Winterizing

[Randall Schmidt]

I have a 1984 Oday 28 with an inboard diesel and pressure water system. I'm a new owner. I had an Oday 25 with an outboard before. I'd appreciate any advice you have on what I need to do to winterize the boat. I know I need to fill up the fuel tank to keep it from getting water in it when things freeze. I already have antifreeze in the sealed freshwater engine cooling system. I guess I need to put something in the water tank. What else?

 

[Davidasailor26]

Lots of threads on the topic in the archives with the details, but here are some basics. You'll need to run antifreeze (preferably Ethylene Glycol, like Prestone) through the raw water side for the engine cooling system. On the O'Day 28 the easiest way to do that is to pull the intake hose off the raw water pump, and run a new hose from the pump into a bucket with a couple gallons of AF. Hold the hose in the bucket and have a helper shut off the engine just before the AF is all sucked up. Don't run the pump dry. If you don't know the age of the impeller now is a good time to remove it and replace with new in the spring. After the boat is hauled open the raw water seacock to drain any water in that part of the hose.

Some have done experiments suggesting that filling the fuel tank before winter may be overrated. Search for Maine Sail's tests on whether it's actually possible for much water to condense in the tank. With the O'Day 28's low fuel consumption my feeling is that you may be better leaving the tank low than filling it with fuel that you're not going to burn for many months or years.

There are many techniques for the potable system. Here's what always worked for us -
We would first drain the water heater into a bucket. Then turn off the valve to prevent running AF into the heater. Run the water tanks empty. Use an air compressor to blow the water out of the hot water lines. Fill the water tank with a few gallons of Propylene Glycol AF (not EG as its toxic to mammals and not ethanol as it's not very good at preventing freezing, or good for rubber parts). Pump the AF through to the cold side of both faucets until they run consistent pink. (You can likely continue until all of the AF is pumped out of the tank.)

For the head we would pull the water intake hose off the seacock and suck some AF up through the head into the holding tank (after having a pumpout).

 

[Randall Schmidt]

thanks, there's quite a lot to do. I'm have her hauled out so it will be hard to run the motor and suck up the AF into the raw water system b/c I need to be able to motor over to the lift. Thoughts on that?

 

[Stu Jackson]

thanks, there's quite a lot to do. I'm have her hauled out so it will be hard to run the motor and suck up the AF into the raw water system b/c I need to be able to motor over to the lift. Thoughts on that?

After you haul out, do this:

Winterizing an Engine on the Hard (Thanks to Maine Sail) - NEVER connect a hose to your raw water pump inlet - NEVER!!!

http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=873073&highlight=winterizing

 

[Davidasailor26]

thanks, there's quite a lot to do. I'm have her hauled out so it will be hard to run the motor and suck up the AF into the raw water system b/c I need to be able to motor over to the lift. Thoughts on that?

Yeah, I'd figure on a day's work the first time through. Less after you've had some practice or if you have an experienced helper.

How to coordinate the engine winterization depends on how the lift operator likes to work. We used to be in a marina where they would queue the boats along a bulkhead next to the lift. We could motor to the bulkhead, then quickly do the hose change and suck up the AF while the lift was working on other boats. If that's not possible, there's no harm in doing this after the boat is hauled. Just be sure to not put the engine into gear.

This is also a good time of year to change the oil, before it sits for the winter. Warm up the engine first, then replace oil and filter. The short amount of time it takes to run the AF through can then give the fresh oil a chance to circulate.

 

[Ken Cross]

thanks, there's quite a lot to do. I'm have her hauled out so it will be hard to run the motor and suck up the AF into the raw water system b/c I need to be able to motor over to the lift. Thoughts on that?

You should be able to run it on the hard. The antifreeze in the bucket is your coolant. It is however going to make a mess on the ground unless you can devise a way to capture it. (hose from the exhaust outlet???)

Ken

 

[Davidasailor26]

Ken made me think of an interesting point - if running the AF through when the boat is on the hard, it's probably better to use PG antifreeze than EG. PG isn't quite as good for rubber parts, but is way less toxic for passing mammals. Toxicity to marine life is roughly equivalent so EG should be fine winterizing in water.

 

[shemandr]

It is an issue with the boatyard re winterization. If you do it ahead of haul, they won't run the engine to move the boat to the travel lift well. They'll charge you for that - at least around here. In my experience with at least four different yards, it is nearly impossible to be there at the exact time to winterize your engine in the lift well. And if you are, the yard staff would be tapping their toes because you are holding them up. Sometimes they have to work while the tide is favorable. So it's not appreciated. The example of DavidtheSailor isn't the way it is around here.
I would have the yard do the engine winterization and spring commissioning for the practical reason that things just ran more smoothly. If the yard does that stuff and the engine doesn't start in the spring you have a shared problem. If you do it all the onus is yours alone. That means charges to move the boat to a slip. In my case, enforcement of the 7 day limit to remove the boat from its temporary slip. Being dropped well down the list for a re-haul if it's necessary - i.e. don't expect the family plan.
Definitely, change the oil on haul out. No need for those nasties to sit in the oil pan all winter.
Put in fuel stabilizer.

 

[LakeOntario270]

The easiest way to winterize the engine is to
1. Pull raw water hose off the sea cock.
2. Connect hose to a 6 ft piece of 3/4" hose that you purchase at your local hardware store, using a 3/4" straight hose barb fitting.
3. fill a 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of West Marine Pure Oceans antifreeze. This antifreeze is non toxic. Insert hose into bucket. Bigger engines might need more than 4 gallons.
4. Start engine and run until bucket is drained. My boat is spitting pink after about gallon is sucked in.
5. Reconnect raw water hose to sea cock using double hose clamps. Make sure everything is tight.
Before connecting the hose, this would be a good time to lubricate the sea cock by squirting in a appropriate lubricant.
6. Clean the water intake strainer.
Temperatures around here do not go below zero Fahrenheit.

 

[Tally Ho]

My routine for haul-out is pretty simple and very cost effective...
3 hours before scheduled haul-out...
- Remove sails
- run water faucets until water tanks are empty
- run inboard Diesel engine for about 10 minutes to warm up oil
- if I have not already pumped out holding tank and topped off fuel, do that now
- change engine oil
- climb the mast and remove windex and wind transducer if time and weather permit.

Once the boat is hauled out and on stands:
- drain water heater (I have a by-pass set up on mine and I don't put antifreeze in my water heater)
- pump pink antifreeze through potable water system. I disconnect the lines from the water tanks and suck the antifreeze through the system. Open all faucets, including shower head, until running dark pink.
- pump pink antifreeze through toilet...pull hose from thru-hull fitting and put it in jug of antifreeze...not just pouring AF in the toilet bowl...that won't get the water out of the valve and the rim of the toilet. Pump enough to push pink stuff into the holding tank.
- I have a Yanmar 2GM20F diesel. I pump pink AF through the cooling water intake (not sure if that is "raw" or "fresh" water). I run 2 gallons of AF through, with the engine running. I remove the hose between my strainer and water pump, and stick it in a gallon of AF. Someone else starts the engine and I switch the hose to the 2nd gallon of AF as needed. As it sucks dry I yell to stop the engine. You could hang a bucket to catch the AF out of the exhaust.

If you are not sure what to do, hire the Marina and watch them do it...then you can do it yourself the next season....or look for YouTube videos...some really good ones out there that demonstrate how to do it.

That is my routine on my boat. Your mileage may vary.

Greg

 

[quadrille38]

thanks, there's quite a lot to do. I'm have her hauled out so it will be hard to run the motor and suck up the AF into the raw water system b/c I need to be able to motor over to the lift. Thoughts on that?

Our marina always includes time in the haul out schedule for us to back into the well, they position the slings and then they leave you time to winterize the engine before the lift the boat.

Something else to check is the speedo and depth transducers. If they are the kind that have a flap that allows you to pull them in the water without a gush of water, it is recommended that after the boat is on the hard, you pull the transducer out and then put it back in. There have been reports where water was trapped in the flap such that it cracked the plastic rings allowing near catastrophic leakage.
Make sure all through hulls are open to insure there is no water trapped in the lines.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Florida two step winterization procedure:
1 add air to the fenders
2 cool off with a cold beer.

 

[lehighsail]

Before running AF thru the impeller on the raw water side, the engine should be run for a little while to be sure the thermostat opens. If not, I think you will be only winterizing half the engine.

 

[whatfiero]

Before running AF thru the impeller on the raw water side, the engine should be run for a little while to be sure the thermostat opens. If not, I think you will be only winterizing half the engine.

That is for a raw water cooled engine and is very important

 

[LakeOntario270]

"Florida two step winterization procedure:
1 add air to the fenders
2 cool off with a cold beer."

 

[Davidasailor26]

Before running AF thru the impeller on the raw water side, the engine should be run for a little while to be sure the thermostat opens. If not, I think you will be only winterizing half the engine.

True for raw water cooled, but an 84 O'Day 28 likely has a fresh water cooled Universal M12. The M12 thermostat is on the fresh water side only, so as soon as the AF is pulled into the raw water pump it goes into the heat exchanger and out the exhaust.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Y'all are missing one very important step in winterizing the toilet and holding tank: don't JUST pump out the tank, FLUSH it out. It's not hard to do and you don't have to fill up the tank with water to do it:
Put 4-6" of clean water into the tank through the deck pumpout fitting--because that sends the water into the tank at the bottom to stir up any sludge and hold it in suspension so it can be pumped out.. Pump that out...repeat...repeat...until you're only pumping out clean water. Final step if you have a macerator pump: put another few inches of water into the tank and turn on the macerator pump to rinse it out. Waste is sticky, so if you don't rinse it out, the impeller will stick to its housing...when you fire it up the first time next spring, it either won't run until you free it up according to directions using a screwdriver, or it'll run but not pump out the tank because the stress of the motor trying to free it has destroyed the impeller.

 

[Pat]

We have run Prestone thru the fuel system in the yard....takes one to pour in the antifreeze until green comes out the exhaust...but you can easily do it on the trailer...