Jiffjingle

I live in the northeast. My buddy has always made a habit of taking his MFDs off the boat for the winter. I usually leave them on. I am getting new electronics this week and I am wondering if I should plan to take them out of the boat for the winter.

What is the consensus?

melnic

great idea.
I did not last 2 winters but with more $$ in MFDs this season, I think I will. Not much work to unplug and remove 4 bolts.
Plus the more I think about it, less temperature cycling on the electronics which is a good thing to keep it indoors with a more constant temp.

wajski

I boat Lake Erie I have a 2002 S/H 12" and a 2011 Garmin 7608 xsv and both come off for the winter. I have a friend that has flush mount units his stays on the boat while in winter storage both ways seem to work ok your choice.

iFishMD

I fish all year in Maryland, sometimes breaking ice to get out, and freezing temperatures have never had a negative affect on my electronics.

Devil_Inside

I think this is a great idea, especially if you can do it with minimal effort. I do remove all of mine at the end of the season and store them inside.

Captinlon

I leave nothing on my boat that can "walk off" during winter storage and she's yard stored in a friend's boat yard. Maine

gundog61

Boat is stored at my house everything stays in year round.

CaptnJuff

Last boat, bracket mounted, took it home. Current boat, flush mounted, leave em in.

LISteiger

Flush mounted stays put, gimbal mounted gets pulled.

sharkwaters

Keeping them dry is most important.

Mellow Yellow

More electronics on a lot of cars. Never heard of a temperature related problem.

Rollo Tomassi

We don't winterize down here, but when I installed my new CP's, VHF and stereo head unit last winter I installed the panel so it can be completely removed with taking out 8 screws. Every time the boat goes to the shop for work they keep it at least a week minimum, sometimes up to 3 weeks. With all the boat yard electronic thefts going on along the gulf coast I'm taking no chances. The electronics stay home.

boatingcouple

At the end of our boating season, we take out our fish finder and two batteries (dual battery hookup). The face on our CD Player comes off, so that goes with us home after each time taking our boat out and at the end of the season. Most everything else, including the porta-potty, are taken out of the boat and home. Then, after winterization, we put on our deck cover and the full cover. The boat sits outside at a Boat/RV Storage. Anytime it snows here (northern Colorado), we go over and clean the snow off of the full cover.

Re-Bait

I use to take all off my machines off, including the entire furuno array. For some 15 years. Then I realized that my connections were going bad being exposed to the elements from Dec thru April. So I stopped disconnecting anything. And have left it all in place. No problems whatsoever.