Long term refrigerator storage

[rbrazil]

Hi Everyone,

Our Nauticat 43 is located in the Barra de Navidad, Mexico marina, plugged in to shore power with the refrigerator on, and running. Everything else is turned off except the bilge pump. We won’t be back to the boat for almost 5 months. The boat is prepped for hurricane season. It’s very hot and humid during hurricane season. We have an amazing man named Pancho (and his team) who tends to the boat. Washing, bottom cleaning, checking the lines etc.
With these circumstances, would you;
1. Leave the refrigerator plugged in to shore power?
2. Would you unplug and turn on solar instead?
3. Other long term marina prep suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[Cheechako]

-Why leave the fridge on? Turn it off.
-Tape over your tank vents to avoid bugs building nests in there and blocking them. This happened in 3 months on my boat.
-Find a way to leave some air flow inside the boat.

[Gudgeon]

I agree with Cheechako, turn off the reefer clean and leave the door open. Also on the air flow, If you are going to keep the boat connect to shore power I would also purchase a fan or a dehumidifier to circulate air this will help keep the mold and mildew to a minimum. Solar will keep your batteries charges and may run your bilge pump (don't know your solar charging capacity) so you could just disconnect from shore power. one less thing to be concerned about. I would not try to run the fan/dehumidifier off of solar/battery via inverter.

[rbrazil]

Thanks for the replies.

[grantmc]

This may be a tad late for your OP, but if you're still at your boat, last thing I'd do before departure is:

1. Take photos all over the boat, especially inside the vessel, inside lockers, bilges everywhere. Plus make an inventory of as much as you can manage including noting down (preferably plus a photo) of the serial no details of each item.

If your yacht is burgled then you've some evidence of what the boat was like when you left and the gear that you had. And from experience I know that this is very useful for Police, insurance and your own memory.

2. Decide on clear instructions about Pancho's access to inside the boat. Useful for some local to hold a key, for sure. Bit no one cares about your boat more than you, and no one will be as careful in their lockup process. Thefts from unattended boats like yours usually go for months before even being realised it's happened. Pancho wont know what you've got, so he wont know it's gone.

3. Leave roach, rat and other relevant baits profusely throughout (record where you left them, photos). Ditch ALL the food except cans and jars.

4. Remove as much as you can from outside: sails obviously, but I would remove, or tie down solar panels, awnings/bimini etc. Trust me, if you hear about a really bad storm passing through Jalisco you will not want to be worrying about your boat. And double your mooring lines. Put some covering at potential wear spots to prevent chafe. Discuss with marina, Pancho or whoever will take responsibility what the process is to be if a bad storm is forecast.

5. Have a plan that someone locally can undertake for the boat to be moved, and/or lifted out of the water. if needed Stuff fails, maybe some boat might allide with yours causing water ingress. All you can do is sit on the end of the phone (I have so been waning to use the word allide.

6. I assume that your Nauticat will be in a marina? So presumably there is a safe marina storage facility (or maybe Pancho's garage). That's where stuff like outboards, cameras, nav equipment, ipads, laptops, power tools, fishing gear, dinghy, dive ear, binoculars, flare guns, guns in general should all be kept. Also leave a large note in English and Spanish firmly stuck to the cockpit door advising thieves that all the good stuff has been taken off the boat. But then again perhaps the boat will be in a safe secure marina with security. (And let's not forget all that cameras do is give you pictures, cameras don't get your stuff back.)

7. Turn the fridge off, that's just stupid. And personally I would never leave any electrical appliance running 24x7 for several months on shore pwoer unattended. So I respectfully disagree with Gudgeon about leaving a dehumidifier running, but do agree with his/her suggestion to unplug shore power.

And just about everyone I've known who's left there boat for a few months has returned far latter than they expected.

[rbrazil]

Grant,
Thanks for the very thorough reply. Wow!
1. Did that. 2. Did that. 3 Didn’t do that.(3 years in Puerto Vallarta, no bugs. Well…one bee infestation.) 4. Did that. (Barra marina is a good hurricane hole) 5. Did that. 6. Didn’t do that. (Its a secure marina with 24/7 guard and a very good reputation.) 7. I know, dumb idea leaving the fridge on for 5 months. Heres the back story. I disconnected shore power, turned off all 12v systems (except bilge pump) and the frig was still running! I didnt have time to research so I left it on, letting Pancho know to keep an eye on things. The marina staff, fellow live aboard cruisers on the dock and Pancho are very capable and I trust them to help if needed. Thanks again for all your input. You went above and beyond!

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

-Why leave the fridge on? Turn it off.
-Tape over your tank vents to avoid bugs building nests* in there and blocking them. This happened in 3 months on my boat.
-Find a way to leave some air flow inside the boat.

* Indeed.
In 1996, "Birgenair Flight 301" crashed [with 189 fatalities], shortly after take-off, from Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, due to pilot error, after receiving incorrect airspeed information from one of the pitot tubes, which investigators believe was blocked by a [black and yellow mud dauber] wasp nest, built inside it.
The aircraft had been sitting unused for 20 days, and without pitot tube covers in place, for the preceding 2 days, before the crash.

[rwaldrop13]

Instead of taping vents and discharges, put balls of steel wool in them if you can. Won't allow bugs etc, and won't clog if you forget to remove them when you splash...

[Virginia Lee]

I'm of a different opinion. We used to turn the frig off when not in use for months at a time (South Florida) and the compressors rusted out. Now we leave it on (solar charge) and haven't gone through a refrigerator in about 16 years (two different boats, this one, 11 years w/o failure.) Perhaps it's a coincidence, or perhaps the warmth does drive away corrosion-creating moisture. This one has no drain holes for bugs to come in; when not opening the frig there is minimal frost/moisture to condense.

[billgewater]

Have lived in the tropics on our boat for over 40 years and never had any mould. None. Ever.
What we always do is tie down a small fg tender over the highest deck hatch. The deck hatch is left slightly open under the tender.
Both warm and moist air have lower density than cooler or dryer air and the mould-causing air automatically leaves the boat via that highest point vent. The hatch has fly screens as well.
We do have a few places where some air can enter as well e.g. at the cockpit entry drop boards (Small cowl vents on the vertical surface). We have left the boat for very long periods during both the dry and (very) wet seasons without any fans.

The attention to recording all the valuable stuff depends on the environment. We had a break in in the Swan River (Perth WA) many years ago (in front of the notorious Allan Bond's waterfront house!), but never in a marina. Live aboards in a marina generally means better security.

Yes. Do use cockroach baits. Replace baits regularly, and put stainless steel wool into vents.
Also be aware that birds will make nests on your unattended boat with the associated droppings. There are a few forums dedicated to this problem.

Do ensure that the automatic bilge pumps and alarms are working and the gas is turned off along with all hull valves.

[rbrazil]

Thanks everyone! Good information. I just wanted to see what the mass’s do.

[JPA Cate]

We always turned our fridges off, too. Don't know why the poster above's compressor rusted out. 18 yrs. liveaboard on the first one, no problems. And I second usking cockie baits while you're gone. If one gets in and she's pregnant, they'll eat anything to try to stay alive. Fridge open, no electricity coming into boat from marina (avoids problems with stray current). Nothing touching the fridge gaskets, let them rebound a bit while you're gone.

I'd take my laptops home with me in carry on luggage, though. What would I do without my brains?

Ann