Winterizing to leave in water

[VicB]

Question for a newbie with a 3807,
In north Alabama water temp would rarely if ever get below freezing, except maybe a little thin surface ice during rare cases. I have blown air through my plumbing lines, run antifreeze through the heads and cold water lines. I have an “Extreme” engine compartment heater going. There is a strainer for the a/c’s and generator and two open cooled engines with no strainers I have yet to address. So far lowest temp in engine compartment recorded is 49 when air temp at night outside has be in the 20s. Cabin lowest temp was 38. I still plan on at minimum blowing out a/c lines and closing remaining seacocks. Should I antifreeze gen and engine blocks? Is just draining them enough? Leave them alone and just close seacocks? Do I need to crank engines periodically from now till March? Do I need a heater in the salon? I’m sure once I get a couple of winters under my belt and / or get to know my neighbors it will get better, I just need some advice to get through this first winter. Colder weather is coming.

[buster53]

From the sounds of it, you have no concerns. I would say you don't even need an engine room heater.

[CaptBob]

for 8 years In Chattanooga we rarely winterized. Had an extreme heater in the bilge and a and electric cube heater in the head. I am aware of power outages and risks therein, we were local and kept a good eye on it. Water temp was never below 38 and surface never froze even a skim. (on the Tennessee river, fair amount of current.) The last 4 years in Hendersonville (30 land miles north of Nashville) we relied on heaters again. I would close sea cocks, had extreme X heaters in the bilge and a cube heater in the head. I also had monitors that would text me if for some reason to boat got cold. Up here we are on a creek off of the Cumberland river, and there is less current here and I have seen ice to a thickness in the winter. Last year, there were many of questionable intellect walking on the ice. (although further up the creek, ) I did start pumping pink water in my water lines as some are routed (bow washdown, stern shower) around near the hull wall and seem to freeze. Didn't lose any lines (thanks Pex lines) but fittings and faucets have suffered occasionally. My monitors also monitored water temp and again, it never dropped below 38. We are in a town, rarely have problems with electricity, and are local to the boat. We have seen others that had problems, generally they were ones that just left in the fall and returned to see the damage in the spring.

We had one sink at the dock last year after a good cold spell, he had no heaters, no winterization, sea cocks froze and when they melted she sunk.

Some did a full winterization. We were prone to use the boat in the winter occasionally, not only at the dock, but drive it as well. Lighted boat parades for Christmas, The strange sunny semi-warm day in the winter, occasional visits, just for peace of mind. Boats that are out of the water get full treatment of course.

[RGrew176]

If it were my boat I would probably put some covers over the engine vents to keep most of the heat provided by the bilge heater inside the engine compartment.

[CaptBob]

Yup, I forgot that. We had foam back snap on covers for the engine vents.

[VicB]

The previous owner said he used foil tape over the covers. I will do that soon. We bought a sail rite sewing machine to replace ising glass zipper and some weathered canvas, so I will make some snap on covers for the vents as a winter project. Is there any reason to put a heater in the living spaces? I have either blown air through the plumbing lines or added antifreeze to all I can think of. Another thing, should I do the engines too or do they need to be cranked and run during this time?

[ScubaPete]

My boat came from Northern Alabama (Lake Guntersville). The seacock for the AC had frozen and cracked, only leaked when moving the handle from Open to Closed, but cracked the bronze metal housing none the less. Close the seacocks, and if there is a drain plug, remove it so the water in the upper part of the seacock and hose can drain as well.
Airtight covers over the engine room vents will help a lot.