Winterizing?

[fishizzle]

I keep my boat in the water all year round... for the winter I put on a winter cover and add Sea Foam to the tank... I start the engines every month... A good idea is to also open all your compartments to let the air flow and reduce the chance of mildew

 

[dmurph]

I also keep my boat Moored in the salt. I keep a small construction halogen in the engine compartment. I put a oil heater in the pilot house in the cuddy. Question, I still get mildew and mold in the cuddy come spring, would cracking the windows alittle for air flow solve this?

 

[bigbruce]

Increasing the air flow would certainly help. The oil heater will get the air moving through convection, but if it has no where to go, you're going to get mold/mildew. You may notice that the good shrink wrappers put a couple of vents in the wrap to allow a bit of circulation. I'm fortunate that my boat is stored covered beside my house so I can run an electrical cord to it. I put a small heater in the engine compartment and one of the little air fan/heaters in the cuddy. NO issues with mold/mildew.

 

[TheBigGuy]

I also keep my boat Moored in the salt. I keep a small construction halogen in the engine compartment. I put a oil heater in the pilot house in the cuddy. Question, I still get mildew and mold in the cuddy come spring, would cracking the windows alittle for air flow solve this?

Depends what kind of windows you have. As long as you can crack them a bit and rain won't get in, then that's a good plan. That's what I always did in the winter when I was moored. If you can't crack your windows because of moisture getting in, then put some of the pots with desiccant crystals in them that remove moisture from the air in your cuddy.

 

[bones]

I also keep my boat Moored in the salt. I keep a small construction halogen in the engine compartment. I put a oil heater in the pilot house in the cuddy. Question, I still get mildew and mold in the cuddy come spring, would cracking the windows alittle for air flow solve this?

we did this one winter in secret cove. in the spring we had nothing but dead rats and a mess. ate two grand coolies all the plastic lamp shades, crapped and pissed everywhere. the only thing we could think of was the heat lured them in.
they sell plug in 120v dehumidifiers just for boats and campers, if your boat is bigger than 28' you may need two. that is what we use when we shrink wrap the boats.

 

[pescador]

If you have access to power put a couple of golden rods in the cabin. Low source of heat that keeps things reasonable dry.

 

[AlK]

I have 2 Stor-Dry fans running in my boat and use the Dri Z Air crystals and have never had a mildew or musty smell problem.

 

[happy hooker]

As already mentioned use salt away when running your engines for the last time of the season. Do your usual fogging to the engines. However there's one thing I do extra, this is an old time tip from my dad. I don't know if it really has any merit, but I figure it sure can't hurt. Add a good quantity of clean motor oil to the tank you are running the motors in. Bump the motor in and out of gear briefly to mix the oil in with the water. The idea is the oil helps coat the impeller with a small amount of oil for storage. According to him this helps keep the impeller from drying out and cracking if not used for a long period of time. I've no idea if this really helps, but I've only had to replace an impeller once from a failure in over 40 years on the water. So what the heck it's worth the minor mess it creates in the tank I figure.

What do you do with the oily water after?

 

[TheBigGuy]

Use the gas bar absorbent cloths to sop up oil. I have a sump in the back yard I can use to dump the water. I don't use a large amount of oil in the tank.

 

[Sotally Tober]

Better be ready for the freezing temperatures. Forecasts are predicting it could get to -3 or -4 degrees Celsius starting early next week.
I thought I was ready for the freezing weather but realized I hadn't drained the garden hoses yet.

 

[gungadin]

I have considered using one of those electrical tape heaters that are used to wrap around exposed pipes. Or maybe one that is used to keep fermentation tubs warm. Just to wrap around the leg. What do they use in the prairies at -30ºC when the engines are stored outside?

 

[bones]

Oil heating pad for diesel motors. It sticks to your oil pan and you plug it in like your block heater. Just and oil heater heats the oil not the block. Allows the motor to crank easier.

 

[bones]

Those pipe savers are not very strong as far as watts go. 6-8W per foot for heat trace, electrically they are insulated to help warm or prevent pipes from freezing. An oil heater can be 250W and stuck on. What are you heating?

 

[gungadin]

Those pipe savers are not very strong as far as watts go. 6-8W per foot for heat trace, electrically they are insulated to help warm or prevent pipes from freezing. An oil heater can be 250W and stuck on. What are you heating?

I was just going to wrap it around the leg in the area of the water pump.

 

[sly_karma]

The lower units of marine outboards and outdrives are engineered for winter in north america. Factory manuals for decades say just lower the leg to its lowest position so it can drain. Unless your seals are leaking there is no water in the lower unit once it drains.

 

[bones]

I was just going to wrap it around the leg in the area of the water pump.

i think you would have to insulate the area as its basically an 8W light bulb. if it is an outboard there is nothing to freeze other than trapped water

 

[gungadin]

When I winterized the engines, I noticed that after lowering the engines, quite a bit of water dripped out overnight. I raised the main engine when moving the boat to its storage location and noticed that water came out after lowering it back down, trapped somewhere I suppose, It took 4 or 5 cycles before the water stopped dripping. With it sitting now for 2 months I would think that any residual water would have evaporated by now. I was just curious if the prairie boaters had any sage advice.