Winterizing

[mark_53]

This will be my first year pulling the boat out for the winter since I'm expecting to be gone. Never had to winterize before since I kept the boat in the water with no problem. I'm sure many of you lake sailors do this every year so can you share your process and what to be aware of?  I'm planning on emptying my water and waste tanks and adding several gallons of non toxic antifreeze to each. Also want to put AF in the water heater lines but not sure how. Maybe disconnect at the pump and pour in?  I'll run AF through the sea water side of the HX by disconnecting the raw water intake and sticking the hose into a bucket of AF. Also will pour AF into bilge and disconnect bilge pump so when rain water comes in through the mast head it won't pump out the AF. I'm thinking there won't be enough to rain water to over fill the bilge. Maybe also pour a little AF in each drain and head. Am I missing anything?

[patrice]

Hi,

You covered pretty everything.
I also do an oil change.
And if you want, remove the impeler in the raw water pump.  Loosen the belt.

[Ed Shankle]

Mark,
Regarding the hot water tank, not sure if you implied draining the hot water tank, but if not, disconnect the in/out fresh water lines, allow it to drain, then blow it out to get the remaining, which will be quite a bit. Shop vac works well. Next by pass the tank by connecting the two hoses. Then you can add the AF to the water tank and run thru the hoses by turning on the faucets and water pressure switch. I also blow into the tanks with the vac to insure the AF has reached thru all hoses. It doesn't leave them fully loaded, but I assume insures any low sections have a good concentration. You can add some AF or vodka to the tank with a small funnel. Doing the water tanks blow out and vodka in the hot water tank helps me to minimize the amount of rinsing in the spring to get the AF out.
Regards,
Ed

[KWKloeber]

Use full strength (-100 AF).  See mainesail article on winterizing.
You can install a manifold and valves for a permanent bypass set up on the WH tank, or I have male/female garden hose connections on mine. I can just unscrew them from the WH tank and screw the two hose ends together, but like you, I haven't needed to in NC.

If you want to check concentrations, capture pink stuff that discharges (water lines, exhaust, etc) and check it with an AF tester.  You need a propyl-glycol tester not a ethyl-glycol tester -- Thexton makes one -  Autozone online, Amazon, etc 
THX100 or THX107.

Cheap insurance to get a new sea water impeller and you probably want a cover gasket (202M pump) or o-ring (N202M pump.)  Throw away the cir-clip that's on the pump shaft and don't reinstall it.

-kk

[patrice]

Hi,

Since we don't use much of the HWT.
I bypassed it.  Both side of the water lines are from the pump.
So putting lot of AF in the tank and run cold and hot water at both faucet until AF comes out.

I also remove the transparent cup at the pressure pump for the winter.  Caution not to drop the small ring gasket.
And leave the faucet open.

The idea is to prevent any closed area where pressure could built up.

I also cover the cockpit with a tarp.
I put a 2x4 across from the cabin top to the piedestal to create a tent.  To prevent accumulation of snow in the cockpit.

Pull away from the mast all line that could be hitting the mast all winter long.

[chuck53]

Here's something I did a few years ago that has been a big help.
Under the sink in the head are 3 thru hulls.  One for the engine, one for the sink drain and one for the shower pump out.
The water supply for the head is shared with the shower thru hull.
A couple of years ago, I switched the sink drain and the shower drain so now the head shares the same thru hull as the sink.
Anytime I want to do a fresh water flush (closing up the boat on Sunday, etc), all I have to do is turn on the water in the sink and I get a fresh water flush.
When I go to winterize the boat, I close the sink thru hull and pour AF in the sink and start pumping the head.  Now I have AF in the head, the holding tank and the water feed line as well.

[Ralph Masters]

Here in San Diego we have to sail all winter. What a pain that is. 

[patrice]

Here in San Diego we have to sail all winter. What a pain that is. 

Ouucchhhhh !!!!

[Jon W]

For us warm weather folks, if you drain the water from the system why do you have to refill the system with antifreeze?

[mark_53]

For us warm weather folks, if you drain the water from the system why do you have to refill the system with antifreeze?

My guess is it's easier to fill with AF than to make sure every low spot is actually drained.

[Jim Hardesty]

Mark,
When you drain your water heater don't pop the relief valve to drain it faster.  They have a habit of not seating again.
Jim

[tommyt]

Man, after reading all of these, we must be in for a bad year somewhere in the future.
We drain the water tanks from under the sink where they connect to the water pump. The forward tank has very little water that does not drain as the lip is raised. That is sucked off by a vacuum. Even if it were not drained off it is not going to rupture the tank as it would be a skim in a 25 gallon tank. As we leave the inspection cover off it would probably dry before freeze anyway.
Disconnect the lines to the HW heater and connect them in line. Drain the HWH, and yes we do open the pressure to help. Has fortunately reseated every year since 2004.
Clean the strainer before the pump and reconnect. Let the pump pull RV water system anti freeze through the entire pressurized system by running all faucets both hot and cold. Never forget the cockpit shower! When everything runs the color of anti freeze it is done.We leave the lines full. Leave the tank connections disconnected until spring.
After pump out the head is winterized and we add a little extra anti freeze to the holding tank for anything that did not get completely out. Draw anti freeze through the shower sump and the fridge drain. This gets any low spots in those lines and also winterizes that pump.
Now, it only gets to -20F here a couple of times a year. But below 0 often. The gentleman that taught me how to do the system did an average of 25 boats a year and swore by it. Since he would have had to service it if there was a problem he wanted to make sure he was not doing any free work. 12 years later and I think he knew what he was talking about.

[Noah]

I "feel" for you folks every winter... Really.

[Fred Koehlmann]

The Admiral is very sensitive when it comes to the taste of her water, so I haven't been dropping anti-freeze down into the water tanks the last few years. Don't have the money to use Vodka either. After draining them and their lines, I take a shop-vac and suck as much as I can out of the lines. The little in the tank will freeze, but have plenty of space to expand. In the spring I flush a peroxide type bleach and water through them and then fully wash and drain them before putting our drinking water back into them.

The other water lines I do pump anti freeze through, but more so that I get it through the pump motors. Water pressure pump, shower/fridge drain pump and bilge pumps (manual and electric). If you have a deck wash-down pump, you should put it through that as well. The hot water tank I drain completely, and vacuum out as much as I can. Once no more water comes out, I vacuum anti-freeze through it until it doesn't look diluted. This needs plenty of washing out in the spring (for us).

When doing the head, don't just pump it from the head into the holding tank. Remember that you are also sucking water in with your head pump and unless you are out of the water, your pumping water into it, as you pump AF into the holding-tank. If you have a strainer (like you have for the water inlet for your engine), then you can put the AF in there, but otherwise wait until you're out of the water so you're only sucking air in. Or just shut off the through-hull to the head. Of course make sure you had your final pump out before getting hauled out.

In my case the yard does the engine, since they often take the boats out during the week, and I can only make it up to the boat on the weekends. We'll usually spend a weekend clearing the boat of item and putting the winter cover over it. We ensure that the batteries are max'd charged, the bilge dried out, cupboards and storage ares are open and getting air, and all electrics turned off or disconnected. We also move the cushions so that they air to prevent moisture and mold build up. With the winter cover over it we are able to vent all deck hatches to allow fresh air in and not the snow and ice. Before putting the winter cover on. we need to remove the bimini and dodger. The stainless gets stored in the boat and the canvas under our bed at home. The sails are taken done and rolled/folded and bagged and stored on aboard.

We try to at least once in the winter to get up to the boat to check on it and charge/top up the batteries.

With respect to the diesel, we do put biocide in and fill the tank just before haul out. We also have the oil and oil filters changed. My understanding is that the old oil can be rough on the engine and its just better to have clean oil in when its sitting still for a long time. Every second spring we change the fuel filters.

Hmmm, maybe we should retire in the BVI's.

[tonywright]

If you have air conditioning, you will need to suck antifreeze through the pump and lines as well.

Once out of the water, open every thru hull briefly to drain any water caught inside the ball valve, then close it again.

I avoid any antifreeze in the hot water heater by draining it, then blowing air through it using the dinghy pump, until no more water bubbles out. One year I used antifreeze in it. As Fred says, it then needs lots of flushing in the spring if you do this.  Over several weeks in my case! Never again.