Does it damage a boat leaving it in the water all year?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...41391015301002

Can any chem engineers here comment on this study?

not chem engineer but this study is Squed right from the start.
They used distilled water which will dissolve steel in short order.
You start adding stuff to it and it becomes more stable and less of a solvent . They need to do real world type testing to be legitimate. Concerning the results.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by newhaul

not chem engineer but this study is Squed right from the start.
They used distilled water which will dissolve steel in short order.
You start adding stuff to it and it becomes more stable and less of a solvent . They need to do real world type testing to be legitimate. Concerning the results.

Interesting factoid concerning pure water and corrosion.
https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/art...erground-plans


"Scientists take extra precautions both to keep the ultrapure water clean and to avoid contact with the highly corrosive substance. “Somebody once dropped a hammer into the tank,” says experimentalist Mark Vagins of the University of Tokyo's Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe. “It was chrome-plated to look nice and shiny. Eventually we found the chrome and not the hammer.”"

[Capt.Tom]

Originally Posted by boatingnewbie

I'm new to boating and curious about how bad it is or isn't to leave a boat in a slip (in the water) year-round (such as in Florida on the ICW).

Is a boat's hull fine long-term (being kept in the water) as long as it's occasionally cleaned?

It depends on the boat, what climate you store it in andvhow you store it weather it is damaged leaving it in the water all year round.

Very broad question... If you store your boat in the northeast and the water freezes because you didn't put a bubbler under it.... yes, would have been better to take it out.
If your boat is wired incorrectly and the dock has a ground problem..... if your sail boat has an outdrivery like Volvo Pentas have, yes, your oUT drive can be eaten away.
No zinc on the boat..... yes you will have issues.
Let's move to fiberglass problems caused by your boat being left in the water all year round.
Some fiberglass, porely made, will absorb water. Boats made in the 70's to 80's , some, had this bad fiberglass resin. These boats absorb water and get heavier. Taking the boat out every year allows the glass to dry out... If it's in the water to long, when you take it out and the weather goes below freezing, the glass delaminates.

There are many other scenarios but you have to be specific about which boat you have where you going to keep it.

Hope that helps.

[Oceansailor]

Originally Posted by boatingnewbie

I'm new to boating and curious about how bad it is or isn't to leave a boat in a slip (in the water) year-round (such as in Florida on the ICW).



Is a boat's hull fine long-term (being kept in the water) as long as it's occasionally cleaned?

If you store your boat covered out of the water you more or less stop the aging process.

As soon as you launch it the aging process starts. How fast that aging process will be depends on temperature, salinity, uv-radiation and other environmental factors.

As soon a you lift the boat out of the water and put it in the shed the aging stops more or less.

But I guess the reason for buying a boat was to use it.

[Mare Nostrum]

My yawl is celebrating her 50th Birthday next month. She has been in salt water all these years (Acapulco), having been hauled out only 21 times. She is in great shape and we are hoping to sail to the Caribbean from Acapulco next year, through the Canal. I would not even think of leaving her on the hard. It would seem unnatural to me.

[Jimmyhenry]

Our boat spent 20 years in Gatan Lake. Panama. Fibreglass. It was badly osmosised. We had her out for 6 months with heated vacuum bags. Must have removed a lot of water because she rose about 100mm above the old water line when we relaunched.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

The bottom line is virtually every boat in every marina in temperate climes (and we are talking about millions of boats worldwide) spend their entire lives afloat, only being hauled for relatively short periods for periodic maintenance or emergency repairs.

Some of the owners in places such as Greece would disagree.

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

Can any chem engineers here comment on this study?

Well, I can make one comment that does not require a chemical engineer. This study looks at FRP structures exposed to elevated temperature and moisture (distilled water) - not submergence in saltwater. This comes closer to the conditions a boat stored on shore in a tropical or subtropical area during the wet season would experience. The results would hardly be an argument for hauling your fiberglass boat out of the water for a portion of every year.

[Oceansailor]

Originally Posted by Dooglas

Well, I can make one comment that does not require a chemical engineer. This study looks at FRP structures exposed to elevated temperature and moisture (distilled water) - not submergence in saltwater. This comes closer to the conditions a boat stored on shore in a tropical or subtropical area during the wet season would experience. The results would hardly be an argument for hauling your fiberglass boat out of the water for a portion of every year.

Risk for osmosis increases with:

- time in the water
- temperature in the water (higher temp. Higher risk)
- salinity of the water (fresh water higher risk)

But the most important factor is the quality of the laminate. A perfect laminate will not get osmosis,

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by Oceansailor

As soon a you lift the boat out of the water and put it in the shed the aging stops more or less.

Very few sailboats of any size are stored in a shed when out of the water. The temperature is the same in the water or out, UV exposure is the same, and even moisture can be similar in the tropical raining season.

[Wolfgang.Schau]

A boat belongs into the water - like a fish. Osmosis can be a problem if the hull is of bad quality. Taking it out every now and then will not help. My sailing catamaran survived two hurricanes on a mooring, on a slip it would probably be smashed like all the others. During a hurricane in a shipyard, damages could occur by flying projectiles, etc. Make sure you extend your mooring lines by twice the expected storm surge, plus drop an anchor in case the mooring does not hold and the boat goes a drift.

[Capt.Tom]

Originally Posted by newhaul

My 1963 columbia defender has been in seawater for its whole life ( with occasional haulouts for 2 to 3 days every 5 to 7 years for bottom paint) never an issue .

That's terrific. Have you tested your boat with the proper meter ? Most glass absorbs some water.... Boats of that era were generally over built with dense glass so generally it isn't a problem.

I was speaking of some resin boats built in the late 70's to mid 80's in particular.... There are other examples outside those years but not as many.... Boats built or coated with epoxy are much more resilient to this problem..

I was trying to get the point across to the beginner sailor that, it depends on the boat and what is done to it, be it stored in the water or out of the water. In either case, if not done correctly, you could have a mess on your hands.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Capt.Tom

That's terrific. Have you tested your boat with the proper meter ? Most glass absorbs some water.... Boats of that era were generally over built with dense glass so generally it isn't a problem.

I was speaking of some resin boats built in the late 70's to mid 80's in particular.... There are other examples outside those years but not as many.... Boats built or coated with epoxy are much more resilient to this problem..

I was trying to get the point across to the beginner sailor that, it depends on the boat and what is done to it, be it stored in the water or out of the water. In either case, if not done correctly, you could have a mess on your hands.

Well captn, you sound like you have vast experience in this field, please do tell us more.

[Capt.Tom]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

My Wife’s father has designed Boat for Hatteras, Century and some bass boats in Tennessee some years ago.
According to him, the most stressful thing you can do to a boats hull, is to put it on a trailer and head down the highway, in particular he is against the roll on trailers, the ones with just wheels and no bunks.

I'll go along with him on that one. Putting a displacement hull sailboat on a trailer is genearly not a good idea except if done by professionals to save you thousands of miles of sailing.... or winter storage at a location, when driven slowly, short distances.

[Capt.Tom]

It is my belief that a boat with glsss that has absorbed a lot of water is better off being hauled to let it dry over the winter and then put it back in. Having an epoxy barrier coat put on in the spring, when it has fully dried would be ideal. This is better than leaving it in the water for years.... I am only speaking of boats with improperly mixed glass... Im not speaking of every boat ever manufactured.
My statement was made to a beginning sailor to show there isn't just one answer for everybody... there are many variables. ...