Chief's Winterization List - 2017

[jumpjet231]

I winterized my freshwater system yesterday by draining and bypassing the hot water heater as someone mentioned. However, I have a heat exchanger that runs thru the engine on my hot water heater. Do the hot water heater heat exchanger lines drain completely when you drain the hot water heater? I got almost six gallons out of the hot water heater after I had run it "dry" via the faucets.

[RicM]

Jumpjet:

The fluid in the heat exchanger is your engine coolant, which should be 50-50 Dex (orange not green) antifreeze. It should be fine down to about -50 F.

[thirdrail]

This is the first time I am winterizing a diesel. I know with all the gas engines I had in the past I would coat the internal parts of the engine with marvel mystery oil by feeding it into the carb. Is there anything similiar done with a diesel?

[jcollins]

This is the first time I am winterizing a diesel. I know with all the gas engines I had in the past I would coat the internal parts of the engine with marvel mystery oil by feeding it into the carb. Is there anything similiar done with a diesel?

Ahhh yes. Fogging the gas engines. I remember that ritual.

I used to put MMO in my fuel tank until our resident diesel expert, Butch, convinced me it really didn't help. Personally I run the "pink stuff" through the engine and that's it. Read through this thread and see what others do. There really isn't much to do when you have a diesel.

[RicM]

I think you run pink stuff through the heat exchanger (rawwater) system, not actually through the "engine" right? There are still raw water cooled gas engines out there, you don't want to confuse someone just joining us from the world of gasoline (which would have been me 4 years ago!)!

[RobS]

(I have not read through this thread verbatim so this may have been mentioned) Before pouring the pink stuff into the strainer I remove the screen element, use a wet vac and suck the housing dry and remove any sand etc that may be sitting on the bottom. With the seacock shut I fill the housing with pink. Them I have a helper fire the engine while I pour a 5 gallon bucket of the pink into the strainer. Since I first suck the housing dry and vacuum it out I can then pour the bucket of pink stuff in with the screen removed - that handle just get's in the way. This also assures getting straight pink into the engine. Very sad doing this today

[KathyN]

Our 31 TE was hauled last week, and we are just now able to get over to winterize the engines this Thursday (we did the fresh water system and generator before it was hauled)--just in time to hopefully beat the cold.

Here's my question; what if the engines don't start? We bought our boat in Florida this summer and one simply turns the key on and it starts (i.e., no glow plugs, or pre-heaters). With the colder weather in Maryland now, we don't know how easy it will be to start the engines. They started last week for the haul-out, though apparently not as promptly as we're used to. Can they just be "turned over" with the starter? Will that be "enough" to get the pink stuff through the system, or must they be run? (I hope this doesn't fall into the category of "stupid" question!)

KathyN

[RobS]

Your engine should start, it ain't that cold. May take an extra second to fire but she should start. If not, you'd have to do a Rydlyme type flush setup. Except you would not recirculate through the system, you'd want the pink to run out the exhaust. You'd remove the hose from the exit side of the cooling water pump and connect to that with a hose coming from a pump that is pumping in the pink stuff - such as a bucket of pink stuff with a submersible pump in it. Sounds more confusing than it is. See viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2054&start=0&hilit=rydlyme
Then you'd have to drain the strainer housing too and any houses before the cooling water pump that may not self drain .

[KathyN]

Thanks, Rob..........we'll keep our fingers crossed that we can do it "the easy way"!!

KathyN

[jack Stone]

Might be late for our northern friends but I just did my 28 Flush deck yesterday (North Carolina). For some strange reason I get water in my 4D battery box. It is full to up to about 3 inches from the top around the battery. This happens every year and I can't get why but you may want to check yours to see if you have water there as well, to keep from freezing. Also check your hand bilge pump. I get more water out of that then the other 3. I hand pump ever once in a while to keep it moving.

[joe.baar]

Last year I put a small ceramic heater in the saloon. Inside temp remained a cozy 46 degrees F while outside nighttime temp was down to 21 for about two weeks. This winter I will put a 100 watt bulb low in the engine compartment as well. Global Warming in the Pacific Northwest.

[whwells]

John & Others: This is really excellent. For one thing I have used the green stuff for the engines forever.
Looks like pink is good, cheaper, and actually works for even colder weather than green. Besdies it is the right thing to use for the water. Thanks for the posting - and yes this will probably be active forever.
whwells "Howard"
35 TE Sportfisher/Conv.
"Nibbles"

[RobS]

John & Others: This is really excellent. For one thing I have used the green stuff for the engines forever.
Looks like pink is good, cheaper, and actually works for even colder weather than green. Besdies it is the right thing to use for the water. Thanks for the posting - and yes this will probably be active forever.
whwells "Howard"
35 TE Sportfisher/Conv.
"Nibbles"

Howard,

Careful here.

Pink is Anti-Freeze - Not Coolant
Use for Winterization of Domestic Water, Raw Water Systems, Raw Water Side of Engine, Sump Pumps, etc.

Green is Anti-Freeze/Coolant
Orange is the Extended Life Anti-Freeze/Coolant
Use on Fresh Water Side of Engine Year Round

Green Anti-Freeze Coolant contains silicates, phosphates and / or borates as corrosion inhibitors to keep the solution alkaline.

Orange Anti-Freeze Coolant contains a different type of corrosion inhibitor that has a much longer service life than silicates, phosphates and borates. Orange antifreeze contains organic acids that protect engine parts from corrosion.

Yanmars require the Orange Anti-Freeze Coolant. ASTM D3306 D4985

[NantucketTexas]

I've got a 25 Albin from 1977. I'm hoping to learn all I can from you guys here. Any thoughts on winterizing in Austin, Texas? Some boats were damaged last year in my marina, but they were all on hydrolifts. Mine is not lifted out of the water. We normally don't get such harsh winters, but we do get snaps and last year it SNAPPED. I would like to use mine year round and not shut it down completely, if at all possible. I will shut it down though if I must to care for it properly. I plan on being in this boat when I'm 95 years old, so if you can, give me some fresh water, central Texas thoughts on a vintage Albin trawler, I'd appreciate it all. I've drained the fresh water holding tank. There's an AC with the Fridge unit--- It's diesel 25hp Westerbeke. The head is not being used right now, not because it's broken. You see, it came from salt water. I moved it to a "clean lake" so, I can't use the salt water waste treatment system... in the lake I'm in. So, ALSO, any thoughts on retrofitting a tank in a Albin 25 DeLuxe model, I would certainly appreciate ideas on that... or if you can direct me to a great existing thread. I have to make that work for next spring, so I need to add a holding tank for pump out. Any ideas on where and what's needed to make it work with an existing head and chemical break down and release into salt water method. It was working fine -- but again, I gotta change it to a fresh water config. Thank you in advance for any ideas for this model.. and if you are in Texas warmer climates with freak-cold snaps... talk to me! I would love to hear what you do to prepare... or get through winter.

[Maine Sail]

A few thoughts.......

#1I would not suggest trying to dilute the 6-10 gallons of water in your water heater with PG antifreeze. I see far too many split water heaters as a result of that practice. Last spring alone I had two that froze and split (all had been winterized by "dilution" by their owners) and we had a warm winter. Owners had never heard of bypassing the water heater.. This is what a split water heater looks like when you take the jacket off..


Simply drain the water heater then bypass the water heater by removing the domestic cold inlet and hot return and connecting them together. Easier yet install a permanently mounted bypass and water heater drain valve..

This is a very simplistic way to bypass but there are a number of ways to do it..


#2 The last place you want to skimp on PG is in your engines RW circuit. A sight refractometer can be used to determine how much you need to suck in so that what comes out the wet exhaust is the same concentration it went in as. Test it at the back end until it matches straight from the jug. Next season you'll know exactly how much it takes to protect the RW circuit.

This was what came out of a tiny 25HP diesel after the owner sucked in two gallons of -50... He froze and split his heat exchanger even after sucking two gallons into a teeny tiny 25HP diesel.. Keep in mind there is already water in the system and it does not displace at a 1:1 ratio, it mixes. A sight refractometer is your friend and far less costly than a heat exchanger.. What comes out the back needs to match what it went in as. PG should not be diluted any further than what it already is, unless you buy the concentrate which is designed to be diluted.


This is how diluted it was (remember this was two gallons of -50 in a teeny tiny 25HP diesel):



#3 I do not pour AF into my customers water tanks, If a boat yard or service tech did that to me I would be really teed off. Unless there is absolutely no other option, I drain the water tanks and suck AF only into the domestic plumbing lines. This makes purging the AF in the spring much easier and does not leave any residual taste in the tanks.

Other things, but not a complete list:

Change oil & filter
Fuel filters primary and secondary
Close fuel tank valve
Remove Impeller
Change fuel fill o-rings
Change zincs
Check fresh water side of the engine for freeze protection (I catch a few leaking HX's every now and then)
Winterize AC system
Cycle all seacocks to be sure they are drained (if in water drain plugs are opened and allowed to drain then re-installed)
Winterize anchor washdown system


Things I see frozen and split most often:

Water heaters
Cockpit showers / anchor washdowns (these always seen to be forgotten)
Bait well pumps (especially those with check valves)
Seacocks that never got cycled/drained on the hard
Engine heat exchangers (not enough AF sucked in)
Bilge pumps (water left in bilges)
Plumbing fittings on boats that try and "blow out" the lines but do not get it all