Best Winter Storage Tips

[Phil Herring]

Sure, it's a little early but Labor Day is behind us and the specter of snow is in the not-too-distant future.

If you live up north, what's your best, most valuable winter storage tip?

 

[SwitchintoglideIII]

Heated indoor storage, mouse traps and Insurance Coverage.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Blow out the fresh water system with air, instead of using pink antifreeze. It’s less likely to grow mold inside the hoses and will allow you to start with fresh tasting no-odor water in spring.

It’s more time consuming however. Strategy may vary depending on your system, but a few things to consider:
- use a low pressure high volume air pump, such as a dinghy inflation pump
- it’s ok to have a few places with small accumulations of ice inside vinyl lines, but the inside of hard fittings must be drained enough to let any residual water expand without damaging the parts.
- make sure the water tank is drawn down far enough so the pickup tube is not in contact with water. It’s a hard fitting that would be damaged by freezing. A shop vac with clean hose tip may be used for this (use a brand new hose tip for this, and don’t shut off the machine during this operation- you don’t want residual filth from a dirty hose to run back in). I don’t have an inspection plate but can insert the shop vac by removing the level gauge sensor.
- make sure faucets and seacocks are left open so they don’t contain trapped water.
- if you have a pressure accumulation tank make sure it’s drained.
- make sure strainer housings are drained.
- drain hot water heater tank and leave pressure relief valve in the open position

 

[LakeOntario270]

I flush 4 gallons of -60 Deg Antifreeze through the engine.
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west...er-system-antifreeze-gal--3556610?recordNum=2

I cover my boat with a heavy duty tarp over a frame made out of 3/4" conduit. Make sure there is no loading on your stanchions or they can be bent with heavy snow fall.

 

[AXEL]

I use a heavy duty blue tarp with a conduit frame as well. The trap must be tired tight. Mine comes down to the boot stripe and ties under the boat to the other side. My tip; I hang old bed sheets all around the boat (looks like hanging out my laundry). These plastic tarps are very abrasive and will scuff up your hull big time over the winter. The sheets protect the hull. This means a lot less buffing and polishing in the spring!

 

[RoyS]

If you can; drain your lift muffler. If you cannot reach the drain, as in my boat, pump pink antifreeze through it until you are certain it is full of 100% antifreeze. I use about a gallon for that task.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Winterizing the sanitation system: Step 1. Pump out and THOROUGHLY rinse out the holding tank and any overboard discharge pump and its related plumbing. Step 2. Just pouring antifreeze down the toilet into the tank will NOT winterize a sea water toilet, just the tank. So unless you have a toilet designed to use pressurized fresh water, disconnect the flush water intake line from the thru-hull (close the seacock first!) and stick it into the jug of antifreeze...pump the whole jug through the toilet into the tank. If your toilet intake is teed into the sink drain line, it's even easier: just close the sink drain thru-hull and pour the antifreeze down the sink...flush it through the system and into the tank.

If your toilet is one designed to use fresh water, winterizing the fresh water system winterizes the toilet, the tank is the only thing that needs antifreeze, so you can just pour it into the bowl and flush it into the tank.

The owners manuals for the LectraSan, ElectroScan and PuraSan includes complete winterizing instructions and it's very important to follow them if you don't want to damage the device.
--Peggie

 

[PGUTIERREZ]

Potable water tanks & water lines: I agree with blowing out the lines, I then dump a liter of cheapest rum or vodka, run the pump until booze flows out the respective taps. Sterilizes the lines and tank bottom near out flow area. Less hassle in spring. Nourishes the mind next spring with either rum & coke or first Bloody Mary of the 2019 boating season.

 

[Parsons]

• Stuff plastic dish washing 'scrunchies' up all your through-hulls and any other openings so the birds-and-bees won't make a home there over the winter.
• Clean and sanitize absolutely everything (Clorox wipes are your friend) to avoid mold & mildew from growing. Everything should be as dry and clean as you can make it. Clean things that you would never think about cleaning (bilge, saloon sole, inside drawers, bottoms of hanging lockers, etc.) This also makes getting back in the spring nicer.
• Remove all the 'soft stuff', wash and store it at home - bedding, cushions, flags, canvas, etc. Much easier to transport it than figure out how to remove mold stains from your US ensign!
• Use this time to do the annual maintenance that you don't do in the summer - check your expiry dates on flares and medicines, lube and cycle the seacocks, lube the prop, oil all those hinges, etc.
• Use large plastic bins to move and organize your stuff for the winter, and keep it separated. That way in April you can move the "head bin" back into the head and re-stock everything just like it was in October.

For goodness sake, check on your boat over the winter no matter where it's stored! I've seen so many boats around my yard with ripped tarps, bees nests under the tarps, things blown off the decks, etc. Don't be surprised in the spring with a big yard bill.

 

[plenny7]

• Chang the oil and oil filter prior to haul out so it's fresh, clean oil sitting in the engine all winter.
• Top off the diesel so there's less air (moisture) in the tank
• Remove rail mounted gear, such as grills and flotation devices (LifeSling)
• Disconnect your batteries (I leave them on board)
• Open all the cupboards, lockers and storage compartments to allow air circulation (I'm not convinced this helps since the boat will be closed up, but I still do it because it's easy and can't hurt)
• Leave the booze on board so it's there in the spring when you're taking a break from painting the bottom or buffing the hull.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

a smart ass method- sail south til the butter melts- and stay there

 

[Capt jgw]

a smart ass method- sail south til the butter melts- and stay there

Next year!

 

[Bob J.]

a smart ass method- sail south til the butter melts- and stay there

Stay there until summer returns back up north anyway
I'm going to bite the bullit this year & shrink wrap her. Don't feel like traveling 5 hours to see a blue tarp beat to snot cause I couldn't get the snow off it.
To others that are concerned about bent stanchions, take them off. Serves no purpose leaving them on.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

@plenny7 I don’t disconnect batteries because I have solar panels and temperature-regulated solar charge controllers. It’s nice to have lights inside under a dark winter cover, and music while working on interior projects. Even without solar, an occasional booster charge should be sufficient unless there’s something unusual draining the batteries.

 

[glaufman]

Keep boat at dock downstream from power plant... Water never get below 90F... Sail he really at least once every month over the winter to keep her exercised.. nothing like sailing when u have the bay all to urself except the visiting seals with no Rodneys around.

 

[plenny7]

@plenny7 I don’t disconnect batteries because I have solar panels and temperature-regulated solar charge controllers. It’s nice to have lights inside under a dark winter cover, and music while working on interior projects. Even without solar, an occasional booster charge should be sufficient unless there’s something unusual draining the batteries.

I have no need to do anything on the boat once it's shrink wrapped for the winter, so lights are not an issue. Were I need to do something in the early spring the lot where the boat is stored has many outlets just for that purpose. I can see how it would be useful otherwise though

As far trickle charging or booster charging, I've decided to follow the advice of @Maine Sail
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/self_discharge

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Don't forget to close off boom-ends, exhaust holes and thru-hulls -- especially before Spring nesting season begins.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

@plenny7 if I lived in Minnesota I'd probably leave the boat alone also. Here in coastal CT, we get some warm-ish days in the 40's when we can do some work. If the sun is out it's even warmer under the winter cover.

 

[Head Sail]

Thoroughly empty the waste tank and flush with freshwater. Haul the boat, check and mark blisters with chalk, power wash hull. In the yard, dry the bilge, remove barnacle growth on metal and fiberglass then grind out any blisters for repair in the spring. Have the yard do the water system winterization. Take all paper items out and store the cushions. Clean interior, open drawers, open through hulls, and open a port-light. Cover with the refurbished boat cover I had done during the season. Turn off battery main switch (no significant leach load) and recharge for 24hrs every couple months. Seemed to work last year.

 

[Maine Sail]

Blow out the fresh water system with air, instead of using pink antifreeze. It’s less likely to grow mold inside the hoses and will allow you to start with fresh tasting no-odor water in spring.

It’s more time consuming however. Strategy may vary depending on your system, but a few things to consider:
- use a low pressure high volume air pump, such as a dinghy inflation pump
- it’s ok to have a few places with small accumulations of ice inside vinyl lines, but the inside of hard fittings must be drained enough to let any residual water expand without damaging the parts.
- make sure the water tank is drawn down far enough so the pickup tube is not in contact with water. It’s a hard fitting that would be damaged by freezing. A shop vac with clean hose tip may be used for this (use a brand new hose tip for this, and don’t shut off the machine during this operation- you don’t want residual filth from a dirty hose to run back in). I don’t have an inspection plate but can insert the shop vac by removing the level gauge sensor.
- make sure faucets and seacocks are left open so they don’t contain trapped water.
- if you have a pressure accumulation tank make sure it’s drained.
- make sure strainer housings are drained.
- drain hot water heater tank and leave pressure relief valve in the open position

Please, please, please do this ONLY if you have a simple plumbing system. Each spring I get to repair frozen plumbing issues from DIY's who tried to blow out lines. This is why most boatyards use the pink. I don't know a single yard in Maine that uses air and it's because they eat too many burst parts by doing so.