GL: Winterizing a boat

[LRZeitlin at aol.com]

I know that it is a strange topic to bring up in these Dog Days of summer but 
some Loopers are concerned about the necessity of winterizing boats 
temporarily stored above the Mason-Dixon line. Here is my take on the subject. I've 
lived in New York and Boston, the Chesapeake Bay area, Georgia, and Florida and 
had boats in all locations. 

Winterizing is not really necessary for boats stored in the Carolinas and 
south. Even if the temperature drops below freezing, it takes about 24 hours of 
sub-freezing weather to do any damage. Worry about winterizing if you can build 
a snowman and have it last more than a day without melting. Worry warts will 
winterize in North Carolina if the boat is stored on the hard.

Winterizing is necessary for boats left out of the water in the Chesapeake 
Bay area. Cold snaps lasting several days are common in the Bay area, especially 
in the northern reaches. One of the coldest days I ever experienced was in 
Washington, DC. The external plumbing in older houses burst and left quite a 
cleanup mess. I recall that it was during the week of Reagan's inauguration. 

For boats left from Virginia north, winterizing is an absolute must.

Winterizing itself is a simple, although slightly time consuming task. The 
basic philosophy is to replace all liquids with those of lower freezing points. 
Here is the drill.

1. Empty all water and holding tanks. Top off the fuel tanks. Drain the 
onboard plumbing. For those boats where the plumbing cannot be entirely emptied, 
put a few gallons of pink non-toxic antifreeze in the empty water tanks and pump 
it through the lines until the water runs pink out of the faucets. Don't 
forget the water heater and the accumulator (if your boat has one). I usually 
change the oil at this time to prevent any residual acids from doing damage. It's 
probably just for my peace of mind.

2. Remove the engine(s) pressure cap and test the water with an antifreeze 
tester. If the freezing temperature is above -30 degrees, add enough straight 
antifreeze until it gets that low. Run the engine for a few minutes to mix the 
cooling solution. The further north you go, the more important this is. I've 
gone XC skiing in temperatures colder than -30 degrees on numerous occasions in 
upstate New York, in Vermont, and in Canada. Brrrr.

3. Flush the boat's raw cooling water system with a 40% mixture of automotive 
antifreeze. I put the antifreeze mixture in a 5 gallon bucket (two gallons of 
antifreeze to three gallons of water) then, attaching a length of garden hose 
to the raw water pump intake, I run the engine for a minute or so to suck it 
into manifold, heat exchanger and waterlift muffler. I've installed a T 
fitting in the intake line after the intake stopcock to make the job easier.

4. Flush a gallon of so of the antifreeze mixture through each head. The 
mixture will go into the holding tank where it won't do any harm and may prevent 
any residual   water from freezing up.

5. Remove all canned goods and any potables which can freeze. This includes 
all wines, juices, sodas, etc. If you don't, you will find a mess when you 
return in the Spring. Be sure to empty the refrigerator and freezer if you have 
one. t's a good excuse for a boat leaving party.

6. Remove all delicate and or expensive portable electronics that you can't 
bear to lose or have stolen. Take home digital cameras, binoculars, hand held 
GPSs and VHFs, etc. No matter how carefully guarded, boat yards are a magnet 
for theft.

7. If your yard permits, use a battery maintainer to keep batteries in good 
condition. My boatyard doesn't permit unattended electrical connections in 
winter storage so in past years I've placed a 5 watt battery maintainer solar cell 
in a position where it catches a few hours of sunlight every day. Even during 
extended periods of snow cover, it works well enough to keep the batteries in 
good condition.

8. Clean the boat so you will be pleasantly surprised in the Spring. Cover 
with tarps or have the boat shrink wrapped. If in the snow belt, New Jersey 
north, I prefer the latter.   Shrink wrap sheds snow very well and prevents water 
intrusion from snow melt.

The whole process took me about 8 hours the first time. Now I can do it in 
about 4 hours because I know what I'm doing. I use about 6 gallons of non-toxic 
pink antifreeze and about 4 gallons of automotive antifreeze. I buy it at 
WalMart where it is about half the price as in a marine store. Shrink wrapping 
costs about $12 a foot in my area. Expensive, but it is well worth it.

You can have winterizing done by the yard for several hundred dollars but 
it's such an inherently simple job that I'd rather spend the money on a few 
gourmet meals and a good bottle of Scotch. Alternately, you can leave the boat in a 
heated winter storage shed and avoid the winterizing process entirely. But 
that's a good deal more expensive - and there is always the possibility that the 
shed's heating system will fail. It has happened on more than one occasion.

Larry Z




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