Boatin' in VA!

Anyone ever been in a marina where UL engine room heaters were banned by the marina? I ask for ours said for the 1st time in their 59 year history that heater's this winter would be disallowed from being used & blamed it on their insurance company. Seems odd that this happens 3 months after an older Chris Craft caught fire in her slip & burned some of the rafters on the covered slip. If it's his insurance company saying "no heaters that are designed for engine rooms" and only heat the area 5 degrees (from a low of 45 ti a high of 50) does anyone think it's worth arguing this case with the insurance company and marina owner? Oh...and in closing there are 6 of us in a 90+ boat marina who have used them the past three years and used them on newer boats with better electrical systems than the older boats.

If you don't have a clue on this one please don't try and answer. Thanks.

Here's an interesting one about our cabin refrig and am curious if anyone has any idea of where to start looking to see what the problem might be...

Went to the boat Friday nite...refrig was working

Went down Saturday morning...refrig was not working on shore power

Took the boat out and the refrig worked on battery power

Came back in...plugged the boat in...refrig didn't work

Took it out Sunday...refrig didn't work on ship power

Came back in...plugged her in...refrig worked

Went down yesterday...refrig wasn't working

Any ideas? Circuit breaker has not blown so that's not the issue. Any ideas before I call my marine refrig/CAC mechanic? Loose wire maybe? Something else?

Thanks all for this one has me baffled.

Just heard that the 2009 Boat Show scheduled for February here in Washington, DC has been canceled due to the economic conditions. This show has been going on annually for over 25 years and for it to pull out this year is kind of a shock.

This prompted me to post the question if you all are hearing of other shows doing the same?

First a little information from today's news....

"WASHINGTON – Detroit's automakers, making a second bid for $25 billion in funding, are presenting Congress with plans Tuesday to restructure their ailing companies and provide assurances that the funding will help them survive and thrive.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC would refinance their companies' debt, cut executive pay, seek concessions from workers and find other ways of reviving their staggering companies."

Now the question...should our government offer up the bailout money to the big 3 or should they let them go however the market takes them?

The time has almost come to put the boat away for the year and oh how I hate doing such. No more weekends soaking up the rays. No trips to the restaurants on a weeknight for dinner. No more Friday night happy hours on the dock either. No more nothing until she is de-winterized during the 3rd weekend of March. To go from the first week of December until almost April is just too long of a period…way to long.

Now, someone has said to put in an engine room heater. Not an engine block heater but an actual heater made for the engine room of cruisers. Supposedly keeps everything above freezing (45 degrees) and there’s no need for winterizing the engines. Sounds good to know one can take the boat out then whenever the weather cooperates. But this leads to some questions that are…

1. Has anyone ever used an engine room heater? If so what are your thoughts?

2. How about the cost of running it?

3. Lose power to the dock and how fast would it draw down the power from the house battery?

4. Pro’s?

5. Con’s?

6. Anything else you can think of?

I’m asking for we’ve got a friend on the dock who just put one in. Cost of the heater is mid $300’s and the cost of winterizing the engines and genset is over 600. Sounds like it could be a great plan and one I’m considering…for the 2009 winter…if his does the job it’s supposed to do.

Let me know if you’ve used one and your experience(s) too.

Thanks!