Winterizing

[Elizabeth Ann]

Hi all,

Back in NY for an extendend Holiday visit and plan on doing some winterizing while I am here.

So this is the first time that I am winterizing an inboard myself. Do any of you longtimers have any advice? I'm more concerened about the engine....what's the deal with the fresh water cooled system? Someone told me (I think) that I have to drain and then add antifreeze to the heat exchanger.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! John...I like the hoilday graphic.

[chiefrcd]

All your water systems need to be winterized and your batteries need to be protected. The first thing I do each year I make a list of the items that I need to address:

1. Engine coolant ( Fresh water side, just like a car )
2. Sea water system including all the coolers/heat exchangers
3. Fresh water system (potable) . Including hot water tank
4. Waste water system (black water) including holding tank
5. Gray water system (bilge, drains etc.)
6. AC/Heat system ( in my case a heat/pump)
7. Salt water wash and live well pump.

I purchase 16 gallons of pink antifreeze ( RV/Camper/Boat non-toxic).
I pump all the water out of my fresh water (potable) that I can and I pour 10 gallons of antifreeze into the freshwater tank. I then open each faucet on my boat, including the stern shower, freshwater wash, inside shower, head sink and galley sink. I run these until I get a solid pink stream. Don't forget that you have to actually pump all the fresh water out of your hot water tank unless you drain it first.

I then hook up a 5/8" hose from a 5 gallon container filled with antifreeze and I purge my entire AC system with antifreeze until pink runs out of the thru hull.

I then pump out my head at the marina pump out station and then I disconnect my intake line into my head and connect the antifreeze hose to that and flush the head with antifreeze, this also allows some antifreeze to go into the holding tank. I then run the overboard macerator pump for about three seconds to get antifreeze into that line too.

I pour a little antifreeze into each scupper hole and about two quarts into the bilge.

On the saltwater wash and live bait well, I make sure the sea cocks are closed and I disconnect those lines and drain them and leave them disconnected and draining downward until spring.l

Now I'm ready to fish until it gets really cold....

The last thing I do is winterize the engine. First you need to check the antifreeze properties in your freshwater cooling system. Just like a car you need to use a antifreeze tester unless you KNOW for sure what your ratio of water to antifreeze is. I keep mine the same all year. So now all I have to do is winterize the engine. I do this by makeing sure my keystone valve is closed ( sea water intake)...then I open my strainer and get all my remaining antifreeze ready. I have someone start the engine and start pouring anti-freeze into the seacock until pink comes out of the exhaust discharge.....and that's it. If for some reason I run the boat again, all I have to do is winterize the engine again.

I will add that here in VA our winters are relatively mild compared to our northern brothers, you might want to talk to some folks in the colder states who have winterized their boats to see if there is some other things you should do. You might for example,need to do something to protect your hull if you leave your boat in the water all winter ( bubbler etc.)

[tomcat rio]

..you might want to pour a little anti freeze into the bilge.

[Elizabeth Ann]

Thanks Guys.

I'll use this as a starting list. Some things won't apply like putting antifreeze in the scuppers since the boat will be on the hard and shrink wrapped.

[DougSea]

Thanks Guys.

I'll use this as a starting list. Some things won't apply like putting antifreeze in the scuppers since the boat will be on the hard and shrink wrapped.

I'd still consider putting some anti-freeze anywhere water might collect. Things do go wrong and water can get under your shrink wrap. A few dollars worth of anti-freeze can avoid all sorts of problems!

[DougSea]

Forgot to say thanks to Chief for a well thought out list. I'm about 3/4s done with my winterizing and will use your list to validate I've got it all done.

[TonyAmalfitano]

I FORGOT TO DO THE A/C UNIT! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

[johnmurray]

I thought that Chief's winterizing list was a good one and I follow all of the points he raised.
A few additional points however from a place where it really gets cold in the winter.
Don't forget your bilge pumps. I have three of them. For each one I unhook it from it mounting, immerse it in a pan of anti-freeze, and run the pump motor until antfreeze is coming out of the thru-hull. (I also have a manual bilge pump, but I do not worry about that because it has never been used.)
I run anti-freeze through the salt water washdown, the cockpit macerator pump and the shower sump pump as well. For the salt water washdown I disconnect the intake hose at the thru-hull, push the end of the hose into a jug of anti-freeze, and run the pump until antifreeze comes out the washdown outlet. For the macerator pump I dump antifreeze into the drain and run the macerator pump. For the shower sump I dump anti-reeze into the shower drain and run the sump pump
For winterizing my engine I use a "thoroflush" valve. It is a brass fitting that temporarily screws into the top of the raw water strainer in the place of the strainer lid. (There are several different sizes to fit various sizes of strainers.) I have about five feet of garden hose connected to the intake on the thoroflush valve. I then start the engine and run jug after jug of anti-freeze through the engine until I am certain that it is only pure anti-freeze coming out of the exhaust. For the Yanmar 315 engine that was six gallons, and then I ran another two gallons through just to be sure. Of course you will want to check your engine re-circulating coolant as well, but in this area we always use anti-freeze all year around.
All of the above winterizing steps used four cases (16 gallons) of non-toxic anti-freeze good to -50C.
While there is some debate about this, I am part of the 50% of our club members that leave our batteries in the boat over the winter. (This partly making a virtue out of necessity because I have two 4Ds and I cannot lift them.) I make sure they are fully charged at haul-out and I plug in power and top up the charge evey six weeks or so over the winter.
I also winterize the outboard motor for my dinghy.
Finally I make sure I remove everything from the boat that might be adversely affected by extreme cold weather. This list includes everything with a small battery in it, and all foodstuffs, cleaning supplies and solvents, medicine cabinet, etc.
Most of the members of our yacht club cover their boats with tarps for the winter to protect against snow and ice damage. Shrink wrapping is not popular because it is not considered strong enough and would require re-inforcement with tarps anyway. I think ventilation is important and I make sure there is lots of room for air circulation under the tarps.

[Mariner]

Winterizing? What's that?

Have fun locked up indoors guys! I've already got my reservations at Bell Harbor in Seattle for New Years Eve! Y'all should really consider moving somewhere that's more conducive to boating year-round.

[DougSea]

The shower sump! I'd forgotten that one. The bilge pumps and other raw water systems are things I'd always taken care of but I haven't had an on-board shower before. I don't actually use it but I know there's some water in it. Thanks John.

Mariner - I hate you!





Ok, not really. And I kind of enjoy the 'Off season' and the chance it brings to concentrate on non-boating related stuff without thinking "Darn! I could be on the boat!" Still sounds awfully nice to spend New Years on the water!

[Mariner]

Well, as I've mentioned before, it's not so much because of the fact that we boat year round as it is the fact that you simply can leave the boat in the water all year. Even if you don't use it, winterizing is still not usually necessary. It does get below freezing above water here. In fact it will get well below freezing. But the salt water is surprisingly effective at keeping everything warm enough. Rarely does the surface temp of the sound drop below 45 degrees. And since we do use the boat year round, and want to keep it ready to go at all times, rather than go to the trouble of winterizing, we just keep the heater set at about 40 or 50 degrees all winter, thus preventing freezing.

As for New Years, I'm definitely looking forward to it. We'll spend very little time actually on the water. The appeal really is mostly just that you essentially have a waterfront condo right in downtown for just $70 a night. It makes hitting the nightlife and watching the fireworks show pretty easy. We're also catching a basketball game on the 30th.

[Tuxedo]

Winterizing check list -

Grouper - check
Snapper - check
Black Sea Bass - check
Tuna - check (with luck)
Picnics in the harbor - check

[Elizabeth Ann]

Happy Thanksgiving Folks!

So I have another question. I know I have to bring anti-freeze through the sea-water side of the cooling system. However, someone told me I can leave the freshwater side as is so long as there is antifreeze-water mix in the 'radiator'.

Testing the radiator with a meter it tells me I am good till 40 degrees below zero. Is this proper procedure or should I completely drain the freshwater side and fill that pure antifreeze.

Tuxedo

I like your winterizing check list. My Florida Keys winter check list includes sailfish and swords.

[chiefrcd]

I just test mine and I like it about 40 to 50 below freezing.

[johnmurray]

Advice from the frozen north is that you should never put "pure" anti-freeze in the re-circulating side of your engine's cooling system.
While different anti-freeze products vary somewhat, in the general case a 50-50 mix of anti-freeze and water will provide protection down to about -40C. Going to a mix of 60% antifreeze and 40% water (that is what I use) increases the protection down to about -50C. If you increase the percentage of anti-freeze much above that the protections starts to degrade and you end up with less protection rather than more. On the label of an anti-freeze product that I use the manufacturer warns to NEVER use more than 70% anti-freeze.