In water overnight

Okay let me start by saying I've always launched my boat in the mornings and retrieved her in the evenings. I've read many sales postings saying the boats never been left in the water overnight. What I'm wondering is why is this so bad? I'm looking at an extended stay at the lake coming up and have a few options on how I store my boat. Leaving in the water seems to be the easiest and more affordable route to take. It would be in a private slip with a cover on it. I'll triple check my bilge pumps to ensure they work before the trip. Please give me the good and bad!

I'm looking at around 10 days. My packing seems to be right but I can be in the water all day and I never see my bilge come on. I only saw it come on once last year, but a lot of wet people in and out. I drain out water once on trailer when I pull the plug.

You should be fine, I've left mine in several nights and haven't had any issues. Didn't cover it but did leave the bimini up and covered the seats and dash with "Boat Towels"

Use an Anchor Buddy on the bow aiming it like HW suggested and leave her in deeper water. Use a long rope or ski rope and tie the stern to shore and that way you can pull her in when your ready to go. They work great even in fairly rough water if your anchor is set good. I use a 15lb river anchor so it digs deep in the soft muddy lakes of GA.

Haha that's kinda the response I'm looking for. You hit the nail on the head with me because I would be up all night worried about it. Checking late and then early gets the stress out the first night so you can enjoy the reset of the vacation I guess.

Yes it will and the ignition will be on too, not good. Thats why the pump should be on a circuit that is always on.

I think he means ignition breaker, not key, and YES it is ok, and necessary, to leave that on as it feeds the automatic bilge (factory wiring).

I leave the SAN in all Summer. This will be season 7. I learned to stop worrying after year one. It's also over-insured, which helps me sleep just fine. Hull blisters? Got some small ones on the transom below the waterline. Not worried about those either. It took 5 years of soaking for 4 months straight for those to show up. You should be fine.

Mike

Hey Hollywood you're correct. I had the boat out this past Saturday and it rained in it a lot. When we'd pull into shallow water to get out because of lightning I'd turn off the ignition breaker to keep from hearing my depth gauge go off every time a wave rolled by. I noticed the bilge never came on until I turned the ignition breaker back on. So I'm still not clear if this will make my hour meter run or not? If so I'm gonna change up the wiring.

On a different note. I had a blowout on the trailer on the way home. Thanks to the guys on this site selling stuff they don't need I'd purchased a spare rim and put a new tire on it for my spare setup. Got me back on the road in around 30 minutes. I had some fender damage, but nothing I can't fix.

IMHO, unless you've owned the boat since new, an accurate hourmeter total is dubious at best. Useful tool to track maintenance items, but certainly not un-tamperable, unpluggable, or un-failable like the odometer in a car.