Winterising, or.......

[riverdance]

..carry on cruising?

Riverdance is to be lifted in the new year for its Safety Cert and Hull Survey for insurance.
I'm seriously contemplating putting her straight back and cruising through the winter.....obviously when the weather allows. I shall drain the drinking water tanks but place antifreeze in the engine.

Anyone do the same?

[watsmoor]

I have drained the water tanks and the loo flush tank.
The engine already has antifreeze so have poured antifreeze into the filter and shut the sea thingy then turned the engine over a few times to get antifreeze into the water pump, heat exchanger and exhaust manifold.

Watsmoor

[cazray]

Hi Everyone

This is our first winter and we are now leaving Sapphire in her berth at Oundle rather than have her out as we first planned, have closed off the sea thingy as instructed (thanks Riverdance), drained a little water from the heat exchanger and filter before topping up with antifreeze, we have also run the engine for a couple of minutes in order to circulate and mix the antifreeze.

We have left the deisel tank near empty as we can easily drain the tank in the spring, we have also drained the water tank using the sink and shower taps, we plan to remove all the cushions surplus nibbles and Glayva then cover the canopy so I'm hoping that should just about be it,.... but !!

I am in two minds about whether I should remove the batteries and gas bottles only we have been told that we should, but we have had mixed feedback and I'm not too sure what to do,... ???

Any feedback would be much appreciated or if I've missed something please drop me a line.

Ray & Caroline

[lazyoldriverer]

Dulcinea is being dried out this winter, but I have left it in for the Last Two Years.
Winterising was done the Same as Watsmoor, but I have a Calorifier, which needs to be emptied. It will not empty just by running the water out, the lower connection of the Calorifier Tank needs removing and at the least blowing back down the "HOT" feed/open tap top calorifier connection, to release the water, probably into the bilge to then clean up, or connect the lower connection to a pump and suck it out (hot tap open), I was shown the blow and clean method and was told of the pump.

As for Diesel Tank I was told to leave FULL to minimise the condensation in the tank, if you drain in spring you will probably need to bleed the entire system to start the Engine

I have left Gas every year, one year I removed the Batteries and kept them at home in warm but it was such an effort, I left them on board, had to change the starting battery this spring, and I have had that battery for 5 years and it was on the boat when I bought it, so I am not so worried about that.

[cazray]

I have an 11 gallon water tank on Sapphire and a calorifier, but rather than drain down the calorifier I have added a couple of litres of screenwash and fed it through the hot feed then in the summer I will just flush it out. I should also point out we use bottled water for drinking.

I have filters on my Deisel tank and have been told it will be ok to leave it near empty which i'm pleased about as the boat is lighter and the lower rubbing strakes will be out of the water.

Finally i'm leaving the gas bottles and batteries on board unless we get a really cold spell then if we do i'll just pop down and take them out.

[riverdance]

Well, just returned from 35-40 deg of sun to a dark, freezing and dismal Ripon.
Called at the marina on Friday and stayed the weekend to run the erbespatcher for a couple of days to air out the boat plus had the de-humidifier on most of the time. Checked the batteries and fuel levels and antifeezed the engine. All seemed in order at this time. Supposed to be cruising up to the City on New Years eve with boats from the Ripon Racecourse Marina. We all have the boats decorated with lights and have a bit of a party, as long as the canal isn't frozen....again!