store to change the bottles yourself. Carrying a heavy gas bottle down a icy moving pontoon can get challenging at times and annoying. This also goes for coal, wood and cans of diesel.
You will still need water in the winter months so filling up those water tanks will still need to be done. It’s very important in winter to make sure your water is always as full as possible. This is mainly due to water stand pipes where you connect your filling hose can freeze solid in very cold weather and could stay frozen for a number of days or weeks. If this does happen you will be glad you filled your tanks up.
With storms and high winds in winter months another area to pay attention to is your mooring ropes that secure your boat. Make sure you check the security of your mooring as the last thing you want is for your boat to break free in a storm whilst you are asleep or even worst, whilst you are not there. Make sure your mooring ropes are not only secure but also in good condition.
When the winter snow and ice arrive you should be more careful when boarding your boat. Non slip decks are good but not that good when covered in snow and ice. It’s very easy to slip and the last thing you want is to end up in the icy water, I can tell you from experience when slipping off my boat leaving for work in my suit and tie and ending up unconscious in the mud! Lucky for me the tide was out!
Be extra careful in the winter, clear snow and ice off your decks and stay safe.
Just like cars, the winter can take its toll on batteries so you should make sure batteries are well maintained. Its a good idea to give all your batteries a gassing change before winter sets in and top them up with distilled water if they are of that type.
If your lights run from your domestic battery bank the batteries will be used more as there are less daylight hours. You will have to check the condition of your batteries more often in the winter and keep them well maintained.
So now you are all thinking why would anyone what to live on a boat? Well, it's not really all that bad in the winter months if you stay organised and the summer really makes up for most of the winter hardships.
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