Winterizing - Southern Style

[carterchapman]

When I see the pictures of your boats on the hardstand, shrinkwrapped from Oct to April, it makes me appreciate being in the South - even though we are on a landlocked lake. I can only imagine how much work it is for you to go through that effort every fall and spring, yet I know it is a "labor of love" for many of us to work on our boats and winterize them.

I wanted to share my "winterization" plans with some of the other "southern boaters", so don't think I'm rubbing your nose in anything!

I keep the cabin heat at 55° and test my bilge heater - it comes on at 40°. Almost done winterizing! Actually, the cockpit sink, transom shower, and city water line are the only items of concern, so here's what I do:

At the water manifold, I disconnect those four pex pipes and drain those lines. Then I use a test cap to close the manifold fittings so the rest of the fresh water system stays in commission. Finding the caps was not as easy as I thought - I finally found them at:

http://www.mvsupply.biz/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=MS&Category_Code=x

$6.30 for 10 of them (including the gaskets). Ordered them last Sunday and they arrived via mail today. Great service...

 

[David Morgan]

You might also want to add a fuel stabilizer if you are not going to run it for a few months.

Hey!...why do you need to stop using it at all? I'm taking mine up fishing for a week starting tomorrow.

 

[carterchapman]

We use it 3 or 4 times a month in the winter. But I still add Marine StaBil and Chemtool B-12 at every fillup throughout the year to try to combat the ethanol effects...

 

[Moose]

Make sure your bilge heater is working and if you use the boat year round like I do, I keep the a/c on in the cabin and place a small ceramic heater in the cockpit. Never had a problem in 4 years. Camper canvas of course.

 

[Rxflyer]

If you use an RV line blowout adapter on the city water line fitting, will compressed air do a sufficient job of clearing the lines ? Or should the lines be blown out at the manifold ?

Thanks for the source for the caps; I was gonna use 1/2" caps from Lowe's and a little teflon tape.

 

[carterchapman]

I couldn't get the Lowe's caps and gaskets to seal on my pex manifold - I wanted the rest of the fresh water system to stay in commission.

I just gravity drained the four lines - city water, cockpit sink, hot and cold transom shower...

 

[Rxflyer]

I used an air compressor to blow out the lines via the city water supply port and it seemed to work well. I struck me that if I just left the water heater powered up, it would keep that water nice and warm. Or doesn't it work that simply ? Wouldn't that be the simplest solution for a boat left in the water with shore power ?

 

[jim_m5]

Moose,

What is the benfit gained heating the cockpit with the ceramic heater? I realize we hardly ever get continuous freezing days but keeping the cockpit at 55 degrees could be expensive, no?

 

[Moose]

Jim, the cockpit heater is set at its lowest setting. With the camper canvas up, it rarely will go on, due to daytime heating.

 

[johnrb3]

Hey All,
I've got an Extreme Heater in the Engine compartment, and I left the cabin heat on at it's lowest setting. I've got the full camper up, and I'm on Lewisville in Dallas, TX. I've never used the city water inlet so will it be fairly dry, or with the pressurized water pump does it push water up into the city inlet piping? Also, I have a transom shower and cockpit sink. If I'm running the cabin heat and bilge heater should I be safe all winter without pumping in antifreeze? Since the shower transom is covered with a door and with the heater below I wasn't sure if it would be alright without antifreeze here in Dallas. I'd like to use her this winter without messing with it. I've heard different things on this and it's hard to decipher when a lot of you guys are further north.

 

[Redhook98]

Here is what i do every year in Virginia..... I leave my boat in a covered slip all year round. I have a Boat-Safe 750W heater for the bilge. I put a ceramic heater in the cabin on the lowest setting. Disconnect the city water and make sure the tanks are full (they secure our water from December thru March due to freezing). Then I put the full canvas on. Thats all I do. The boat remains usable all year round.

Last year, I made the mistake of only heating the engine room as I thought the cabin would stay warm enough. I was wrong. The flush valve on the head froze up and broke. Oops!

I can use it when I want and just make sure the heaters are turned on when I leave her. Does not use much power either. No anti-freeze mess to taint your water, no dicking with the motors, or anything. Simple.

 

[spikedaddy99]

I can use it when I want and just make sure the heaters are turned on when I leave her. Does not use much power either. No anti-freeze mess to taint your water, no dicking with the motors, or anything. Simple.[/quote]

Rich, do you fish much this time of year? If so, I'll accept an invite. My boat is in the shed as we speak getting the repairs done from Aquapalooza.
Mike

 

[Redhook98]

I can use it when I want and just make sure the heaters are turned on when I leave her. Does not use much power either. No anti-freeze mess to taint your water, no dicking with the motors, or anything. Simple.

Rich, do you fish much this time of year? If so, I'll accept an invite. My boat is in the shed as we speak getting the repairs done from Aquapalooza.
Mike[/quote]


Sure man, I can go out fishing anytime. We actually have our annual lighted boat parade this Saturday night in Colonial Beach. Going to start decorating the boat with lights tomorrow. So far just Jen and I on my boat. Expecting snow too! I will be out for it. Your invited if you want to come.

So what fianlly became of the boat fiasco? PM me and we can take this offline. I hate to hijack a good thread like this. Sorry guys!