Winter care

[Btcowboy]

Well my 94 290 will be staying in the water all winter. I do plan on in taking it out off and on over the winter. I live on Vancouver Island so we do get quite a bit of rain over the winter here. Our temps are lows of -2 Celsius and highs around plus 6 Celsius. I am a little worried about freezing thing up on the cooler nights but don't want to winterize it because then I need to re do it again after I take it out.

Looking for what I should do to keep boat safe and usable as well as what I can do to keep the humidity down as well.

 

[sdarc]

If the boat comes out of the water for any length of time you will have to winterize depending of course on the temps. expected. It less work to keep the boat in the water. I used a bilge heater. Winterized my water, hvac, and waste systems. Kept a small ceramic heater in the cabin to fend off moisture issues. Granted it does not get as cold here but as long as the water around the boat doesn't freeze that will help too.

 

[Btcowboy]

Thanks Sdarc I should clarify that by taking it out off and on, I mean go boating. That's why I don't want to winterize it. So can you buy bulge heaters specifically for thy purpose? Also I woul only need to winterize frag and waste water, what's best method for doing that?

 

[Westie]

You can get heaters for the bilge. Just make sure they are designed for that. You want one that is ignition proof. For the fresh water the easiest way to winterize it for your conditions is to blow out all the lines with compressed air. For the waste water I would make sure it is pumped out and maybe add a little pink to the head and flush it down when you expect cold weather. With the heaters in the bilge you may not have to do anything for the waste water. I take it you are in Sidney where it doesn't get below freezing that often? You may also want to talk to your dock neighbors and see what they do.

 

[Btcowboy]

Thanks for the replies. Here is what I thought I would do.

Buy a bilge heater
Empty waste water
Put pink in the fresh water and run through all taps and head
Empty waste water again
Put pink in waste water tanker and pump through to get water out of pumps a d hoses
Close 2 seacocks (only seen 2, 1 from macerator and 1 for raw water I assume)
Then I will put a ceramic heater in the cabin to control moisture.

I hope this works, and still allows me to use my boat over the winter but I do have a couple more questions

What should I do with my Bimini? I don't have a winter cover, I was going to leave on and if we ever do get snow clear it off

Also what vents should I plug? Keeping in mind I am still going to use boat through out the winter

 

[sdarc]

Plug the vents that bring and remove fresh air to the engine room. This will help keep out the cold. I had covers made by my canvas people that snapped on and off. I have also used foam. Just remember to remove before turning in the blowers.

Boat-Safe and Extreme are two of the heaters I know of that are safe for the bilge (engine room).