Boating season winds down as Long Beach Harbor reopens: tips for putting your boat away
It has been a big week at the Long Beach Harbor. City leaders cut the ribbon on phase one of the $4 million Gateway Project, and the Jim Simpson Pier is open again for the first time since Hurricane Zeta tore it up back in 2020.
The timing is a little funny for boaters. Just as the harbor gets its facelift, a lot of folks on the Coast are getting ready to park their boats for a few months. The water’s cooling off. Weekends fill up with football. By November plenty of center consoles won’t move again until spring.
That stretch is harder on a boat here than people think. Salt doesn’t go dormant when it gets cold, and neither does our humidity, so a boat that’s put away dirty in October can look rough by March.
Most of the prep is simple. Flush the motor with fresh water so salt isn’t sitting in the cooling passages all winter. Fill the tank with stabilizer in it and let the engine run a few minutes so treated fuel gets all the way through. Pull the plug. Bring the cushions and electronics inside. A battery tender is cheap insurance.
And don’t forget the trailer. Those wheel bearings got dunked in salt water every time you launched this summer, so give them some grease and take a look at the tires and lights while you’re at it.
The bigger question for a lot of owners is where the boat actually spends the winter. Some subdivisions don’t allow trailers in the driveway, and a boat under a tree in the backyard ends up full of leaves, sap and rainwater. That’s why a lot of trailer boat, jet ski and ATV owners rent a spot at a storage facility for the off-season. Near the harbor, Iron Storage has outdoor parking spaces and larger drive-up storage units at its Long Beach locations. Whether you go that route or keep it at home, skip the plastic tarp (it holds moisture against the hull), get a breathable cover, and tilt the boat so rain drains off.
Put in an afternoon of work now and the boat should crank right up when it’s time to head back out on the Sound.
