Mothballing or Laying Up a Yacht for an Extended Period

I've managed, worked in or been involved in a few marinas over the years and have yet to see that service offered. You can sometimes pay an dockhand to do it, but even then it's doubtfull you'll get more than a quick bilge look. Like with the annual tightenup, these are services where you really need to do it yourself or hire a responsible party, preferably your regular captain.

Bromine and Chlorine are bio-degradeable, just the like the boat soap you use to wash your boat. The concentrations of bromine leaving your sea water discharge are very very minute since they are slow release tablets. I haven't heard of anyone having any ill effects from swimming in a swimming pool which has chlorine in it.

There are no marinas that I know of that will clean and monitor your ac intakes. You can hire a diver to clean the bottom and make sure your intakes are open however.....

Hi,

I personally would be very wary of laying up a boat in the Carib in the first place.

Are you going to be staying with it or hiring a local to look after it?

Has the Insurance Co been asked for their position on this?

CAT Warranty can really be a finicky thing to put it mildly. I have sent broken parts back to Caterpillar Overseas and been told that they were perfectly serviceable and had been sent to another customer to use- That's a whole story in itself.

I would think that there would need to be some preserving of the engines to allow this and to maintain warranty- It will be interesting to see what CAT have to say on this.

Is there a CAT Dealer who could handle the layup near you or would you have to fly someone in from the US or P.R.?

I don't beleive chlorine / bromine are biodegradeable the are dilutable(sp)and they evaporate the impact though not harmfull to anyone,is deadly to aquatic organisms in much smaller concentrations than you realize!If this becomes common practice the enviormental impact will be similar to the impact of, banned bottom paint. Here on the west side of michigan we have yacht services companys that clean in and out,check bilges, batterychargers,and heating and cooling systems... and by the by all marinas will monitor and clean the intakes if you PAY them to. call and ask