Keel tank winterization

[Jim saco]

I'm up in R.I last season I put 6 gallons of pink in my water tank and my holding tank. Is this necessary? I think it's a waste of pink but don't want to regret my decision without checking with the experts. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[saltshaker]

As long as you empty the tanks, there is no need for antifreeze. I remove the intake hose to the FW pump and pump the antifreeze through the system that way. I have never put anything in the tank of any of my boats. Make sure there isn't any water trapped in the strainer between the tank and the pump. That line should drain back to the tank once removed from the pump. I've kept boats in upstate NY where the temps would stay below 0 for days. I've never had a freeze problem.

 

[Walter P]

Jack, thanks for the reassurance because that's what I've been doing as well. Mainly do that because I'm cheap and won't spend the extra bucks for the pink stuff. Actually the reason I don't put pink into the water tank is because it takes half of the summer to get rid of the faint smell of it in the water. By the way, someone on this forum posted a deal on pink at Ace Hardware stores @$2.99 gal and I tracked down one of their stores in my area and sure enough they had it. I took 60 gals so that next year when it doubles in price I'll be all set so thanks for the valuable tip to whoever it was..sorry I don't remember who.


Walt

 

[rsmith]

Jack, thanks for the reassurance because that's what I've been doing as well. Mainly do that because I'm cheap and won't spend the extra bucks for the pink stuff. Actually the reason I don't put pink into the water tank is because it takes half of the summer to get rid of the faint smell of it in the water. By the way, someone on this forum posted a deal on pink at Ace Hardware stores @$2.99 gal and I tracked down one of their stores in my area and sure enough they had it. I took 60 gals so that next year when it doubles in price I'll be all set so thanks for the valuable tip to whoever it was..sorry I don't remember who.


Walt

Me, and if you had the ad it was another $1 off for 1.99 but there was a limit.
The times I left the boat up north I just sucked the tank down untill the pump quit running. The couple inches of water in the bottom freezing dosent hurt anything. There was no pink stuff that I remember when I used to do it. I blew everything out and drained the HW heater and never had a problem. If you have checkvalves in the system you need to get any trapped water out. Its just a mater of a little common sence thinking where low spots are and where water could be trapped.

 

[Jim saco]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate the tips and feel more comfortable now. Salks up here is 3.69 a gallon. It will be nice not to have to flush 3 tanks of fresh water out in the spring. I cut in a bypass for the hot water tank last winter and it will cut down considerably on the amount of pink smutz I have to purchase.
Thanks again

 

[Boatsb]

Just fill it all with Rum or vodka. It makes the re commissioning party so much better in the spring.

 

[bobk]

In my many years of preparing my boats for a northern winter I never used antifreeze in the water system. Drain what you can and use a shop vac to pull out the rest. Hook the vac to each faucet to do this. Open hot and cold lines separately. Or better yet, run your boat to Florida and enjoy

Cheers,
Bobk
Playing tourist in Norfolk