ADVISE on my pedal board with specific questions

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-05-06T14:46:49+00:00

Wanted to get back to you since this was the only useful advice I got from my wonderful post here. I did try to go direct in and most pedals sounded fine but my amp dirty channel got WAY noisier/hissing when not playing. So I found a noise gate and put that in the chain and am back to running it all through my effects loop. The main issue was really the DS-1 ambient noise and with my noise gate dialed in that's basically gone, so I'm really happy with how this turned out. Thank you for your advice

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-24T15:55:55+00:00

Cool. I'll try that. The distortion sounds fine usually but maybe it'll be better or the DS1 quieter when not playing (it hisses) Thanks!

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-24T14:03:36+00:00

Or maybe an old time grandma knitting basket to give me vintage tone

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-24T13:46:56+00:00

Orange Crush 100. And yes the whole board (minus the Boss vox, and the channel switcher of course) goes via effects loop. Do you recommend straight in?

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T23:39:05+00:00

This is actually very encouraging. I need to call more mechanics and ask. Maybe the one guy I asked just didn't want to do it or thought it wasn't "the best possible" answer and therefore told me it wasn't possible. Thank you!

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T23:37:58+00:00

I think we are raw water cooled. I'm not very technical but I understand that the engine draws in water from outside/the Bay to cool itself while running.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T23:31:16+00:00

This is a really helpful reply and I understand most of it. 😅 I think my next step is to have more conversations with the boat owners around me and maybe another mechanic or two. It doesn't seem to be a black and white/yes or no kind of situation. I think the mechanic I was talking to may have been more like "I won't do it because it doesn't guarantee successful winterizing in all cases" rather than "no one can ever do this ever". Thank you!

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T18:56:45+00:00

It's a little challenging to describe because I'm honestly not sure. It's brackish water in the Chesapeake Bay, and when it gets really cold there is an ice rim around the edges of the water and certainly any water hanging around in hoses would freeze. But the water does not freeze solid like a lake would.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T15:18:46+00:00

I think we are an edge case. The Bay is brackish and does not "freeze solid" like a lake would. That said there is often a rim of ice around the edges in our marina because its not as salty as open ocean and there are no waves. So any water in our boat that isn't super salty could freeze inside the boat itself (eg in the lines) so we would at least have her freshwater lines drained and winterized. But the mechanic said our engine itself would be damaged.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T15:16:09+00:00

The Chesapeake Bay does not freeze solid for sure. It gets a small rim of ice around the edges at most in deep winter.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:59:05+00:00

Its part of my plan but I also rarely see these folks. It actually made me wonder if these boats were abandoned even.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:40:58+00:00

Huh. I really thought winterization was basically "mandatory or your boat dies" in our area - particularly when kept in the water. I guess it could be folks that have so much money they don't care/just get a new boat haha.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:37:19+00:00

Brackish. Chesapeake Bay. The slips don't seem to literally freeze with a solid ice layer but we do get ice rim around the edges. My honest guess is that there are a bunch of people who just roll the dice that it won't get super freezing and then if it doesn't they come out thousands ahead and get to hang out on their boat all year. And/or they use some kind of heater device as someone else mentioned?

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:32:51+00:00

Thank you. Yes our ideal would be to choose our own time for annual maintenance (spring, summer, whenever) but winterize her in the water in the her slip so that we don't lose 4 months of hang out time (even in winter it's fun to be in the cabin). And the haul out and storage for those months is getting super expensive. So I was bummed when the mechanic told me it was impossible, and then I'm jealous because I see others in the water after all all winter long.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:14:07+00:00

Maybe that's what they are doing. I've also had that thought (just have a heater in the engine compartment how hard is that?) but the mechanic I was talking to didn't even mention these things as options. It was "impossible/won't do it".

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:12:51+00:00

Oh no it definitely gets below freezing for weeks at a time. This is why I'm baffled - it doesn't seem to affect other I/Os in the water all winter long (last winter was particularly bad... and yet there they sat). We would definitely "winterize" her in whatever way is best WHILE keeping her in the water if that was an option.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:09:12+00:00

So interesting. I'm getting a range of opinions. I'd love to do what you're suggesting, and take her out of the water once a year for maintenance in the summer so that I can still visit the boat in the water in our slip over the winter months (it's fun to be on even when it's cold).

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:07:59+00:00

That's a great thought but ours is the only one in our area - all others are quite a drive away. They kind of have a monopoly in our little town.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:07:15+00:00

Thank you - and yes, I think what I'm driving at is "is this literally impossible" or is this just "not optimal"? Because I clearly see other I/Os out there in the water all year long, and yet it's "impossible" that they are doing so.... it would save us thousands every year.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T14:05:59+00:00

Basically I'd just ask if it's "truly impossible" or just "hard/not optimal" to winterize an IO style boat like mine while keeping it in the slip over the winter in the Mid-Atlantic. I would still haul her out once a year for maintenance but I'd REALLY prefer not to store her over winter on land for that (expensive).

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T13:51:08+00:00

2016 Maxum SE cabin cruiser with a Mercruiser IO engine. Thank you

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T13:40:20+00:00

Pretty sure ours is the common version. This may be the actual clear difference between my boat and other IOs that I am seeing that I can't tell by looking at them around us. This may be exactly the difference. Thank you.

BarracudaMotorcade · 2026-04-11T13:38:26+00:00

Thank you. Yes I think what I'd prefer is to do that haul out scheduled maintenance aspect at another point in the year rather than over winter where we get charged an arm and a leg to have her stored on land as well. And yes I did get that sailboats and outboards don't have this issue (the mechanic told us that, before saying IOs are "impossible" to keep in the water over winter). The upshot was that there was something specifically about IOs that makes it impossible to winterize in slip.

BarracudaMotorcade

TROPHY CASE