Winterizing

[Ken Juul]

I just take my compressor up to the boat.  Disconnect the water pump input line and let it drain into the bilge.  Purge each tank and line till the water is gone.  Then take the output line off the pump and purge all the water lines feeding faucets and hot water tank,  don't forget the cockpit shower if you have one.  Same with the Airconditioning, take the line off the strainer, blow till it's dry, drain the stainer (s).  I leave the boat in the water, I always pour some pink down the sinks and AC thru hull and blow some through the thru hull before closing. Did the same head sink mod as Chuck, for winterizing the head.  I know I don't get 100% of the water out, but what is left is so small it can't cause any damage.

[Roland Gendreau]

I do the same as Ken - I use my small air compressor to blow the air out of the water system,  after I let the pump empty out each tank.

I remove the 2 hoses from the water heater - open up the drain valve and let it drain into the bilge. Then I blow compressed air into the cold water inlet line and open up each faucet one at a time (galley, head and cockpit shower) to blow out water to each.  The I blow air into the hot water outlet hose and do the same at each faucet.   I blow some air into the hot water tank but just draining it out is sufficient. I don't put any antifreeze into the water tanks at all. 

I use the pink antifreeze only for the raw water intake to the engine. With this procedure, I have reduced my anti freeze use from 4-5 gallons to about 1.5 gallons.  And it's a lot easier to commission the water system in the spring.

[Jim Hardesty]

Our winters on Lake Erie can be pretty serious.  So I don't go short.  I pump the pink stuff through the drinking water system, then with a schrader valve (like an auto tire) in line after the water pump hooked to a small compressor I drain the lines (helps out in the spring), draw pink stuff through the head from the intake, not just in the bowl.  Then I pump the green (blue) stuff through the engine intake and the AC water pump. 
Read the fine print on the pink stuff.  The -50 is bursting of copper pipe.  Not freezing.  I was told the green prevented corrosion.
Jim