For those up in the cold north

jkidd

jkidd

Active member
For those up in the cold north when you winterize your boat for the winter do you remove your electronics from the boat or do you leave them in place. I have heard of people having there LCD screens crack in the cold weather.
 
Hi Jody. We live in SW B.C. and we do get minus temps a couple of times during the winter but I have a portable electric oil heater that I keep on low which is keeping the moisture at bay and I hope it will stop any freezing so yes all electrinics are still on board
Terry
 
Jody

On my boat I have a Furuno and a Garmin that I do not remove through the winter in Edmonton, Alberta.
I would not say I recommend to do that but I have not had any problems with either units.
Years ago I left a compass in the cold and that was not very smart.
For peace of mind if it is a concern then take them in.

Ed
 
We leave our boat plugged in with our 30 amp shore power cord with an adapter to our home. We leave the battery charger and the outlets in the boat switched on and an electric heater on the floor next to the dinette plugged into one of the outlets all winter long. Always left the electronics on board except for the laptop. Fifth winter no issues yet.
D.D.
 
...we do get [freezing] temps a couple of times during the winter but I have a portable electric oil heater that I keep on low which is keeping the moisture at bay and I hope it will stop any freezing so yes all electrinics are still on board
Click to expand...

Ditto.
 
I pull off the fishfinder/gps and stow it inside the house. Lowrance recommends things not to get colder than -20 ???? i don't recall the exact number. I do know it gets colder than that here. So in it goes.

Chris
 
I never heard leaving the GPS on to be a concern. We have an older GPS that saw many winters in Connecticut and 2 winters in Montana so far. Not uncommon to dip near -40 here. I have always worried about moisture somewhere in the hull at these temps. I remove everything from the boat that is liquid. Take out all the batteries, change the oil in the foot, drop the motor all the way down and make sure it's drained and dry, open the forward inspection hatch, take a few screws out of the keel guard to insure no moisture there. We have no screws in the transom. If I did I would remove them and make sure there was no moisture there. The Angola cover goes on around the first snow and the windows are open an inch on each side for ventilation. On a cold but sunny day it gets real toasty under the cover.

Kev
 
Where I live a few days of -40c or colder is not unheard of. The issues I've seen with leaving our electronics on-board in this weather is the following:
- Poor quality LCD screens either crack or the seal breaks and moisture gets inside.
- You get a warm spell after a cold spell and condensation wreaks havoc on the circuit boards.
- Poorly seated chips slowly work there way loose during cycles of cold and warm weather
- Poor quality plastic casings crack in cold.

For me I just take the electronics off the boat in the winter so I don't have to worry that something might go wrong.
 
I had the fancy Lowrance/Suzuki gauge give out this spring. I am sure the weather did not help it any. No big loss, I could never get it to work anyway. Raymarine C-80 did just fine. I am more concerned about stranded water freezing. I make it a point to shop vac anywhere water will collect before putting the cover on for the winter.
 
I remove mine. Since we expect -40F or colder, can't see any reason to expose the electronics to that. Also take remove the inflatable dingy and batteries. Wish I had more warm storage but basement works just fine.
 
Some years I've left the electronics in the boat and some years I've taken it in. Have had no problems. I do just figure there are a lot of boats sitting out in the cold where the electronics remain on larger boats with no problem.
 
In the Salt Lake City area I've left instruments (Garmin, Furuno, Lowrance and Simrad) out in the cold (dry air, though) for 21 years with no problem. Ritchie compasses too.
 
Have never removed any electonics, never had any problems. I don't think modern boat electronics are any different then the sophisticated electronics in cars and trucks today.
 
I am with Jay. I leave my electronics on board all winter. Batteries also. Have never had a problem or even a low battery in 30 yrs.
If not inconvenient it may be better to take the electr. out to have peace of mind.

Happy Thanksgiving.....Jack
 
Garmin lists its temprature as From 5 degrees F to 131 degrees F (from -15 degrees C to 55 degrees C) I guess I'll remove the big dollar items and take my chances with the rest. Most of the time the boats in the shop heated to 55 degrees. Planing on using the shop this winter so the boat might have to sit outside.
 
They call it liquid crystal displays for a reason gents.....And the liquid inside laptops, gps, tvs, and anything in starts to freeze at around -30 or so.

My laptop froze in Fairbanks in my truck at around 50 below or so one night when I forgot to bring it in to the hotel like a idiot. It also ruined my screen on my CD player. Do what you want, but they do freeze and that wrecks them. It probably doesn't get cold enough in the lower 48 or even SC Alaska to really worry about it.

However, I'm not taking any chances. If it is seriously cold out, and the boat is out, then anything with an LCD comes out. I'm not learning that again.....
 
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