Help - How to prepare for near record cold and low temps in Wilmington

[Tawney1]

Our boat is still on the hard for bottom paint and other work just north of Wilmington (NC). Weather forecasts for the next 3 days predict near record lows of 19, and on Tuesday the daily temp is not to rise above freezing.... Ugh

We have always kept Miss Mary Alma in the water during winter and we have never had to deal with cold temps this low - and now she's out of the water. We have opened all faucets, but have not blown out the lines. Is that enough? Other than blocking the engine air intakes with insulation and turning-on the block heaters, what other preparations should we make to keep everthing from freezing and keeping her happy?? We have no shore power connections at the yard - block heaters are operating from regular extension cords....

Any and all suggestions and comments, as always, is most appreciated!! Many thanks,

Paul

 

[saltshaker]

Our boat is still on the hard for bottom paint and other work just north of Wilmington (NC). Weather forecasts for the next 3 days predict near record lows of 19, and on Tuesday the daily temp is not to rise above freezing.... Ugh

We have always kept Miss Mary Alma in the water during winter and we have never had to deal with cold temps this low - and now she's out of the water. We have opened all faucets, but have not blown out the lines. Is that enough? Other than blocking the engine air intakes with insulation and turning-on the block heaters, what other preparations should we make to keep everthing from freezing and keeping her happy?? We have no shore power connections at the yard - block heaters are operating from regular extension cords....

Any and all suggestions and comments, as always, is most appreciated!! Many thanks,

Paul

The block heaters will take care of the ER but check them regularly. With temps that cold others are probably doing the same as you are. Since you are running off of regular 120 Edison outlets you may easily trip a breaker if anything else is on those circuits. I would drain the water tank down, empty the water heater and either blow out all water lines or pick up some antifreeze and winterize the FW system. Don't forget to do the heads, all drains, all seacocks should be opened, strainers emptied, all fw water and raw water wash-downs and connections ice makers, dishwasher, washing machine, basicly anything that uses water. It's not that difficult. If you can disconnect the hose from your water tank and connect a piece of hose to the line to the pump, you can pour the antifreeze in a bucket and use your FW pump to pump it through the system. Make sure you drain and bypass the water heater first. You can easily do that with a few fittings and hose.

 

[Outrageous65]

If you can get another cord to the boat add a halogen spot light. Get a 150 watt light and place it in the lowest part of the bilge in the cabin space. Leave all cabin hatches to bilge and also all cabinets open. Open everything to allow the warmer air to circulate. You don't need a lot of heat, just above 32 degrees. I have had to do this on many boats over the years and never had a freeze. The more lights the better also try and keep the cold air out.

 

[Tawney1]

The water heater is in the starboard engine room. Will that make a difference on whether to drain it? Also, I have no power to the pumps.... I'm not sure how to manage using the freshwater pump to do the antifreeze…

 

[Avenger]

Without being a wise@$$ I'd politely suggest that if you're this unsure about how to go about this you may want to invest in a professional to get this done before frostbite kicks in. The cost of repairing freeze damage will far exceed the pro's bill.

 

[Genesis]

Beware with cold down to this level on the hard.

Temps that go materially into the 20s for any length of time (many hours) in a given space that has water lines in it will freeze.

Copper water lines (not to mention water heaters and the like) are very intolerant of this and will split, and if they split behind walls or in other difficult-to-access spaces you're in real trouble.

You need to either keep the interior (all of it) over freezing for the duration of the hard-freeze period or get the water out of the lines if you're up on the hard. Oh, and the saltwater side of the H/E has water in it too....

The other thing to make sure is that your batteries are either out of the boat (where it's not freezing) or fully-charged. A charged battery will not freeze, but a discharged one will.

 

[jim rosenthal]

You will need to winterize your engines, gensets, FW system, heads, bilge pumps- anything that can freeze. Drain what you can, and winterize (pump pink AF through) everything else. Get the boatyard to help you if you can; the cost of doing all this, as pointed out above, will be far less than the cost of replacing all of it and repairing the damage it all does when it freezes and bursts.

Also get any water supplies off the boat- like bottled water, also soda, juice, anything like that. The will freeze and they will burst and make a mess.

I would not rely on blowing out the FW lines with air, not this first time. Pump AF through the system. If there is a low spot with water in it, the air will bubble through the water and not push it out. The line may burst when it freezes.

 

[bostonhatteras]

Beware with cold down to this level on the hard.

Temps that go materially into the 20s for any length of time (many hours) in a given space that has water lines in it will freeze.

Copper water lines (not to mention water heaters and the like) are very intolerant of this and will split, and if they split behind walls or in other difficult-to-access spaces you're in real trouble.

This is very true. The whole boat could be 75 degrees but that water line hard up against the hull in a recess or other inaccessible area will be at the exterior temp. If you loose electricity you probably won't be able to get all the water out before you have problem. Plan ahead and winterized now. Like another poster said its short money compared to repairs.

 

[Genesis]

My strategy when I owned my 45C for nights with temperatures that had an expected "2" first digit or lower for more than 4 hours was to sleep on the boat with the reverse-cycle heat running. I also turned on the engine preheaters (Wolverine pads.) Since we were in the water and the heat was running this was sufficient to prevent water lines from being exposed to a freeze. If the shore-power feed tripped and couldn't be restored for some reason I had the option of starting the genset. Remember you have water lines for the sinks and such near the hull and away from the engine room and they're a real bitch to get to and replace if they split too.

On the hard it's much more difficult, especially if you don't have power. In that case you either need the water out or the pink antifreeze in, period.

I made sure my small boat (on the hard in the driveway) had all of its fresh-water and washdown systems purged this evening -- we're going get a "1" for the first digit of our overnight temps tomorrow, and I don't feel like fixing damage in the spring.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Most of my boating has been on the Great Lakes. It is cold, in fact we are expecting -10 degrees tonight. All these suggestions are great. Use lots of RV "red pop" anti freeze. You will need enough power to run your water pump. The one thing everybody forgets is your air conditioner coolant water pump. Remove the hose from the AC sea water strainer and pour red pop into the hose. There is no good way to run this pump without some hefty power, but you can remove the cover and the impeller. Don't forget your engines and generator strainers and pumps. It is a tough job but folks up here have been doing that and more for many years.

 

[saltshaker]

If you can't get enough power to run your FW pump, go to Home Depot and buy a pump. I have a sprinkler back up pump that I use for winterizing. 120V AC with adapters for garden hose or hose barbs. I use mine to run antifreeze through the water inlets, AC lines and pumps. This is the one I have.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Flotec-1-2-HP-Sprinkler-Utility-Pump-FP5112/100039433?N=c71l

 

[Boatsb]

Jump the relays on the ac pump. No need to pull the impeller its not rubber.

run the 12 volt fw pump for the rest. Put a hose adapter on a sink and use the hose to get to all the other places that you need to pump it into. Its not rocket surgery.

 

[Fastinated]

Well take all advice, but I'm here in NC and getting my stuff together tonight (by tonight) make sure you can eliminate any air drafts from the outside. There's alot of boat, alot of metal, and alot of other things that need to shed heat before anything bad happens.. That maybe tomorrow night (tues night) it's only getting to 24 tomorrow so that's the hard part is the extended cold periods. My guess is the Hot water heater will be fine, but like someone said any lines laying or attached to the outer hull are fair game for bad things to happen.

Just a stupid ? but can you pull an impeller for the engine (if it's easy) and run til the closed loop system is warm? Being that it's on the hard.... That's a ton of heat and will definately keep the inside warm. We're talking maybe 36 hours of cold here.... So maybe warm both engines tues night?

 

[Boatsb]

We did it all the time to winterize but many yards will not let you run a boat on the hard because it can be dangerous. Boats in the water seem to do better in the cold by my experience. The water keeps them warm. Put it back in and be ready for spring early.

 

[spartonboat1]

Most of my boating has been on the Great Lakes. It is cold, in fact we are expecting -10 degrees tonight. All these suggestions are great. Use lots of RV "red pop" anti freeze. You will need enough power to run your water pump. The one thing everybody forgets is your air conditioner coolant water pump. Remove the hose from the AC sea water strainer and pour red pop into the hose. There is no good way to run this pump without some hefty power, but you can remove the cover and the impeller. Don't forget your engines and generator strainers and pumps. It is a tough job but folks up here have been doing that and more for many years.

To be on the safe side, I subscribe to the "blue pop" (-100 degrees) for the mains, the genset, and the AC heads. Much higher cost, but how much is a cracked block on a 6-71 (shed the thought).

My 2cw...