Winterization - Drain or Antifreeze?

[GaryMayo]

My sailboat will be 37 years old in January

This is the first freeze she has seen that I know about.

21 outside now, 17 by morning.

[Nicholson58]

Here on Muskegon Lake, West coast of Michigan it can get cold. Our boat came from Florida and was never made to winterize so we've had to be creative. She has 17 water pumps and a lot of complex water runs.

Open all through-hulls
Open all deck, shower, sink, shower valves.
Remove bottom hoses from all water tanks.
Open safety relief valve on water heater & break the bottom water line
Remove all water filter cartridge bowls
Break hoses at the heads.
Remove shower head hose/wands.
Break hoses at the air conditioner and refrigeration coils
Remove main hose from the Reverse cycle evaporater.
remove hoses from all circulation water pumps.
Remove pump head screws and open/drain pump heads.
Run the bilge pump to discharge some 300 gallons of water.
Pull the seawater connections from the engine & Gen set heat exchangers.
Remove the engine raw water impeller.
Use the wet/dry vac to suck/blow ever line both ways from each end.
Remove the top from the main and aux sea water strainers. Vac the bowl and all attached lines.
Drain the water from your mufler/exhaust mixing canister(s) if you have them.

Pay $pecial attention to the coil$ on refrigeration $ystem$. My coils are vertical so they do not drain naturally. I use a funnel and hose to force glycol through them.

Add Propylene Glycol to the raw water strainers. (close the sea cock) It will drain naturally through the system and start drooling out at low points. I progressively shut off valves and eventually force the stuff into everything. I pour a lot of glycol into the reverse cycle evaporator as it is a low point trap.

My frige/freezers both have condensate drains to the shower sump. Don't forget to vac these out and pour in glycol.

Shower sumps need to be emptied & cleaned. I pump a bit of bleach followed by water followd by glycol. Pump glycol out to fill the pump and strainer.

Last is to empty the bilge sump. I follow that with a gallon of glycol and pump it out to fill the bilge lines. I leave a couple of gallons of glycol in the sump and tie the pump out of the sump.

Can't wait to retire and move this thing SOUTH!

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by nigel1

Retails about 30 to 50 dollars a gallon in the UK depending on the mix (anti freeze that is, not vodka)

Whoa that's a bit steep. Wonder if it would be worth it to ship from the US. Under $10/gallon here, and much less than that depending on where you get it. Importing it might be a good business opportunity.

BTW for those people who don't put anti-freeze in your tanks, your big risk becomes the tank outlet port. I declined to buy a boat that had freeze damage, and one of the issues was the tank fitting where the hose connects was cracked.

If you're going to use air to blow it out, you need to figure a way to block the tank vent and make some kind of fitting to pressurize the tank from the deck fill. Either that or (if your tank has an access port) sponge out much of the remainder after you empty it.

[Nicholson58]

I pay $3.65/gallon for -50F at Home Depot by the case. at 50 or 60 it had better be drinkable. When Boater's World store closed it was 50 cents a bottle - clearance.

SailfastTri is correct about the tanks. Mine empty with the hoses removed but I finish with a shop vac through the open inspection vents.

[FruiVita]

I bought a boat in January that had been on the hard for a while. I believe the PO poured some sort of antifreeze into the FW tank and lines. I don't know what he used. I tried to flush it out earlier this spring but the ball valve from the FW tank, the filters and lines were plugged with a grainy white goo that had a strong antifreeze odor. Maybe the antifreeze gelled or reacted with the aluminum? Bottom line is I have flushed the FW tank several times and can't get rid of the antifreeze odor. The tank seems sealed so I can't pop it open to vacuum it out. It's an aluminum tank on an old S2 11.0. Any recommendations? Is there a type of in-line filter that will work? Maybe one at the faucets?