Winterizing Advice

[Mike...]

For my Christmas present, my lovely wife found me some inside storage for the TomCat. We are going to take the TomCat over in the morning, but I wanted to check in here first to see what I need to do to make sure all is well for the long winter's night.

Despite all this global warming we supposedly have going on, we are likely to hit record lows again this month and next - beating last year's record lows. If so, we will get down to zero degrees some nights. The warehouse is not heated, but I can plug in my dehumidifier, which does seem to warm the house somewhat. I could also plug in a small heater, but I would really worry about it catching fire.

I turned on the pump for the water system and opened the faucet and it spat a little antifreeze at me. I ran it for 30 seconds or so and nothing came out. I shut down the pump, and opened the water heater drain valve, and no water came out. There is some condensation in the drain box, but no standing water. The head and shower appear to have never been used.

To the extent possible, I will pump out any remaining water in the bilge before we take her into the warehouse. I will also pump out those damn leaky fish boxes, now that I have both macerators running again. I'll pump a little antifreeze into the lines before shutting down the pumps. Should I pour some antifreeze into the bilge?

The fuel gauges show empty. The batteries are charged, and since I have power, I can leave the charger running on the batteries. Can I leave the batteries in the boat?

I want to cover the boat because the warehouse is rather dusty. But, try as I might, I remain unsuccessful at getting a cover made. I do have one of those big blue plastic tarps I could put over the boat, but I remember something about how its bad to use plastic tarps on gelcoat. Is that true even when indoors?

Finally, I'll put the outboards down. Anything else I need to do for them?

What about the electronics?

What am I missing?
---
mike

[Sea Wolf]

Mike-

I can't answer all your questions, but will try to help.

The batteries will be OK left on the charger (if it's self-regulating on float charge settings), but I'd take them out and take them home if I could keep them significantly warmer and charged there. It's easier on them.

I'm guessing that the blue tarp / gelcoat issue is one of the "hardish" plastic becoming coated with abrasive dust, then scuffing up the finish with the wind providing the motion. If that's right, then a clean tarp in a warehouse without wind would be OK. Even better yet, cover the boat with soft woven material, like old bedspreads, then cover it with a tarp, and you should be home free.

I wouldn't trust the heater left unattended, either. Maybe a grounded dehumidifier or single other warm, but not hot source, fully circuit breaker protected by a bus bar and GFI circuit, etc. You can't just lay awake at night just thinking about it....and there might be a liability issue if your boat was the one that started the fire.....(?)

Do any of your electronics draw power for their memory or clock functions? I'd disconnect them with their circuit breakers, fuses, or wiring, or otherwise isolate the batteries from them somehow to stop the drain. I don't think you have to worry about water or temperature damage to your electronics in the warehouse. Is possible theft an issue?

I'll let others deal with the water issues, as they probably have more experience with them, but I think you're pretty much right on the target!

Good Luck!

Joe.

[Levitation]

See the winterizing procedure sheet - probably in the tech section...

[Levitation]

Well, took a quick look and it is not there... in the 'All Rangers' section, IDLEUP has a picture essay on winterizing, 90% of which will apply to Tomcats...
Other than that i do not remember where the WINTERIZING PROCEDURE sheet is hidden... Others need to help here..

[Sea Wolf]

RECENT WINTERIZING DISCUSSIONS:

winterizing questions

Winterizing

Draining the water tank?

Winterize with vodka

For MORE results, just put "winterizing" in the top space of the Search function after clicking the link at the top of the page.

Joe.

[Levitation]

Ahhh, I just remembered... The winterizing procedure for Rangers is on the home page of TUGNUTS... Again, this is not specifically for Tomcats but will cover 90% of it...

[Sea Wolf]

[Captains Cat]

If you winterize with gin, how do you get the olives back out?

Charlie

[helm]

When we left Chack Chack in Mackinaw City, Michigan for the winter indoors but not heated we did the following

1. Oil Change
2. Batteries out of the boat and on a charging bank - Sheplers did this
3. Disconnected the hot water tank from the fresh water system then used compressed air to remove all the water from the tank
4. Antifreeze in the fresh water tank and then through the entire water system
5. Antifreeze through the shower drain until it was pumping over the side
6. Antifreeze in the head holding tank
7. Someone also pointed out that you should change your lower unit oil before you stow the boat just on the outside chance that water has entered the lower unit and could freeze causing damage
8. Engine stored down
9. Anything that could freeze and burst was taken off the boat
10. Made sure the bilge was dry
11. Extra stabilizer in the fuel we left our tank 1/4 full with no ethanol fuel and that seemed to be fine - no water problems in the fuel tank

We came back in the spring and were good to go.
Eric

[matt_unique]

Eric and others described the process well. I will add my .02 (not necessarily in order)...

I always take the batteries off, clean them good, check/fill the chambers with distilled water if necessary, charge, then store in our heated basement. You will get much more life out of the them if you do. Also, very important, as you are disconnecting the wires on the batteries use zip ties to group them and write (on the zip ties) where they go...it would be very easy to mix them up months later when you have three batteries and two switches.

I too run non-toxic antifreeze through every fresh water pipe...and look under your sink with a flashlight to make sure all your clear water hoses are pink. If they are not pink - you missed one. Also, your shower drain box should have the pink stuff. Pour in a little antifreeze into the fish boxes and the bilge until you see the pink stuff come out the side when you turn the pumps on.

In terms of the water heater, you probably have the Seaward S700 model without an anode which means it's OK to put in the propylene glycol non-toxic antifreeze. BUT - you will save A LOT of money/time/fluid by making a bypass. (Dr John posted some good pics and description here: http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album470&id=DSC_0951_01&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php)

It's very easy to do...1' of hose, couple of plastic barbs, and a couple of hose clamps and you're done. Once again - use the magic blow dryer to warm all the hoses before you remove and try to insert them into the barbs. When you disconnect the water hoses on the front of your heater, another gallon of water will come out - be prepared to mop it up.

Your engines of course need to be fully winterized - for me this means a good long run in a fresh water tub, add the correct amount of fuel stabilizer, fog the air intake at the end of this fresh water run, remove props (mark which is starboard and which is port), change oil, filter, grease the grease points/grease fittings, remove plugs to fog the engine cylinders (turn over with plugs removed to move the fog oil around), drain lower unit oil into a clean bucket so you can take a good look at it (make sure no large metal particles, fluid not milky, etc.) then refill with fluid and put the plugs back in with new plug gaskets. Like everything on boats, the mantra is "snug but not reefed". After stripping multiple lower unit plugs I now only remove them with an impact driver...saves them from the damage of screw driver attempts. I also spray the engines down good with corrosion block.

I remove my multi-function display and hand-held GPS to save the display and batteries (if applicable). I also spray some corrosion block on the windlass while the batteries are still attached and have the Admiral hit the switch for a few seconds.

Keep all the interior doors/storage compartments open for air flow and add at least one good moisture control bucket.

There are probably other things I am not thinking of right now....engines trimmed down of course...trailer locked in every way possible (hitch coupler, chain around tires/frame, etc.) Keep fridge propped open...be mindful of any fluids you brought aboard that might freeze and explode (i.e. beer, water, soda, etc.)

[Byrdman]

Or, go ahead and move your boat to an area where you can both thru the winter. Just think... a couple good road trips, and be able to add about 3-4 months worth of boating and get to see some areas you would normally not see.

$ XXXX.XX a year to boat / 8 months = $ XX a month

$ XXXX.XX a year to boat / 12 months.... well, it cheaper per month.

Just a thought.

Byrdman

[matt_unique]

[localboy]

I did as Eric described plus I pulled out all the V-berth pads, bedding etc and left a desiccant bucket in a storage tub up there; should the small bucket overflow it will only fill the storage tub. Put another one in the main cabin and opened all the cabinets etc a crack. I cracked the center front window too, for some air flow since it's stored in a big barn.

On a side note I put all the bedding and memory foam into two vacuum storage bags, sucked out the air and left them on the dinette.

[helm]

This year we followed Patricks advice and left the boat in Apalachicola!

Eric

[Mike...]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I particularly like the idea of using vodka for antifreeze. I'm not much of a gin drinker.

I didn't do anything further to the water system; hopefully I will not regret that. As I said above, it looked like it had been drained and some antifreeze was in the lines. The hot water tank was definitely empty. If there was water in those lines, I would be surprised. I did run the pump and open the sink valves and got nothing but some spattering antifreeze. At least I have that dehumidifier running which will warm the house somewhat.

On the Honda outboards, I had a full service done on them back in the summer, and they were never in the water after that service. I talked to the dealer and he said no prep was necessary; just make sure they are down. Hopefully I'll be ok here too.

After emptying the bilge, I poured some antifreeze in and into the fish boxes as well, pumping some of it out before shutting them down.

I left batteries in the boat running on the charger (which is in maintenance mode). I can go pull them next week if you guys think I really need to get them out of there. But I really don't have a place for them here at home. Maybe in the laundry room, but there is not a lot of room in there. Honestly they are safer in the boat unless I am going to ruin them by leaving then there.

I did put that big blue tarp over the TomCat; just to keep the dust off. I notice that no one her has yet to be concerned about this.

I guess, for my first winter with the boat, my hope is that I haven't done anything to cause major (expensive) damage. Next year, I will deal with this much sooner and get the boat detailed and winterized at the marina before putting it in storage.

This year was just, well, pretty bad. Working twice as hard for half the money.

I pray next year will be a whole bunch better!
---
mike