diff --git a/p2p/src/conn.rs b/p2p/src/conn.rs
index 1402d1640..d3dabbd1f 100644
--- a/p2p/src/conn.rs
+++ b/p2p/src/conn.rs
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ use std::{
 	thread::{self, JoinHandle},
 };
 
-const IO_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(10000);
+const HEADER_IO_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(2000);
+const CHANNEL_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(1000);
+const BODY_IO_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(60000);
 
 /// A trait to be implemented in order to receive messages from the
 /// connection. Allows providing an optional response.
@@ -46,8 +48,7 @@ pub trait MessageHandler: Send + 'static {
 	fn consume<'a>(&self, msg: Message<'a>, tracker: Arc<Tracker>) -> Result<Option<Msg>, Error>;
 }
 
-// Macro to simplify the boilerplate around async I/O error handling,
-// especially with WouldBlock kind of errors.
+// Macro to simplify the boilerplate around I/O and Grin error handling
 macro_rules! try_break {
 	($inner:expr) => {
 		match $inner {
@@ -70,6 +71,15 @@ macro_rules! try_break {
 	};
 }
 
+macro_rules! try_header {
+	($res:expr, $conn: expr) => {{
+		$conn
+			.set_read_timeout(Some(HEADER_IO_TIMEOUT))
+			.expect("set timeout");
+		try_break!($res)
+		}};
+}
+
 /// A message as received by the connection. Provides access to the message
 /// header lazily consumes the message body, handling its deserialization.
 pub struct Message<'a> {
@@ -217,13 +227,6 @@ where
 {
 	let (send_tx, send_rx) = mpsc::sync_channel(SEND_CHANNEL_CAP);
 
-	stream
-		.set_read_timeout(Some(IO_TIMEOUT))
-		.expect("can't set read timeout");
-	stream
-		.set_write_timeout(Some(IO_TIMEOUT))
-		.expect("can't set read timeout");
-
 	let stopped = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false));
 
 	let conn_handle = ConnHandle {
@@ -275,8 +278,11 @@ where
 		.spawn(move || {
 			loop {
 				// check the read end
-				match try_break!(read_header(&mut reader, version)) {
+				match try_header!(read_header(&mut reader, version), &mut reader) {
 					Some(MsgHeaderWrapper::Known(header)) => {
+						reader
+							.set_read_timeout(Some(BODY_IO_TIMEOUT))
+							.expect("set timeout");
 						let msg = Message::from_header(header, &mut reader, version);
 
 						trace!(
@@ -326,8 +332,11 @@ where
 		.name("peer_write".to_string())
 		.spawn(move || {
 			let mut retry_send = Err(());
+			writer
+				.set_write_timeout(Some(BODY_IO_TIMEOUT))
+				.expect("set timeout");
 			loop {
-				let maybe_data = retry_send.or_else(|_| send_rx.recv_timeout(IO_TIMEOUT));
+				let maybe_data = retry_send.or_else(|_| send_rx.recv_timeout(CHANNEL_TIMEOUT));
 				retry_send = Err(());
 				if let Ok(data) = maybe_data {
 					let written =