More boats have to be towed in, or find themselves back in the yard, and more equipment failures happen in the spring than at any other time of year. And the owners all say the same thing: "I don't know what's wrong...it was working fine we put the boat away last fall." Here’s how to make sure you’re not one of them!
Pre-launch:
Check all your through-hulls and seacocks for signs of corrosion or other failure, lubricate and re-bed as necessary. Check all below-waterline hose connections and replace any cracked or broken fittings or corroded hose clamps. (And don't limit this exercise to your sanitation system!)
Faulty or failed electrical wiring or connections are the leading cause of boat fires. So check all your wiring and electrical connections...and your fuel lines and connections. Charge your batteries and make sure everything works…replace fuses as necessary...replace any frayed or corroded wiring or switches...any hoses that show signs of chafe. Go over every inch of your boat with a fine-toothed comb.
Bedding compound is a lot cheaper than replacing a waterstained headliner or repairing rotted fiberglass! So check all your deck hardware—rail stanchions, cleats, winches, etc—for signs that bedding is failing, and rebed as necessary.
If you haven’t done it in at least two years, change every impeller on the boat—in the electric toilet, the macerator pump, the engine intakes--even if it looks fine. Each time an impeller pump starts up, it runs dry at least briefly which wears down the edges of the vanes. Unless it’s run dry long enough to really fry it, you can’t see the wear, and there’s only about the width of a human hair between an impeller that still fits tightly enough in the housing to pump water and one that doesn’t. Impellers also dry out over the winter and become hard and brittle...they're more prone to failure in the spring than any other time. And a hard dry impeller can score the housing, requiring its replacement too.
If you have access to water, now's a great time while the boat's out of the water and can really dry them out to really clean your bilge, sumps and chain locker. You won't smell them now, but there are a lot of odor-causing “critters” growing in all those places, just waiting to multiply and stink when the weather gets warm.
Electric toilets require very little maintenance or lubrication...Replace joker valve and see owners manual for additional instructions. But it's a good idea to run water through it to make sure it's working as it should.
Manual toilets: Replace joker valve. If you haven't rebuilt your toilet (Jabsco manual toilets: replaced the pump...it's a lot easier and costs very little more than a "service kit") in at least 5 years, now's the time to do it, while it's clean and dry. Preventive maintenance--new seals, gaskets, valves, etc--reduces the odds of having to make repairs by 99%. Whether you rebuild or not, if you didn’t do it in the fall, lubricate your manual toilet: open the pump and give it a liberal slathering with the same thick Teflon or silicon grease (I recommend Superlube, available from Ace Hardware) that was in it when it left the factory. Not only will it keep your toilet pumping smoothly for a full season, but it will protect the seals and pump housing from grit and dirt. Use the same grease to lubricate y-valves, seacocks, winches—anything that spends a lot of time being wet.
Check all vent lines--on fuel, water and holding tanks--for obstructions (dirt daubers love to build nests in thru-hullsl) and clean them out if necessary. Pressure test your holding tank for leaks. Check hoses for odor permeation and replace if necessary--it's a much more pleasant job in cool weather and when the system is clean and dry--than in hot when they're full of sewage. Clean or replace air valves in vented loops.
Post launch:
Test your toilet to make sure it's working correctly. Especially in electric toilets, things have a way of drying over the winter. The time to find out is before you stock the fridge and take your boss or in-laws out for the first spring cruise! Flush all the antifreeze out of the system with fresh water...but don't add any treatment to the tank until you're ready to use it. Flush that down the toilet with the first "real" flush.
DON'T FORGET YOUR FRESH WATER SYSTEM! Instructions for recommissioning are in the post below this one.
Pre-launch:
Check all your through-hulls and seacocks for signs of corrosion or other failure, lubricate and re-bed as necessary. Check all below-waterline hose connections and replace any cracked or broken fittings or corroded hose clamps. (And don't limit this exercise to your sanitation system!)
Faulty or failed electrical wiring or connections are the leading cause of boat fires. So check all your wiring and electrical connections...and your fuel lines and connections. Charge your batteries and make sure everything works…replace fuses as necessary...replace any frayed or corroded wiring or switches...any hoses that show signs of chafe. Go over every inch of your boat with a fine-toothed comb.
Bedding compound is a lot cheaper than replacing a waterstained headliner or repairing rotted fiberglass! So check all your deck hardware—rail stanchions, cleats, winches, etc—for signs that bedding is failing, and rebed as necessary.
If you haven’t done it in at least two years, change every impeller on the boat—in the electric toilet, the macerator pump, the engine intakes--even if it looks fine. Each time an impeller pump starts up, it runs dry at least briefly which wears down the edges of the vanes. Unless it’s run dry long enough to really fry it, you can’t see the wear, and there’s only about the width of a human hair between an impeller that still fits tightly enough in the housing to pump water and one that doesn’t. Impellers also dry out over the winter and become hard and brittle...they're more prone to failure in the spring than any other time. And a hard dry impeller can score the housing, requiring its replacement too.
If you have access to water, now's a great time while the boat's out of the water and can really dry them out to really clean your bilge, sumps and chain locker. You won't smell them now, but there are a lot of odor-causing “critters” growing in all those places, just waiting to multiply and stink when the weather gets warm.
Electric toilets require very little maintenance or lubrication...Replace joker valve and see owners manual for additional instructions. But it's a good idea to run water through it to make sure it's working as it should.
Manual toilets: Replace joker valve. If you haven't rebuilt your toilet (Jabsco manual toilets: replaced the pump...it's a lot easier and costs very little more than a "service kit") in at least 5 years, now's the time to do it, while it's clean and dry. Preventive maintenance--new seals, gaskets, valves, etc--reduces the odds of having to make repairs by 99%. Whether you rebuild or not, if you didn’t do it in the fall, lubricate your manual toilet: open the pump and give it a liberal slathering with the same thick Teflon or silicon grease (I recommend Superlube, available from Ace Hardware) that was in it when it left the factory. Not only will it keep your toilet pumping smoothly for a full season, but it will protect the seals and pump housing from grit and dirt. Use the same grease to lubricate y-valves, seacocks, winches—anything that spends a lot of time being wet.
Check all vent lines--on fuel, water and holding tanks--for obstructions (dirt daubers love to build nests in thru-hullsl) and clean them out if necessary. Pressure test your holding tank for leaks. Check hoses for odor permeation and replace if necessary--it's a much more pleasant job in cool weather and when the system is clean and dry--than in hot when they're full of sewage. Clean or replace air valves in vented loops.
Post launch:
Test your toilet to make sure it's working correctly. Especially in electric toilets, things have a way of drying over the winter. The time to find out is before you stock the fridge and take your boss or in-laws out for the first spring cruise! Flush all the antifreeze out of the system with fresh water...but don't add any treatment to the tank until you're ready to use it. Flush that down the toilet with the first "real" flush.
DON'T FORGET YOUR FRESH WATER SYSTEM! Instructions for recommissioning are in the post below this one.
