WINTERIZING QUESTION
The recent drop in temperature has me thinking about the many steps that go into winterizing Southern Comfort. I've gone over Rich Lemieux's excellent Fall/Winter Checklist, read the Seaward Water Heaters Owner's Manual, and watched a few relevant YouTubes, but I still have questions.
I don't mind having the marina do the job, but I'd still like to know exactly what needs to be done.
Here is the current plan. Interrupt me at any time.
HOT WATER TANK
Empty the hot water tank into bilge.
Disconnect input and output hoses from hot water tank and connect to each other.
Using air compressor, blow water out of hot water tank. (Is there any special fitting necessary for this? Does this force the water out of the tubes that circulate around the engine? Does that water just flow out of the heater drain? Does this just leave the hot water tank empty and not in need of AF?)
Leave drain open.
FRESH WATER
Empty the three water tanks, running until each water outlet sputters.
Close the three valves controlling flow from tanks.
Pour one gallon of non-toxic anti-freeze into each of the water tanks. (Is this going to be enough? I'll have more handy, but I'd rather put in the correct amount the first time.)
Open only bow valve and run hot and cold water in head sink until AF comes out of both.
Flush fresh water head until AF comes out.
Close bow valve, open starboard tank valve, and run hot and cold galley sink water until AF comes out of both.
Close starboard tank valve and open remaining valve. Run hot and cold water of aft shower until AF comes out of both.
Close all tank valves.
HEAD
Pour additional AF into head, flush, switch Y-valve to overboard, open through hull, and run macerator. Have second in command (me) catching discharge in 5 gallon bucket until AF comes out and hope that last pump out was thorough. (Should I add anything at this time? Lubricant for macerator?)
REFRIGERATOR
Pour AF into icebox drain, pump out, and mop out residue.
AUTOMATIC BILGE
Pour AF into bilge, pump out until AF comes out of overboard through hull. (Is there a reason to mop out residual AF rather than letting it stay there until spring?)
SHOWER DRAIN
Repeat last step for shower drain.
MANUAL BILGE PUMP
Put manual pump hose into AF and pump until AF comes out of through hull. (Where is that end of the hose? I'm not on the boat, and I don't recall seeing it.)
I'm concerned that even doing all above steps that there is some little tube or pump that has been ignored and thus subject freezing.
Southern Comfort #1881
Tall rig, Wing Keel
Potomac River/Chesapeake Bay
This is not a hard job, and once you've done it the first time you'll find its one of the least disagreeable maintenance tasks (compared to, say, changing the engine and transmission oil). Couple of comments on your list.
1) Rather than disconnect the hoses from the hot water tank and connect them (which will be a PITA to do on a recurring basis), you can install a bypass valve that connects the input and output lines of the hot water tank; that way the antifreeze you put in your fresh water tanks can get pumped into the hot water lines coming off the hot water tank without first going into it. Google for "Camco 35983 Quick Turn Permanent By-Pass Kit" and you can find one online for well under 20 bucks (I got one at a local boating supply shop). Kit looks like this:
Once you've installed this, you can just drain out the hot water tank and leave it alone (haven't found a need to blow the last bit of water out, I just leave the valve open). I found it made winterizing the fresh water systems a whole lot easier (and there's no need to put any antifreeze in the hot water tank if you've bypassed it and drained it.
Lastly, blowing compressed air into the hot water tank won't do anything to "force the water out of the tubes that circulate around the engine". That's part of a separate loop that circulates engine coolant (not drinking water) from the engine to a heat exchanger coil inside the hot water tank.
2) I don't know how your boat is plumbed, but on ours there is no need to switch the Y valve to use the macerator (only if one wanted to pump head directly overboard, which we never do). I've never run antifreeze through the macerator (sounds like a disgusting and unneeded operation). I get a pump-out right before I winterize, and after that the only thing going into the head is antifreeze, which I assume is sufficient to deal with whatever is in the hose running to the macerator (the macerator and the lines leading to it should be pretty much emptied out by a pump-out.) We're 200 miles north of you, and haven't had any freezing problems in 5 winters of ownership (knock on teak!).
3) I'm assuming you don't have a heat pump/ air conditioner, but if you do you'll need to winterize the raw water loop for that, too.
4) Don't forget you also need to winterize the raw water side of the engine cooling system, too.
Matthew Chachère
s/v ¡Que Chévere!
(Formerly 1985 C36 MKI #466 tall rig fin keel M25)
2006 Catalina Morgan 440 #30.
Homeported in eastern Long Island, NY
THANK YOU SO MUCH - BEST RESPONSE EVER!
This forum is so helpful.
It wasn't clear to me just how to hook up your bypass system so I went to YouTube and found a short video. Once I understood that one of the pieces was a check valve, things became clearer. BUT the guys making the video put it all together incorrectly. In any case, your response really, really helps. I'll order either the system you have in the picture or a second bypass system sold by Amazon that looks like it would serve the same purpose.
We went over to the boat yesterday and decided just to do the work ourselves. I figured that what I lacked in knowledge I could make up for in motivation for a successful job.
Galley sink, head sink, aft shower, frig, and bilge pump are all done. The shower drain pump didn't come on at all so that will need attention. I didn't try to blow air into the water heater - sounds like that is not necessary. I didn't do anything with the black water holding tank - sounds like that is not necessary other than running some AF through the head.
Southern Comfort is on the hard now. Prior to changing the oil, can I warm the engine by closing the raw water intake, running a hose with a cut off to the aft cabin, and supplying water to the engine through the strainer?
After the oil and filter have been changed, I'll pour AF into the strainer until it comes out the exhaust and finish by opening the raw water seacock.
You may find the video hooking up the bypass incorrectly amusing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70jDsIsMjbs
Southern Comfort #1881
Tall rig, Wing Keel
Potomac River/Chesapeake Bay
[quote=mrmac]Southern Comfort is on the hard now. Prior to changing the oil, can I warm the engine by closing the raw water intake, running a hose with a cut off to the aft cabin, and supplying water to the engine through the strainer?
After the oil and filter have been changed, I'll pour AF into the strainer until it comes out the exhaust and finish by opening the raw water seacock.
[/quote]
You may find it difficult to regulate the amount of water going into the strainer that way (i.e. either you'll overflow or it will run dry).
What is easier is to disconnect the hose from the strainer (that runs to the raw water pump) and dunk it into a 5 gallon pail sitting on the floor of the aft cabin (or, if the hose won't reach, pull it back into main engine compartment and put the pail on the floor by the nav table) and keep the pail partially filled from the outside water hose running into it.
Once the engine is warmed up, its time for the oil change. While you're busy making a mess with that, don't forget that, according to the Hurth manual, the transmission should be filled up for the winter. In the spring, you'll need to pump out the excess transmission fluid out (or better, just empty it and refill to the proper level with fresh fluid).
Next try to drain as much raw water out of the system engine raw water system as you can, to minimize dilution of the antifreeze: 1) remove the zinc anode from the heat exchanger (good time to change it anyway) to drain it, then replace the zinc; 2) open the petcock on the water lift muffler and drain that, then close; 3) you can also open the cover to the impeller and let the water drain out, then close.
Now empty the pail out, and then dump a couple of gallons of antifreeze into the pail, and stick the hose back in. (I find the raw water pump usually has sufficient suction to prime itself even if the system was drained, but sometimes it may need a little help, so you can put a funnel in the end of the hose and pour a little antifreeze into it before sticking it into the bucket) Run the engine long enough to get a good steady stream of pink stuff out the exhaust, then shut down for good. I drain the water lift muffler and the heat exchanger again just to be sure, and remove the impeller for the winter (sure there's now antifreeze in there, but it may still be somewhat diluted, so better to drain as much out as possible).
By the way, rather than disconnect the hose from the strainer, I have a T fitting in that hose which has a garden hose connection that is normally capped. Looks something like this (grabbed from the internet, wrong size barbs, but just to give you the idea):
I close the sea cock, remove the cap on the tee, and attach a short piece of hose to the T (a washing machine hose works great for this). Either way, don't forget to drain the strainer out when you are done winterizing.
I commend you to MaineSail's excellent "how-to" website. He has two articles that may be of great use to you:
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/engine_freeze_protection
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/water_system_winterizing
Matthew Chachère
s/v ¡Que Chévere!
(Formerly 1985 C36 MKI #466 tall rig fin keel M25)
2006 Catalina Morgan 440 #30.
Homeported in eastern Long Island, NY
This is often what I use to bypass water heaters on my own boat and my customers. First I get rid of any hard piping or direct PVC hose to the water heater because they can soften and slide off with the heat (engine runs at 180F and the hose is only rated to 150F)..... I then install some braided stainless hoses between the water supply hose and tank. A simple 2" or 3" nipple acts as the bypass in the fall. I generally use plastic nipples and zip tie them to a hose for the summer so they are there and not lost in the fall. Some water heaters don't have drain cocks so the SS hoses are cheap and simple. The main reason I do this is for draining the heater. I don't like burping the T&P to allow a tank to drain because more often than not the T&P then won't re-seal and leaks. By removing the hoses from cold feet (drain) and hot supply the tank drains without needing to pop the T&P..
I also install the Camco kits but find the nipple and flexible braided hoses just as easy..
More info here....
Winterizing a Fresh Water System (LINK)
-Maine Sail
https://www.marinehowto.com/