A Winterisation Newbie

[jcwads]

So I find myself contemplating over a new quandary that has presented itself to me. As I plan to take my Monterey out of the water for the winter, I had not realised I need to get the boat 'winterised'.

I am sure I can remove the batteries etc, but I certainly don't know what I am doing regarding removing water from the engine, adding antifreeze etc etc... Can anyone recommend who I get to do this in the Hamble area and if its going to cost a fortune? I may need to sell a kidney soon to keep up this boating hobby.

 

[rafiki_]

You should be able to do much of this yourself. Is the engine directly raw water cooled, or does it have a separate system where raw water cools the sealed engine coolant? Either way, if you have a stern drive, with your boat on hard standing, you can use "muffs" over the coolant intakes on the sterndrive, and feed 50% antifreeze mix into the system. A big funnel, hose and jerry can full of the mix. Get a friend to start the engine as you feed the coolant. Should only take a few seconds before you see coolant coming out of the exhaust.
Drain down your domestic water system. Open a tap as normal, until it runs dry. There will be a drain tap or plug near your calorifier. Open this, and with a dinghy air pump, attach to an open tap, and pump out any water in the calorifier.
Get a couple of "tube" heaters, 120W, sort of thing used in a greenhouse, and a thermostat plug off E Bay. Set the plug to 5C, and connect the heaters in the engine bay. This will prevent any freezing. You might also do the same in the cabin. You can reduce condensation by using desiccant moisture traps in the cabin too.
I used to do the above on my Sterndrive boats, and had no issues down to -19C.
If you are unhappy with any of this, any good marine mechanic will do the job in a couple of hours, say £100 to £150 inc coolant.

 

[jcwads]

Thanks for the tips rafiki. I think that to be safe and not sorry I will get a marine mechanic to do the engine (D4 Penta). I can crack on with the domestic water system myself and put in heaters etc.

Cheers

 

[Robert Wilson]

You'll be lucky if you get away with selling just one kidney!
Welcome to the amazingly low-cost pastime of boating. Someone will be long in a minute to spoil your Christmas with tales of replacements, repairs, goodie-purchasing, painting, equipment up-grading, life-raft servicing, survey costs, insurance premiums, marina security disclaimers etc etc.

But don't let that put you off; enjoy your boat, the tasks and satisfaction of doing work yourself and the dreaming of boat-shows and of course "The Next Boat" :encouragement:

 

[rafiki_]

There are lots of smaller companies who can help you in the Hamble area, VolvoPaul and Tom Parker (Tompa Marine), both have a great rep on here. There are plenty of us who also boat in the Hamble area, and would be happy to add our tuppence worth if araond at the right time. Where is your boat?

 

[jcwads]

It's in Port Hamble. I've just arranged for Hamble Yacht Care to take care of it. They seem very reasonable and are based at Mercury where I will be keeping her ashore.

 

[rafiki_]

It's in Port Hamble. I've just arranged for Hamble Yacht Care to take care of it. They seem very reasonable and are based at Mercury where I will be keeping her ashore.

Great, I hope it goes well.

 

[QBhoy]

Rafiki
Might need to be a little more detailed with your description on winterising the boat when out the water and with the muffs. Otherwise people who may not be as well informed might try what you described word for word and have an expensive headache come the new season.
All the best.

 

[rafiki_]

Rafiki
Might need to be a little more detailed with your description on winterising the boat when out the water and with the muffs. Otherwise people who may not be as well informed might try what you described word for word and have an expensive headache come the new season.
All the best.

?

 

[QBhoy]

Hi
If you don't allow the engine to run up to temperature first, the thermostat won't be open before running through the antifreeze.
If you just run antifreeze through the muffs without opening thermostat, it won't end well.
Cheers.

 

[neale]

Hi
If you don't allow the engine to run up to temperature first, the thermostat won't be open before running through the antifreeze.
If you just run antifreeze through the muffs without opening thermostat, it won't end well.
Cheers.

Volvo D4 will be fresh water cooled, so this is not an issue for the OP. Good advice for anyone with a raw water cooled engine though.

 

[QBhoy]

Totally correct neale.
Was just to point out for the benefit of anyone reading the post who thought that might be the case for raw water cooled. Mercruiser and Volvo penta gm blocks and the likes.
Having just winterised a pair of Volvo penta tamd61 (internal cooling system) I find the following works great;
Test the internal cooling system with a manometer like antifreeze indicator
Drain after coolers etc of SW
Drain reverse gear oil cooler of SW
Replace plugs
Remove SW pump intake hose at strainer and pour a feed of antifreeze mix in while starting engines for a short period of time (trying not to let pump run dry)
The antifreeze should then pump through all SW system and out exhaust (environmentally friendly type of course)
Then remove plugs and drain as before.
These are the basics but you won't go far wrong with this method.

 

[rafiki_]

Hi
If you don't allow the engine to run up to temperature first, the thermostat won't be open before running through the antifreeze.
If you just run antifreeze through the muffs without opening thermostat, it won't end well.
Cheers.

All agreed. I never meant my post to be the Haynes Manual on winterization, purely a comment on ".........it aint that hard"...... There are a number of variables which weren't clear when I made post #2.