PNW cruising times and advice

[stwendl]

I was wondering if some ranger owners in the pnw could enlighten me a bit in terms of usable seasons in the pnw.

Are there any times were it is pretty much not advisable to be out on the water or in the pnw at all due to ice, snow, rain etc. when is it advisable to winterize the boat if at all or even pull it out of the water. What is the practical season up there.

I realize that tolerable season is a very individual term where some people require higher temps than others while others are perfectly happy with cooler temps.

 

[baz]

In terms of winterizing in the PNW I can say in my case where I kept my R-25 (Classic) at Edmonds, WA (Port Of Edmonds) in the water all year round in a covered slip that I never had the need to winterize. I ran a Caframo space heater in the boat's cabin whenever I left the boat and that kept the cabin temp at or above 50ºF. Last year we did have some freezing temps at my house in Edmonds which is about 1/2 mile from the water's edge and the Edmonds marina did shut off water during this time to the docks. However, the freezing at the marina did not cause any freezing issues on my boat that I'm aware of. I did talk with other boat owners on my dock and none indicated having freezing issues.

I hope that helps you understand the winterizing in my part of the PNW area.

As an aside, I did chat with Ranger Tugs about winterizing my R-25 being in the water at Edmonds and was told not to worry doing any form of winterizing for it.

Having the battery charger active while the boat is on shore power also keeps the batteries warm presumably as well as keeping them healthy. 🙂

Using the boat during say October through to say May is possible in my part of the PNW, but this depends on your tolerance for temperatures and rain etc. Of course bad weather is more likely during these months so that has to be a consideration as well. There's less daylight hours during these months as well and in Dec/Jan it can be dark at 4:30pm. So that needs to be a consideration also. The water in the PNW does not freeze over, or at least I've never heard of it doing so. We get little snow, but again this varies from year to year and there have been times when we have lots of snow. In fact my Edmonds Marina (part of it at least) sunk under heavy snow conditions around 1995. The complete marina was rebuilt after this incident and IMO has been over-engineered and is unlikely to sink again (famous last words of course).

 

[Irish Mist]

Hoping its nice, as we are heading west on the 14th for 6 months, I'm sure it wont be like Marathon, but better then where we are now 🙂

 

[BradOwens]

I recently retired from the Coast Guard and have patrolled the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound in every month of the year. Winter can be stormy at times, but can also be beautifully calm. The island anchorages that are crowded in the summer will have only a few boats, and dock space is almost always available. Why winterize when you can cruise? With a little planning and an eye on the weather, winter is one of my favorite times to cruise here.

 

[daveo]

Living in the San Juans, I can tell you that all of the State Park docks that I can think of and many of the County Park docks, are removed for the winter. If you have a dinghy, you can always beech it but the water systems are shut off too. You wont find much competition for the buoys either.

 

[BradOwens]

Unless something has changed recently, the State Park dock at Reid Harbor on Stuart Island is in place year round, as is one of the two docks in Fossil Bay on Sucia Island. I'm not sure about the other State Park docks, but I'll check around.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Hello stwendl,

You can find approx. cruising times to/from various ports in PNW at this site:
http://nwcruising.net/nmtable-us.html

Sorry, you might have to cut and paste because I'm not sure if I know how to properly post links in this forum.
UPDATE, this link works but takes a few seconds to load.

You can download the document on this site to PDF or spreadsheet for your reference.

Have fun.
Gene Redmon
Wolf Pack

 

[stwendl]

Thanks for all the advise but perhaps I should have properly phrased the question to mean "cruising season" instead of times. In my language "times" and "season" are used interchangeably

But nevertheless the reference about distances are certainly be helpful to someone clouding myself.

 

[Lobo]

Gene:

Your attachment is wonderful. I just "copied and pasted to excel" and saved. It needed a wee bit of formatting, but works well -- even the "links" work which show both the route and photos of the marinas, etc. Somebody did a lot of work on this. If you cruise the PNW you should consider putting this on your laptop -- great for cruise planning.

Dave
LOBO

 

[Auklet]

Lobo --- If you leave out the "-us" you will also find Canadian ports.