Left over water in bildge and winterizing questions

[Jim saco]

First winter hall out with my 41C. Boat got pulled and blocked this morning. I had boat pulled out at pre-purchase survey and never noticed that there are no drains in hull. Should I vac/pump water out? Also no seacock on boat would close. I'll have to Winterize every thing out of water. Water/AC/Waste and genset is no problem,but the 6v92ta engines are another story. It seems to me that the raw water side of this engine draws up from bottom of boat via raw water pump gets pushed through oil/tranny cooler out to main heat exchanger then out to injection elbow. I have been told to remove hose from discharge side of main exchanger, and loosen raw water cover to drain down system ,also removing exchanger drains. Then charge system with pink antifreeze. This sounds well and good but will the injection elbow drain out via muffler or should I charge that also? I need to add to this long thread that this is my first year winterizing a diesel engine as I am stepping up from a gas boat. Also that this is my first post. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

 

[TopHattandTails]

Ill let the others answer your winterizing q's. As for Bilge water- gotta get it out. Run the Bilge pumps until they wont push any more water then wet vac the rest out. Get it as dry as possible. Make sure you hit all of the water sumps too. That will really help in freshening up the boat. I also put bounce dryer sheets in ever drawer, cubby, and bilges, as well as a bunch of deodorizers. You can smell the "mountain rain" about a 1,000 yards away. Keeps the Hatteras Smell at bay. I also open all drawers, hatches, cubby's, and Bilge covers to get as much air to the boat as possible. Since I'm indoor heated, I also open all port windows, doors, windows and hatches (don't forget the bridge). Id get those frozen sea cocks portable as well...

 

[wmfels]

just got my 38my to minnesota, for the engines just pull the intake hose(mine is 1 5/8" hose. picked up a 1 1/2" barb fitting,they didnt stock 1 5/8, reduce to a 1/2-3/4 hose. clamp connections good, stick the hose into 5 gal bucket of pink and fire them up till good pink comes out exhaust. ...done

 

[wmfels]

dont forget to check the closed system for a proper 50/50 mixture of antifreeze of course

 

[rsmith]

The few times I had to leave the boat up north I had a problem with the hatch drains in the cockpit filling with dirt ice snow leaves whatever and the gutteraround the edge spilling over into the bilge. even tho I sucked the water out the bilge still filled up and froze around the pump. Fortunatly I turned the pump off otherwise it would have shorted out and killed the batts which then would have froze. I dumped a load of antifrez in the bilge and kept adding when I went to the boat to keep the concentration up. I also took out the b pump and suspended it a foot above where it woukd usualy sit.

 

[jmencel]

yup , as others have said run the engines to suck the RV pink antifreeze into your engines until it comes out nice and pink, and use a shop vac to suck the water out of the bilges. (and any of the pink stuff you have spilled).

If you are concerned water will seep into your bilges over the winter, its not a bad idea to leave some pink RV antifreeze lying in there as well so you won't have ice in your bilges, although the better route is to keep them dry.

If you have A/C on board you will also need to pump the pink stuff through the water intake/outlet lines as well.

 

[34Hatt]

yup , as others have said run the engines to suck the RV pink antifreeze into your engines until it comes out nice and pink, and use a shop vac to suck the water out of the bilges. (and any of the pink stuff you have spilled).

If you are concerned water will seep into your bilges over the winter, its not a bad idea to leave some pink RV antifreeze lying in there as well so you won't have ice in your bilges, although the better route is to keep them dry.

If you have A/C on board you will also need to pump the pink stuff through the water intake/outlet lines as well.

All good I will just add that I knock the engine intake down to a 1" clear hose that goes into the bucket helps see the flow. 1" is plenty at idle it will suck 5 gallons down fast so be ready. Sometimes easier if you have two one watching one starting and stopping specially your first time after that you can do it alone.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Ice expands OUT <<-->> bilge pumps should be OK but if you can lift them clear thats OK too. I am a big fan of installing drain plugs per compartment as needed. That way theres no accumulation of water and you get air in there to keep things dry.
The rest is common sense. ANYTHING with standing water in it will freeze and break. PERIOD. I drain all the strainers and even open then close the seacocks, if even unused, to clear them of any contained water if the leak through. TO WIT: a leaking SC with a plug in it can stll hold 1 ounce of water in a 1 ounce cavity making 2 ounces of ice with a pressure of 3000 psi. DO THE MATH ! I also disconnect raw water hoses with droops to coolers etc as well. Isnt 15 minutes worth $2K ?? ws