Winterization in Myrtle Beach, SC?

[steve97fx]

I recently moved my boat from Cape May NJ to Myrtle Beach SC for the winter. This is my first winter south for the justification of the warmer climate.

My concern is that this year they are already having record low temperatures. At night it's dipping to around 27-29 (10 degrees below the average low) but reaching the mid 50s during the day. The water temperature as of last week was 52 degrees. The guys at the marina say that no winterization is necessary, however I'm a little concerned for the fresh water systems.

Part of me says I'm fine since the 52 degree water should act as an insulator and keep the core temperate of the boat well above freezing for the night time lows which aren't all winter long, but rather a cold snap currently going on. The other part of me says 27 degrees is still 27 degrees. The problem is that I live in Pennsylvania and it isn't exactly as easy as stopping in to turn on the heat on the cold nights.

Should I be okay or running a risk? The marina sticks with "we never winterize down here", but last thing I want is to deal with cracked fresh water lines or other potential issuses related to freezing.

What does everyone think?

[Chief Engineer]

I would think that with the water temp in the 50's you probably won't have a problem. For your own peace of mind you could have all the potable water lines blown out with compressed air.

[jkleins]

I probably wouldn't but then I would base that on the thinking that replacing a broken water line wouldn't hardly take as much time as draining and blowing out everything. I really hate to winterize that system.
I probably would winterize the engine if I was not going to use it though just thinking that that would be more catastrophic if it was damaged and it is pretty easy to do.
The likelihood of problems with the transient dips below freezing would be small though, I would think.

Jim