Some Winter Storage Questions

[Paul Bruner]

Fred,

Leave the instruments up if you're not inclined to go up the mast.  I purchased my boat from the Lake Saint Claire, Michigan, area.  The boat had been on the hard, mast up, instruments attached, for 3 and half years, winter, spring, summer, and fall!  That windex and aerometer just spun away the whole time.  When we put the boat in this July for sea trail everything went right back to work.  The whole rig came down for transport to Florida, surveyor inspected the mast, rigging, and fittings.  They all passed with flying colors.

Leave it up, sleep well at night my friend.

Paulo

[Les Luzar]

Definitely change your oil at haul out to eliminate as much of the contaminated oil as possible because that does wear your engine faster.

[dodgercc27]

Since we are talking about winterizing.  What about the plumbing. Typically I drain the water tanks and replace it with antifreeze and run the taps until the anti freeze flows through all the lines.  But, it takes a while in the spring to flush out the antifreeze. 

So this year I was thinking about blowing out the lines but i wasn't sure where in the system I need to hook up the air hose to.

Any suggestions?

[andre]

Some guys say me that's better to change oil 2 times. In fall just change oil and in spring change oil and filter because the cold winter can cause some condensation in the oil. What do you thinking about that. Thank you and excuse my English is not very good.

[Ken Juul]

I blow out my lines.  Disconnect the input line to the pump, close the forward tank valve, stick the air chuck in the aft tank fill with a rag to seal it, put a piece of tape over the vent, letting the water drain into the bilge.  Once the aft tank is empty, close the aft tank water manifold valve and repeat with the forward tank.  Once the tanks are empty, insert the air chuck into the water pump output line and run the sinks/aft shower until they are dry.  Helps to drain the hot water tank first. 

Also use the air to blow out the water lines for the air conditioner.  Whole lot easier than trying to fill with antifreeze.

[Ralph Masters]

Dodger,
You are not putting anti freeze in the potable water storage tanks on your boat are you??  Do you know how poinous that stuff is.  You could never flush those tanks good enough to ever use the water in them for any thing that you touch after that.

Ralph

[Ted Pounds]

Ralph, I'm pretty sure he's using the non-toxic anti-freeze (propelyne glycol).  It's the pink stuff; specifically made for winterizing potable water systems.  While it is non-toxic you still want to flush as much out as you can and that's a bit of a pain.

[dodgercc27]

That's correct, it's the plumbing antifreeze not your engine antifreeze.

Thanks for the instruction on blowing the lines.  Maybe Ralph was right...there is something to be said about being moored in the south, the only winterizing you lucky devils have to do is winterize your drinks with ice.

[Ron Hill]

Guys : Ethylene glycol is what you use in the radiator of you auto radiator (Prestone etc. usually light green in color and poisonous).

Propylene glycol (pink in color and non poisonous) is used for water systems.  Also propylene glycol for "engines" is a darker green!
Read the bottle!!!!

A few thoughts

[Michael Shaner]

My story is similar to Ken's...just at the opposite end of all the plumbing with a shop vac. Save $$'s on antifreeze and there is nothing to flush out come spring. Definitely drain the hot water tank first or the project will take 6 gallons longer!