First Time Winterizing

[AlexB]

Hello All
I am a relatively new owner of a carver, had it for a year.
I decided to winterize the boat myself this year as I was not happy with the job done and the price by the marina mechanics.
If you could look over the steps I am planning to do and make corrections, I would greatly appreciate it.
I have a 1992 Carver 33 with 2 Crusaders 454 FWC.
Here is my plan:
Engines:
Close both seacocks, take the hose from a seacock and stick it into a 5 gal bucket with pink antifreeze. I am going to be using -100F antifreeze. Start the engine and wait till pink is coming out of the exhaust. Shut off the engine. Then take out the spark plugs and spray fogging oil into each cylinder about 5 secs for each. Put the spark plugs back in.
And with that I think the engine is winterized. I was thinking to do an oil change and change oil filter but it was suggested that I do it in the spring when I am ready to commission the boat.
If you have any comments on this PLEASE let me know, as this is the scariest part of the winterization, at least for me.
AC:
I have 2 AC's on this boat. So I will close the seacock and stick the hose from the seacock into a bucket with pick stuff. Turn on one AC at a time and make sure pink is coming out the side. I am thinking that's it for the AC's.
Water System:
Open all the faucets to drain both water tanks. Then pour about 10gal of pink stuff into the water tank and open one faucet at a time till the pink stuff is coming out. Do the same with shower and toilets. Then pour about two gallons into each toilet and flush.
I have one question here, if I turn on the hot water faucet on without having the water heater on will it drain the water heater? And how do I make sure that the water heater has the pink stuff in it.

Thanks in advance
Alex

[buster53]

Instead of pulling the hose and sticking it in a bucket, which is a real pain…., I just shut my seacock, take the top off my strainer, yell at wife to fire up the engine while I pour 3 gallons of AF into the strainer. When finished, yell at wife to shut it down. Easy peasy…been doing it that way for years.

AC system…see above. If you have 2 AC units, cooling water runs through both when only 1 is on. No need to do both separately.

As far as your water heater goes, it will only drain if you open the spigot at the base of the heater and flip the overflow switch to let air into the tank or open a spigot to let air in while draining

[km1125]

I you're getting the boat pulled out of the water after you finish, make SURE you go around to each seacock and exercise it (fully open - fully closed) to flush out any water trapped in there when it was sitting in the water.

I've done the "take the intake hose off and stick it in a bucket of AF" thing for years, but I didn't have strainers. If you have strainers, either do what buster suggests or get (or build) a little adapter to go on top of the strainer that you can hook a hose to and connect that hose to the bucket (I'd just use a thru-hull on the bottom of your dedicated 'winterizing' bucket). Then you just shut the seacock, pop the existing top off the strainer and put your adapter on, fill the bucket and start the engine.

You're going through a LOT of antifreeze. Rather than spend that on gallons and gallons, I'd recommend spending it on a small oilless compressor if you don't already have one, and using that to blow out the water in the potable lines.

You could also use a wet/dry shop vac to suck the water out of each HVAC line, then suck antifreeze through them too. (easier to do after the haulout)

Also make sure you either empty (or fill with antifreeze) the dockside connection to city water and any washdown outlets you have at the bow or stern.

[tomschauer]

To add to the other comments, if your water heater does not have a bypass on it, put one on or you will need 11 gallons just to get antifreeze into your hot water side.
Drain the heater, install the bypass then purge to all faucets.
Also for the engines and A/C, a seaflush kit makes everything a lot easier. it is a bit costly for some funnels and tubes but is so much faster and easier than pulling hoses or trying to keep up with filling a strainer.
Don't forget the generator if you have one!

[Phrancus]

After the last engine shut-down, remove impellers, inspect.

find that they look pretty good. Let's keep them another season......

replace them anyway.
Take some time in sourcing them for a reasonable price. I found Recmar for 20 EUR instead of the same for 50 EUR or Volvo Penta for 68 EUR. Same quality and if not, replacing every season is cheaper and you should do so with the more costly ones as well but you might not as common belief supports the notion of expensive = better.
So do some research.

Same for oil and fuel filters. Lot's of petrol people on this forum who could share some pricing information so you get a reasonable cost and thus have less pain from replacing parts more often that possibly necessary. In my case, the filters are common in truck engines and technically identical to those. Saves money without compromising on quality or functionality, I like that.

If you're on the dry doing all that pink stuff flooding, prepare to collect the spill and whatever is left inside next season. Saves pink things, money and resources next year.

check various hoses, cables and connectors. Apply some (a little) grease over terminals (batteries) where moist may cause havoc when condensing warm air on cold surfaces is going to occur over time.

Remove batteries and store them frost-free on a trickle charger at home (this is a matter of belief I believe. Many opinions on this matter) or if you leave them to get frozen, make sure they are perfectly full at the time of freezing.

Moist for a prolongued time causes moulds to develop so take care of moist or take care that there is nothing that gets affected (like pillows, blankets, upholstery, curtains and so on) or make sure the boat stays dry.

[g36]

Don't forget the icemaker if you have one the water supply line will freeze.easiest way is to loosen water line at solenoid and let the pink stuff flow to there . Next You could loosen the line that goes from the solenoid onto the maker and let it drain or blow it out.

There's plenty of videos etc to help winterize hot and cold water lines and bypass water heaters this is very common for rv's.. you can screw in a blow out plug in your city water inlet and blow alot of water out of the system and keep from diluting antifreeze and to get out most of the water and then do the antifreeze next. one thing I've added to my rv that allows me to fo the whole camper with. 1 1/2 gallons of antifreeze. I don't winterize my boat or I would install this inline also i have no idea how much might be needed but it would fairly minimal amount. Is a permanent inline valve the allows you to pull antifreeze straight from the gallon jug. Its installed on the suction side of the wster pump.No need to pour a bunch of antifreeze in the water tank you still to drain it best you can pour some in to cover the water line from the tank to the pump .if you decide to install this ...https://www.campingworld.com/pump-conve ... -6279.html

https://www.campingworld.com/blow-out-p ... lsrc=aw.ds

https://www.campingworld.com/quick-turn ... 15717.html

[AlexB]

Thanks everyone for responding.
I am definitely removing all pillows and blankets from from the boat, I am also going to hang a bunch of DampRids to get the moisture out.
I really like the idea of a sea flush kit just ordered it. I will use it on AC's as well.
Some follow up questions:
Do you think its better to winterize on shore or in the water?
If I use the sea flush kit how do I make sure there is no water left on the seacock lines? Or just wait till the boat is pulled and then fully open and fully close each seacock?
Also what's your guys opinion on doing the oil change in the spring?

@g36 I have to do some research to understand the whole bypass and how it would work on the boat.

[bud37]

Alex , I only have one thing to add.....we always in recent years had the marina do the main engines, for one reason and one reason only , insurance.....it all depends on how the policy is written in regards to the freeze protection, check yours out.....good luck with your winterizing, there is lots of seasoned help here.

[tomschauer]

On the ground or in the water is a personal preference. I have done it both ways, depending on my schedule. If you have to drive the boat to the lift well, you of course, can't winterize the engines until it is pulled.
If done in water, make sure you open up the seacocks after it's on the ground in case any water is laying in them.
I do my oil in the spring. Personal preference.

[km1125]

Do you think its better to winterize on shore or in the water?
I've only winterized the engines once on shore. Definitely prefer on the water for that, but you just have to have a system so it's efficient. I would try and setup the hoist appointment first thing in the morning, or right after the shops lunch, so I could get in the hoist early and take my time winterizing the engines. For all the other stuff, it's whenever it's convenient and would have no problem doing them on shore. I would usually do the potable system right after my final cruise, where I would use the pitch of the boat to empty the water tank (the pickup was at the back of the tank, so the pitch on plane made all the water run aft). After the run I would take my time to blow out the potable lines and treat the heads (which were also pumped out just prior to the run).
If I use the sea flush kit how do I make sure there is no water left on the seacock lines? Or just wait till the boat is pulled and then fully open and fully close each seacock?
No matter what I did in the water, I'd still fully open and close the seacocks on shore. You might also explore if they can (or should) be lubricated and how to do it. Some you can add a zerk fitting on the side opposite the handle and pump a little grease in there to fill the void.
Also what's your guys opinion on doing the oil change in the spring?
If I put a lot of hours on, or had any issues (overheating, running rich, etc), then I would probably change it before storage. The idea is that the oil gets contaminated and that oil is more corrosive to the bearing surfaces that it will be sitting in all winter. If the boat was lightly used and had no issues, I would probably put it off till spring.