I live in Ottawa, Canada where the winters are cold. I have a 2005 MacGregor 26M (with a sliding galley) and every year I try to improve my method of winterizing the aft scupper. The cockpit and aft deck drain into the outboard engine well, and there is a small scupper in the bottom of the well and the output is through the transom a little below the well and to the port side by about a foot. The connection between the well and the output is a flexible pipe that goes BELOW the level of the outlet (see photos), which means there is always standing water in it. In addition, the sink on the sliding galley goes through a long flexible tube that eventually is routed in the aft bilge before rising to a T connector just below the outlet (see photos). Any water going down the scupper from the engine well has to fill up this drain pipe to above the level of the scupper output before any will go out through the scupper!
The way I winterize this scupper at present is to plug first the scupper and blow out at the sink, then reverse, plug the sink and blow out at the scupper. Then add anti-freeze and repeat. Then plug the scupper in the engine well and immediately store the boat in it's unheated dry barn, where there will be no water accumulation in the plugged engine well. If the boat was outside with a cover over it I could imagine that over the winter there will be some accumulation of water in the engine well.
Does anyone have a suggestion as to how best to winterize this aft scupper?
The way I winterize this scupper at present is to plug first the scupper and blow out at the sink, then reverse, plug the sink and blow out at the scupper. Then add anti-freeze and repeat. Then plug the scupper in the engine well and immediately store the boat in it's unheated dry barn, where there will be no water accumulation in the plugged engine well. If the boat was outside with a cover over it I could imagine that over the winter there will be some accumulation of water in the engine well.
Does anyone have a suggestion as to how best to winterize this aft scupper?