winterization

[Saltdog]

What is involved in winterizing my Albin TE with Yanmar 300? This is my first winter.

Is their any resorce that will tell me what is necessary.

What should I do with the holding, fresh water, and water heater tanks?

How do I get antifreeze into the raw water part of the cooling system?

Without heat I would expect everything to mildew, should I leave a small heater on in the cabin all of the time? What kind?

Fan or light or something in the bilge/engine box?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

TS

[Mariner]

Hopefully someone who winterizes their boat will chime in. Up here we use our boat year-round, so we don't winterize.

[chiefrcd]

This will get you started.

viewtopic.php?t=445&highlight=winterize

[JackK]

I'll give it a try ...

Freshwater System -
(a) Drain the hot water heater tank and storage tank. I have valves to drain the tank on the hot water heater. I just turn on the freshwater washdown spigot to pump all the water out of the storage tank.
(b) Bypass the hot water tank. I have a short length of hose that I use to connect the input and output lines. If you don't bypass, it takes over 5 gallons of antifreeze to fill the hot water tank.
(c) disconnect the feed line from the water storage tank. I then place the end of the hose in a bucket filled with anti-freeze (non-toxic). Turn on the water pump breaker.
(d) Turn on 1 faucet at a time and pump until you see the orange anti-freeze. Depending on the length of the run, it may take a few seconds for the anti-freeze to push all of the water out of the lines. I give it a second more once I see the orange color to insure that it is not diluted too much with fresh water.
(e) Repeat for every fresh water connection, 2 at sink (hot & cold), 2 in the head sink, fresh water washdown, and transom shower.
(f) Re-connect the water storage tank and add at least 1 gallon to the storage tank by pouring into the fill cap.

Raw water side of the Engine -

(a) Close the raw water sea-cock. If doing on land, I place a large trash can under the exhaust outlet to collect water.
(b) Open the strainer cover (good time to clean it out as well).
(c) I open at least 6 gallons of anti-freeze and have them at the ready.
(d) Start the engine and immediately begin pouring anti-freeze into the open strainer cover to keep up with the engine's draw. DO NOT LET IT RUN DRY OR THE IMPELLER WILL BE DAMAGED RATHER QUICKLY.
(e) Keep pouring while someone watches the exhaust to see when it is running the orange color of the anti-freeze. Again, I run about a gallon more once I see the color in the exhaust. I figure too much is better than not enough.
(f) Shut down the engine immediately after you stop pouring in anti-freeze.
(g) Once the boat is on land, I open the raw water seacock to allow the remaining water left behind the strainer to drain out. I leave the seacock partially open for the winter just in case any water condenses in the piping between the strainer and the thru-hull.

Don't forget to winterize your shower sump by pouring a good amount of anti-freeze into the sump and letting the pump operate for a bit.

Hope this helps.

Jack

[Tuxedo]

I'll give it a try ...

Freshwater System -
(a) Drain the hot water heater tank and storage tank. I have valves to drain the tank on the hot water heater. I just turn on the freshwater washdown spigot to pump all the water out of the storage tank.
(b) Bypass the hot water tank. I have a short length of hose that I use to connect the input and output lines. If you don't bypass, it takes over 5 gallons of antifreeze to fill the hot water tank.
(c) disconnect the feed line from the water storage tank. I then place the end of the hose in a bucket filled with anti-freeze (non-toxic). Turn on the water pump breaker.
(d) Turn on 1 faucet at a time and pump until you see the orange anti-freeze. Depending on the length of the run, it may take a few seconds for the anti-freeze to push all of the water out of the lines. I give it a second more once I see the orange color to insure that it is not diluted too much with fresh water.
(e) Repeat for every fresh water connection, 2 at sink (hot & cold), 2 in the head sink, fresh water washdown, and transom shower.
(f) Re-connect the water storage tank and add at least 1 gallon to the storage tank by pouring into the fill cap.

Raw water side of the Engine -

(a) Close the raw water sea-cock. If doing on land, I place a large trash can under the exhaust outlet to collect water.
(b) Open the strainer cover (good time to clean it out as well).
(c) I open at least 6 gallons of anti-freeze and have them at the ready.
(d) Start the engine and immediately begin pouring anti-freeze into the open strainer cover to keep up with the engine's draw. DO NOT LET IT RUN DRY OR THE IMPELLER WILL BE DAMAGED RATHER QUICKLY.
(e) Keep pouring while someone watches the exhaust to see when it is running the orange color of the anti-freeze. Again, I run about a gallon more once I see the color in the exhaust. I figure too much is better than not enough.
(f) Shut down the engine immediately after you stop pouring in anti-freeze.
(g) Once the boat is on land, I open the raw water seacock to allow the remaining water left behind the strainer to drain out. I leave the seacock partially open for the winter just in case any water condenses in the piping between the strainer and the thru-hull.

Don't forget to winterize your shower sump by pouring a good amount of anti-freeze into the sump and letting the pump operate for a bit.

Hope this helps.

Jack

+1

Just to be clear, we're talking about the pink, potable antifreeze.

Be sure the water heater is drained. Just running it dry leaves 6 gallons of water in it.

Head / holding tank - pump and flush holding tank, then pour antifreeze in the head till it shows up in the holding tank. Gallon +/- ? Depending on how the head intake hose is run, you may need to take the hose off and pour antifreeze in there while pumping the head.

Dump some antifreeze in the bilge, since there's usually water left in there. And remove the keel bolt.

A/C and Genset also need the same treatment as the engine. Close seacock and pour antifreeze through till it comes out pink.

If all this seems like a lot of work, remember fall is a nice time for a cruise south, and spring is a good time for a cruise north.

[Saltdog]

Good information, and it sounds like a lot of work. I wish I could follow that idea of heading south in the winter and back north in the summer.

TS

[Saltdog]

Mariner, what do you do when you get a below freezing cold snap which can happen where you live?

Also anybody have any suggestions about how to use a small heater to keep ahead of mildew?

Thanks

TS

[DougSea]

...

Also anybody have any suggestions about how to use a small heater to keep ahead of mildew?

...

If you have a good cover and plenty of ventilation you shouldn't have a mildew problem. I put a couple of the "pellet" style moisture absorbers aboard last fall when I covered the boat and come Spring there was no sign of dampness in the cabin (or elsewhere).

Do make sure to pump out the forward bilge and the shower sump and you should be fine.

[jcollins]

Saltdog,
All good advice here. Just wanted to chime in about the engine winterization.
I received the price list from my marina for winter lay-up. The marina charges 140.00 (diesels extra) for winterization. What??!!
It really takes 5 minutes to winterize your engine and it is not difficult. The previous owner installed a hose connector to the top of the sea strainer. (Thoro-Flush I put the hose in a 5 gallon bucket of "pink stuff". Started the engine. Done! My wife said "Is that it"? Yup.
Consider covering you exhaust port with something. If you look through the pictures section you will see some bird nests.

[Pitou]

All good advice gents. All told, all systems for the PITOU 3 cases (18 gallons) of -50 anti-freeze.

Don't forget your livewell and saltwater wash as well. Disconnect saltwater wash hose at the seacock and get some tubing that will fit in the pick-up hose (if you can't get a jug down there) the pump will draw from the jug. Turn on the hose bib / this will winterize the pump and lines. If you have a livewell, kill two birds with one stone. Open the livewell seacock and connect a hose to your saltwater wash and when running your anti-freeze through the wash system squirt it through the livewell and back flush the livewell lines and pump with the livewell seacock open.

When laying up your engine it's not a bad idea to drain the sea water aftercooler, gear oil cooler, heat exchanger, and muffler of sea water before running the anti freeze through. They can be drained by removing the anodes or the drain plugs located on the lower sections of these components. The muffler has a self tapping screw at the bottom rear just before going to the exhaust tail pipe. A little extra work, but this helps to reduce diluting your anti-freeze.

At the low points where an anode is located I also pull and drain the anti-freeze at these locations because (from experience) the anti-freeze seems to break the anodes down and in the spring you're left with a mess.The 1st year that was at the bottom of the aftercooler and the rear of the heat exchanger. No more of that.

I also go the extra step of flushing all systems with freshwater with salt-away after draining all salt water then drain the fresh before going to anti-freeze. I use the saltaway 2x during the season for the engine and genset just to try to keep the scale down. I use a thoro-flush adapter for the fresh water flush / it replaces the cap on the sea strainers. I am able to leave the genset and AC ones in place, but must take the one off the engine sea strainer so the rear deck hatch can close.

Check your anti-freeze in the motor as well for freeze protection.
Batteries topped off with distilled water and put a door in the shrink wrap and visit once a month to turn on the battery charger. As long as you visit your boat this way no need to remove them.

It seems we were just talking spring commisioning / signed winter storage contract yesterday

[Saltdog]

Thank you all for the great information. Where do I buy the type of antifreeze that I can put in the fresh water systems? I hope not West marine, as I am sure it will be a little spendy.

Also for the engine any special type of antifreeze?

Thanks

[Pitou]

Use a propylene glycol based antifreeze for all system winterization / engine flush (sea water side), water systems, etc.. This is the same stuff you would use to winterize a house. Your local chandlary, harware store, rv center or a department store like wal-mart, kmart, etc. is sure to carry it. Right now West has (-)50 for 3.99/gallon w/a $1.00 mail in coupon / gallon. Boy, do I hate mail in coupons / just make the price the price! I swear they just count on guys to just not send them in.
It come in -50, -60 and minus 100 freeze protection.


For the engine fresh water cool side use an automotive antifreeze. I use Dex-Cool.

[Mariner]

Mariner, what do you do when you get a below freezing cold snap which can happen where you live?

Also anybody have any suggestions about how to use a small heater to keep ahead of mildew?

Thanks

TS

We've never had a cold snap long or cold enough to take the temperatures low enough to cause problems inside the boat. As a safety precaution, some time in December I will usually drain the water tank and run excess water out of the lines. If I'm truly concerned about freezing, I will simply turn the diesel heater on to it's lowest setting. But I've never seen the water temperature in the sound drop below 40 degrees, which tends to keep temps inside the boat below decks in the same range. The closest we get is that sometimes the freshwater stream that feeds our bay will send some errant ice flows out into the bay. But these are usually paper thin and don't cause any damage. Worst case scenario you just get into the habit of walking down to the boat to run the engine for 15 minutes every morning. Aside from the trecherous walk down the icy docks, that's not much hassle and will prevent any trouble for the rest of the day. Besides, I've never once not enjoyed the sound of that big Cat chugging to life.

While we do get cold snaps, they rarely last more than a couple days, and the mediating influence of the salt water prevents it from doing any damage. Besides, those freezing cold January days are perfect for crabbing, so the last thing I want is a winterized boat.

[Mariner]

I should point out that in Dec-Jan it's pretty common to walk the docks of the marina and hear mulitiple boats' diesel heaters running intermittently. Those who can afford it, simply leave their thermostats set to 50 degrees 24/7.

[Mariner]

Oh yeah, and if you don't have a diesel heater, there are several things you can do to safely keep your boat warm in the winter.

We also use 110volt dehumidifiers. These large disc shaped devices serve two purposes, they some how miraculously repel moisture in the boat. Don't ask me how, but they work. But as part of this process, they give off heat. Not a lot but enough to keep a small cabin above freezing. One in each cabin space seems to do the trick. They're safe and don't use much electricity.

Another alternative is an incandescent light bulb. You'd be surprised how much heat a 75 watt bulb gives off. Also, it's design inherintly prevents it from sparking a fire. If for some reason the bulb is knocked to the ground, the filament is usually broken before the bulb itself breaks, preventing any fire causing sparks or arcs.

If it's REALLY cold, you can break out the big-guns, the electric space heater. Obviously this is something that needs to be done with a certain amount of caution. Use only the ceramic disc variety with a safety tip-over shut-off switch. Test the switch every time you leave the boat, just to be sure it is working (do this by tipping the heater over to see if it shuts off). Be absolutely sure that it is connected to a GFCI outlet (all 110 volt outlets on a boat should be GFCI or on a GFCI cirucuit). Test the outlet each time you leave the boat as well. Place the heater on a metal or earthware platform (dinner plate or cookie sheet works great) on the table, well above the floor of the boat. You don't want it short circuiting or causing problems if you have a minor flooding problem caused by a failed bilge pump. The whole aparatus, including the plug, should be several feet off the floor, but on a very firm footing. And last, but not least, is CHECK ON IT FREQUENTLY. Visit the boat at least every few weeks to be sure everything is ok.

This is what we've done on the boats we've had for 20+ years and we've never had a problem.