Winterization

[knotflying]

This will be my first season of winterization and I know pretty much what has to be done, however, I am not sure of which antifreeze to use when I run it through the raw water, is it regular antifreeze or RV type antifreeze that I would use for the potable water systems?

 

[PhilR]

I use the pink, non toxic RV antifreeze everywhere except the closed engine cooling system. We all know that anything but Yanmar antifreeze in the closed system will cause almost instantaneous total engine failure!

 

[knotflying]

Ah yes, the yanmar antifreeze which probably has gold particles suspended in the mixture otherwise why else would it be so expensive and hard to come by. Thanks for the information on the antifreeze, I thought I could use RV solution, but wanted to make sure.

 

[John Shea Jr.]

First off, it was nice to meet you both at THE FIRST NEW ENGLAND RANGER TUG OWNERS RENDESVOUS. I do my own winterization. last year was the first for the R25. I used approximately 8 gal of the pink stuff. The fluid is cheep so I did not mind using plenty to assure I thoroughly flushed all the systems to prevent freezing damage. Talking to you and your guests at tne rendesvous about the Erie Canal has convinced me that I will be making the trip in 2012. i may be e-mailing you, this winter, to pick your brain. Hope you are enjoying the boat as much as Peggy and I are. We went to Nantucket the week after the rendesvous and just returned from a three night stay in Oak Bluffs.

 

[JerryE]

Hi John and Mike,

Being an old Cape Cod truck camper guy, may I suggest the quick, easy $5 solution to winterizing. First drain everything, pump out the tanks. Open all the spigots. Then affix an RV "blow-out plug" to the city water inlet and use low pressure (≤20 lbs) air from a compressor or carry on tank to blow out all the water. No antifreeze necessary except in your drains to fill the U-trap. Here's the blow-out plug: http://www.adventurerv.net/camco-blowout-plug-metal-camper-winterizing-p-1580.html

Of course, an even easier solution is to move your boat to the Florida Keys (see other posts about that) around early November.

 

[commander bill]

The "blowout" method mentioned above has worked very well with my RVs in the past. Especially when a water heater bypass valve was installed. I do the same with my R25. However, I do not think it is possible to completely pump all the water from the fresh water tank and that small amount of water remains in tank and pump & will freeze. Blowing out the lines only removes water downstream of the fresh water check valve. After I blowout the lines I always pour some pink stuff in the water tank and pump aenough through pump until I get some in the sink. On some RVs ther is a low point drain on the fresh water tank which allows complete draing of tank to result in a completely dry system which can not be done with our boats.

Don't forget to hand pump a little of the pink stuff from the main seawater strainer through the toliet to make sure it does not freeze.

 

[knotflying]

You touched on the points I was about to make exactly. Additionally I read that you shouldn't put antifreeze in the hot water heater so my thoughts are to blow out the system, drain the hot water tank and then disconnect the lines to the hotwater heater and reconnectthem together and then run the antifreeze through.

 

[PhilR]

Why can't you put RV antifreeze in the HW heater?

 

[knotflying]

I couldn't tell you exactly. A friend of mine who is an avid boater said that it affects the lining of the tank. Additionally think about it, the tank is 5 gallons, you would need to get that filled before you would get it to run through the hot water side. So why not drain the tank and then disconnect the supply and return and then run the antifreeze through. I like Jerry's idea though, bring it to Florida before the winter!