Helia 44: Winterising Helia 44

[julianvezey]

Hiya the Helia Community

I've spent some time going through all the threads on the Helia forum and there really is good information on the forum. So, as a newcomer, a thank you for all the information already on the site.

We have sailed our Helia from La Rochelle to Greece and will soon take her out of the water and winterise here in Greece at Cleopatra Marina at Preveza. This is the first time I have winterised a cat.

I have organised for the engines and generator to be flushed and serviced and some 'cosmetic' touch ups. I will also flush the A/Cs and the watermaker.

What tips, suggestions and experiences have you guys had with winterising your Helias and what would you suggest needs to be checked before next season ?

[Cotemar]

We live in Newport Rhode Island, USA and will be winterizing our Helia 44 soon also.
Engines are easy 5 minute job.
Pull inlet hose off sea cock raise it above engine, put a funnel in end, start engine and pour in 1 gal of antifreeze, shut off engine just before gal of antifreeze is empty.

All other systems are pretty much as manuals show.

Generator has a one way valve at the sea cock. Will have to figure out how to get antifreeze in that and the ball valve sea cock as we leave our boat in the water.

We had a boom winter cover made to allow any snow to slide off the boat.

[jbinbi]

Hmm. I do the engine a bit differently. Don't pull the inlet hose off. I have a saildrive, so I just shut the intake valve. I open up the sea water strainer, and run engine and start pouring antifreeze in there. Have another person watch exhaust outlet, when they see a good flow of pink stuff, shut down the engine. When boat is on the hard, then open intake valve, you should see pink stuff come out there as well.

I am not sure there are freezing temps in Greece.

@Cotemar, do you take off your mainsail? (I have a thread in the lagoon section trying to figure out how to get the sail off!)

Also, who made your cover, and what material. How does it go over the hardtop. At least on my boat, you can't make a triangle from the boom to the rail where the hardtop is.

[Cotemar]

We wrap our mail sail in a tarp and hurricane tie it.
We remove our helm enclosure and ss frame.
We then install a few very tight lines about 8" inches above the now tarped mail sail.
We then install the 3 piece boom tent over the tight lines and tie the bottom down to the toe rail tight lines we installed before hand.
The boom tent is in 3 pieces because it would weight 75 lbs as on piece. The 3 parts zipper together and are 25 lbs each.
Our boom is huge, so putting a cover over it covers most of the boat.

The winter cover was made by:
The Canvas Store
11 Mill Dam Road
Huntington, NY 11743
Phone: 631-549-0970
The Canvas Store - Huntington New York - Providing Boat Canvas, Dodgers, Biminis, Winter Covers and Much More!

Talk to the owner Steve

Material - Top Gun Marine Canvas - Indian Birch (472)

We did the same process on our FP Mahe 36 for 7 years and all went well.

[Cotemar]

Helia 44 Owners,

Have changed the oil and winterized the dinghy engine.
Had it shrink wrapped for $120 usd.

[Cotemar]

Helia 44 Owners,

Here is how our winter cover looks installed.

We wrap our mail sail in a tarp and hurricane tie it.
We remove our helm enclosure and ss frame.
We then install a few very tight lines about 8" inches above the now tarped mail sail.
We then install the 3 piece boom tent over the tight lines and tie the bottom down to the toe rail tight lines we installed before hand.
The boom tent is in 3 pieces because it would weight 75 lbs as on piece. The 3 parts zipper together and are 25 lbs each.
Our boom is huge, so putting a cover over it covers most of the boat.

The winter cover was made by:
The Canvas Store
11 Mill Dam Road
Huntington, NY 11743
Phone: 631-549-0970
The Canvas Store - Huntington New York - Providing Boat Canvas, Dodgers, Biminis, Winter Covers and Much More!

Talk to the owner Steve

Material - Top Gun Marine Canvas - Indian Birch (472)

We did the same process on our FP Mahe 36 for 7 years and all went well.

[Kazamaran]

Hey Mark caught your post regarding winterization and thought I'd share my method for thru hull protection while in the water. i take the regular hose off and fit a short piece of hose on; something you can reach to blow. get a small funnel and poor a small amount of pink sauce in it. Put mouth pressure on it while opening the pitcock. You can blow enough to overcome water pressure. Close valve while blowing and you're done. This method will also leave pink stuff in, around and under the valve body and of course the nipple above the valve. The pink sauce will also stay in the thru hull fitting to the valve. I never worried about whats in the water It's that 3 inches above the hull bottom that keeps you up at nite because there's little heat transfer with Marelon so hull and water temp doesnt help you much when it gets bone cold. i small watt bulb is an answer but leaving those on can also contribute to a sleepless nite as well. Hope you're well and sounds like you're knee deep into your new boat already. Ken

[Cotemar]

Kazamaran,

Thanks for the winterizing tips. We need all the help we can get.

[jbinbi]

just remember, if the water freezes and expands, it only causes damage if it can't go anywhere. If you have a 12 in hose laying down and just 1" of water in it the water will just expand a bit to either side and not burst the hose.

If you leave the seacocks open and they are at the lowest point, all your water should have drained out and hopefully there is just air in the line, and the seacock is safe.

Of course, this is just what should happen. If some water gets trapped and freezes and can't go anywhere, then we have potential problems.

On some of my other monohulls I used compressed air to just blow all the water out of the lines, but these were not complex plumbing systems. I don't believe I can do that with they myriad plumbing lines in my cat.

[Cotemar]

There is a bit of a difference when winter storing a boat IN the water verses OUT of the water.

When winter storing in the water, Kazamaran was talking about how he ensures that he gets RV antifreeze into his through hull ball valves so they do not freeze. Which is a nice little method.

I did it a bit different but had the same outcome as Kazamaran did above.

I attached a longer 3 foot hose to the through hull inlet valve to get the top end of the hose above the water line.

Filled the 3 foot hose with RV antifreeze and opened the through hull valve until I seen the RV antifreeze go down about 1 foot to the water line and then closed the through hull valve.

Both of these methods ensures that the through hull valve will have RV antifreeze in the valve while the boat is winter stored in the water.

[jbinbi]

Just curious, not sure if you have seawater heads (I also have a seawater refrig and seawater foot pump for the galley), but do you do the same for the intakes there?

Getting the hoses off these barb fittings is a real PITA, you sort of destroy a bit of hose each time especially in the cold weather.

Asking about when the boat is on the hard. I have wondered if I could take a tube from the jug of antifreeze and just shove it up the thruhull up to the seacock and pump the toilet. Is there enough suction to pull out some antifreeze?

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by jbinbi

Just curious, not sure if you have seawater heads (I also have a seawater refrig and seawater foot pump for the galley), but do you do the same for the intakes there?

Getting the hoses off these barb fittings is a real PITA, you sort of destroy a bit of hose each time especially in the cold weather.

Asking about when the boat is on the hard. I have wondered if I could take a tube from the jug of antifreeze and just shove it up the thruhull up to the seacock and pump the toilet. Is there enough suction to pull out some antifreeze?

If your winter storing OUT of the water, then you just ensure that RV antifreeze has gone from the thru-hull valve through each of your systems.

No need to keep RV antifreeze in the thru-hull valve.

You just want to ensure their is no sea water in the thru-hull valve.

If you can get a good seal, then your method of putting a tube from the jug of antifreeze and just shove it up the thru-hull up to the seacock and pump the toilet may work well. It maybe hard to get a good seal with the hose if your boat has inlets with the 2 detent inside.

I always have a heat gun with me when I try to pull hoses off the barbs in cold weather. Just heat the hose for a few seconds and they will slide right off the barbs.
.
.

[jbinbi]

Yeah, out of the water, normally just opening the valve drains any water from a portion of the hose higher than the valve via gravity, but always a little bit that might not get out.

Pumping the head a few times usually sucks up the the rest into the bowl and then out, and pouring antifreeze into the bowl and pumping pushes the rest through the pipes.

But it would be better to take off hose from valve, stick it in antifreeze jug and pump that way. Just very hard to do without jury rigging extra hose etc.