If leaving your boat on lift for a few months with no use do you open engine drain plugs and leave boats main drain plug on back of boat open?

[NewBoater]

As title states it will be going a few months with no use for rest of winter. I have a premium mooring cover on it but I know some water will still get in. Don’t want rain water to build in engine compartment.

Is there only one drain plug in engine compartment? Open that up and open main drain plug on back of boat? I’m assuming if it gets in engine area it would go out that drain plug and then out the main drain?

 

[Canuckjetboater]

As title states it will be going a few months with no use for rest of winter. I have a premium mooring cover on it but I know some water will still get in. Don’t want rain water to build in engine compartment.

Is there only one drain plug in engine compartment? Open that up and open main drain plug on back of boat? I’m assuming if it gets in engine area it would go out that drain plug and then out the main drain?

@NewBoater ..... for a few months I definitely would open the drain plugs to let water drain into the bilge then out the hull drain to prevent the accumulation of water in the bilge. I would put a tag on my steering wheel to remind me to re-install the plugs as per usual configuration. BTW thought this would be the appropriate place to mention the following.....pretty sure we all know this but as the best glass guy for 300 miles around here told me years ago "Boat builders generally do a pretty good job with gel coat on their hulls now and with the new vinylester resins the hulls can withstand being wet slipped with no fear of osmosis starting from the outside HOWEVER only the very best boat builders seal the areas of their inside hulls where water might go - SO - you have a hull sealed on the outside and if water gets in from the inside it can not escape so you have the potential of dreaded osmosis hull destruction - make sure your inside hull has as little water in it as possible for as short a time as possible or you will be giving me a nice down-payment on something!" IMO great advice!

 

[tdonoughue]

I would only do that if I were close enough to run to the boat in case there were a flooding event. We have had several of those around here where boats were taken off fully-raised lifts.

Now, I don't have a lift, but if I did, I would probably have the plug in and have the boat tied to the lift before I left it for an extended period. I would bet that if you did that and came back every 30 days you could pull the bilge plug on your visits and would probably find very little water... but I may be wrong. However, I would rather do that than to have to run out there in some flooding event, especially if the boat were an hour or two away.

 

[PeterB]

I never leave the hull drain plug out when our boat is on the lift - I have seen lifts fail.
We keep the batteries charged with an onboard charger plugged into shore power and rely on two bilge pumps to keep rain water drained if needed.

 

[BakedZiti]

I never leave the hull drain plug out when our boat is on the lift - I have seen lifts fail.
We keep the batteries charged with an onboard charger plugged into shore power and rely on two bilge pumps to keep rain water drained if needed.

This..I have had a boat lift fail and found my boat half in the water

 

[Canuckjetboater]

This..I have had a boat lift fail and found my boat half in the water

@BakedZiti and @PeterB .....what kind of boat lifts do you guys have ? The two that I had (ShoreMaster & Naylor) both locked and could not drop when unattended.

 

[PeterB]

This is an air lift - if the connections leak, the lift sinks. Our marina does nothing as far as checking lifts and/or adding air if one has a slow leak so we need to fend for ourselves

 

[Beachbummer]

Just a thought....Lesser of two evils. How likely is your boat to float away? How likely is it that rainwater will enter the boat?

Both can be destructive. Decide which one you want to protect against, willing to brave the likelihood/perils of the other. (maybe you can leave a 12V battery tender plugged in, and you can leave the plug in if you have a bilge pump with a float switch. The boat will float and the bilge pump will pump out the rain. Not optimal, but if rising water is a concern this might be best.

How likely is the boat to float away? If you trust the lift, you can leave the plugs off.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

 

[NewBoater]

I have a pretty new $12,000 2 year old lift I hope I’m good to go. Never say never I guess but I think I’m good for a while.

 

[Canuckjetboater]

I have a pretty new $12,000 2 year old lift I hope I’m good to go. Never say never I guess but I think I’m good for a while.

@NewBoater .....the picture sure helps. There has been a lot of good advice from this forum's members and should help you decide. Where I had lifts for 25 years there weren't hurricanes or 6 foot tides to worry about. There certainly were aggressive rainstorms that could put a lot of water past my best mooring covers. There was no way any of my lifts could have lowered themselves as all had locking mechanisms. I installed a simple version with a U clamp and a pull pin on a neighbour's lift for about $5.00 that took 5 seconds to remove and replace. I never had to leave my boat unattended for lengthy periods of time but IF I did I would have pulled the drain plug because a boat's bilge pump can quickly drain the boat's battery leaving water in most boat's inner hulls that can migrate into fiberglass resulting in osmosis damage. No matter what it sure looks like you have a great boat and a really nice lift that should last many, many years

 

[BakedZiti]

@BakedZiti and @PeterB .....what kind of boat lifts do you guys have ? The two that I had (ShoreMaster & Naylor) both locked and could not drop when unattended.

Mine is a simple cable and pulley lift, my boat is also fully under a roof and mooring cover, so rain water is not an issue

 

[Julian]

Depends on how confident you are about the lift. If you are certain it wont drop, or flooding will come up, then feel free to remove the drain plug. Otherwise, leave it in and have a shore power connection and onboard charger, with the bilge on.

 

[Canuckjetboater]

Mine is a simple cable and pulley lift, my boat is also fully under a roof and mooring cover, so rain water is not an issueView attachment 140649

@BakedZiti .... beautiful set-up. I wouldn't be worried about rain with that set-up either but there has to be an easy way to install a safety pin in that rig if you were worried it might lower your boat. I thought even the cable/pulley set-ups had a ratchet that flipped to lock once it hit its top detent.

 

[BakedZiti]

@BakedZiti .... beautiful set-up. I wouldn't be worried about rain with that set-up either but there has to be an easy way to install a safety pin in that rig if you were worried it might lower your boat. I thought even the cable/pulley set-ups had a ratchet that flipped to lock once it hit its top detent.

Well the time it failed it was a cable that had broke. My fault really, didnt pay attention to the fact that the cable was past its prime

 

[Canuckjetboater]

Well the time it failed it was a cable that had broke. My fault really, didnt pay attention to the fact that the cable was past its prime

@BakedZiti ..... thanks for the up-date. That of course, would change my response as, respectfully, that is hardly your lift's fault and IMO not a valid reason to not remove a drain plug due to a possible lift failure. I think it would be fair to say the maintenance of your lift is on you and should be a fairly high priority. Cable lifts can fail (as you know) but IMO you were lucky if it just lowered your boat. I have seen failed cable lifts drop a boat sideways causing a lot of damage......and if your insurance isn't notified your boat is on a lift it may not cover damage from the lift. I notified my insurance of my lifts and was asked by one company if I regularly maintained it.

 

[thefortunes]

13 years on a Shorestation lift (with canopy).

Also used the cover (mainly for pollen/dust/dirt protection) when we weren't at the lake house.

Didn't pull the drain plug once during those 13 years until the boat was out and being prepped to put in the garage for the winter.

 

[Canuckjetboater]

13 years on a Shorestation lift (with canopy).

Also used the cover (mainly for pollen/dust/dirt protection) when we weren't at the lake house.

Didn't pull the drain plug once during those 13 years until the boat was out and being prepped to put in the garage for the winter.

@thefortunes ..... no question having a canopy (depending on its height from the boat) + a boat cover should keep most of the water out. I likely wouldn't pull the plug in that situation either. Having a boats on a lift (25 years) with no canopy - instead using mooring covers is quite different and then doing so and leaving the boat for several months is yet again another situation.

 

[Scoop]

What maintenance do you guys do for your lifts? I have a cable lift that is three years old that is used in a salt water bay.

I have read about penetrating oil for the cables but was wondering if there was any other servicing that was required?

 

[anmut]

Oil and grease is the best thing you can do for metal in salt water... I would have more confidence with paying someone to come out and do some preventative maintenance on it vs. trying to do it myself.

 

[Beachbummer]

There may be grease nipples in your lift mechanism. I'm not certain the frequency, I lubricated once or twice per season.

Our lift also had a V belt. It was cheap and easy to replace, so we did that at the sight notice the belt was not optimal.

If you are handy, I would not hesitate in trying to do the work yourself, but if your are not confident on it, no harm on paying someone to do it.

You can't go wrong with spraying corrosion X or T9 or Crc656 on anything metal you see exposed as added measure, but that's just my take.

Best of luck!