Winterization Challenges

[bemiller75]

With very cold weather one week away, I finally started to wrap up winterization of my 2016 Ranger R31S. I'm leaving it waterborne, and have set up an ice-eater. I also winterized fresh water using the air rig demonstrated on the As the Prop Turns video. I used pink antifreeze to winterize all four seawater systems (engine, generator, raw water washdown, and a/c). I had one problem -- I tried to use a funnel to limit the spilled antifreeze on the a/c system. Big mistake, the flow rate was too low, and the pump became air-bound. I normally use water pressure from the pier fresh water connection to fix air binding, but the pier fresh water is secured for the winter, and I don't see any vent fitting on the a/c pump.
My first question, can I use the air blowdown rig to blowdown the a/c seawater system? Seems like it would work. Are there better ideas, or reasons I shouldn't use air?
My second, more general question, because I am waterborne, I started adding pink after I shut the seacock, opened the strainer cap, started each of the four the systems, and saw level dropping in the strainer. Seems to me that I could be leaving raw water in the line between the seacock and the strainer. It may not be a big deal as long as my ice eater does its job, but what if the pier loses power? Should I be worried?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[knotflying]

I used to pump the antifreeze in from the hull outlet using a hand antifreeze pump. I modified the end to just force fit it into the thru hull outlet. Can you reach it from the dock by turning the boat around ? I opened the seacock and when the antifreeze came out, I was golden. Since you are in the water you can remove the cap on the strainer. There pumps are centrifugal so there is no problem pumping in reverse.

 

[bemiller75]

Thanks for the response, Knotflying! I picked up a hand pump, and pumped pink antifreeze into the a/c seawater system via the strainer. Sadly, my first mate couldn't make the final trip to the marina before the freeze, and my remote camera substitute didn't work, so I couldn't see the a/c discharges as I pumped. I pumped in two gallons, I guess I'll find out whether that was enough (14F at the boat this morning).

 

[S. Todd]

Two gallons should have been plenty if your pumping system managed to get it into both AC units. On our R29 I have to plug (with a small rubber plug) the through hull for the aft AC unit in order to get the antifreeze to flow into the forward AC unit.

 

[Gypsy]

I keep my C28 on a lift on the James River which flows into the Chesapeake Bay. I do not winterize mainly because I use the boat occasionally during the winter, but also, I don't want the hassle of winterizing and de-winterizing. By keeping the boat on a lift, I am more prone to freezing problems than if the boat were kept in the water. Last week the temperature dropped to 10 degrees, and it hasn't gotten above freezing for several days. Fortunately, no freezing problems. I have a 1500W bilge heater in the engine compartment, and a 1500W space heater that I keep in the head with the door open. I also keep the hot water heater on. I can monitor the temperatures of both the engine compartment and the cabin using a newly installed monitoring system called Yolink. Yolink for me has put my mind at ease. The temperature information is always available on my phone, and if for some reason, the temperature drops below my comfort level, I get an alert on my phone. The unit I got from Amazon consists of two temperature modules and what they call a hub. The temperature modules are small, and can be placed wherever you like on the boat. There are no wires to deal with. The modules communicate to the hub via radio waves, so wi-fi is not needed on the boat. The distance it can transmit is about 1/4 mile. The hub needs to be located wherever there is wi-fi. It is the hub that transmits the information from the modules to your phone. Setup is easy, click on the QR code and it pretty much sets itself up, although, in full disclosure, I had my Grandson do mine.