Any winterizing/storage tips out there?

[Seif911]

Good Morning All,

So my Carver is coming home to my yard so I can finish the restoration. I think I should have no problems with the engines. Really it is as easy as running pink antifreeze through them and fogging the carb and cylinders. The water and sewer system is a little different.

I already had the sewage tank diluted many times and pumped out. There is maybe 1"-2" in the tank under the toilet. Do I pump that out or dump a few gallons of pink antifreeze in there? What should I do with the lower tank? Leave it alone or pump a few gallons of pink antifreeze to it?

The water system...I think I finally found the tank! Yay! Just pop a hose off and let it drain to the hull and out the bottom? Then add pink antifreeze and pump it through the system?

Any help would be great. I am also covering it myself with tarps. It should be fun!

Thanks,

Steve

[waybomb]

I'd pump it all out and add the -50 stuff. I think pink is good to -20. If there is any liquid left, it will dilute the af down and freeze sooner. Be careful in Sheboygan!
Drain the water tank and water heater, get enough af in so you can flush both cold and hot water systems. Run until comes out both hot and cold faucets, then drain as much as you can.
Manually pump out your shower sump, and cycle some af through it.
Same with head - not just the tank, but the intake side of the head as well.
Make sure they block your boat bow up and take the plug out, so all the water drains.
If you have ac on the boat, you'll want to suck some af through its cooling system as well.
Before you do the engines, drain all the water from the block, manifolds, etc. Don't want to dilute the af you run through. Frozen exploded blocks really are not fun to deal with!

[Seif911]

Hmmm...bow up you day? They did the opposite. They said it should sit like it was in the water. They made the algae line level. They also told me there was a drain in the bow. There is not. The only thing I have found is the speedo gear. I am tempted to open that but even that is not directly on the keel part but up a little. Thoughts? I will have to do a very good job tarping it.

[waybomb]

Try to remove any residual bilge water with a hand pump. Do not leave water in the bilge to freeze.
Your yard has idiots working for them

[Seif911]

Ya...I was a little worried about it. I definitely will not be leaving any water in it. I just know that I will have to keep an eye on it.

[Seif911]

So today is my winterizing day. I have 2 boats and a Rv to do. Should be fun!

You mentioned the shower sump. Does the shower drain into the sewage tank? Hmmm...I only seen 1 pump out cover on the outside. I will look again. I'll peek back at this forum throughout the day for answers and maybe more questions. I found last night at I have no easy way to plug the 30 amp boat into my normal 15 amp outlets.

[waybomb]

Marinco makes that go either way. Probably too
Late now though. Kendors in Franklin has them.

[Seif911]

2 boats and 1 RV...all winterized! I am still a little worried about where the water goes for the shower. There is only 1 pump out for the sewer water. I am guessing that the shower goes straight to the bilge or out the side. Thoughts?

I looked a few times underneath but just can't see a shower. I now suspect that I have 2 water tanks, one on each side. I have not found a access for the starboard side in the living room.

It definitely was a tad more complicated than I suspected it would be. I pumped 5 gallons of pink antifreeze in each engine, maybe 3 or 4 through the water system and 3 for the generator. Hoping that should be good.

[waybomb]

I've had three boats with showers so far, a total of four showers. All of them - the shower drained to a pan in the bilge that had a switch and a pump inside the pan. As the pan filled up, the switch was made, and the pan was pumped out through a through-hull close by.

The shower would not drain to the head-holding-tank - the smell coming up through the drain would drive you away!

[Seif911]

3 boats and 4 showers...nice you had 2 showers in one of your boats. Sounds like I should be ok. I never used the shower except for winterizing, though I really want to find where it drains to. Maybe I'll look again this weekend.