Top 3 Winter Boat HACKS! 

Sail to the Bahamas.

I drain the fresh water tanks then blow out the lines using an air compressor - connecting it on one side of the pump to clear the lines to the tanks, then the other side of the pump to clear the lines to the sinks, shower, etc. No pink needed. Never had any issues - and the boat is stored in Minnesota winter temps. Best part is you don’t need to purge antifreeze from the system in the spring. Just fill the tanks and go.

So, I grew up sailing on Lake Ontario. We followed a similar program to what you described in this excellent video on our C&C 30. The one universal item not mentioned was the head/holding tank. I now live in Tidewater Virginia and therefore the boat stays in the drink all year, hauling every two years for bottom paint. (That would be this year, of course...) Last year was my first year with the boat, a 1980 C&C 34C. I had not experience with leaving the boat in the water, so what I did was 1. Fill the diesel tank and pump the holding tank. 2. Remove the freshwater intake from the diesel (no heat exchanger) and run the pink stuff through it. 3. Tossed pink stuff into the fresh water system. 4. Tossed pink stuff into the head and pumped it into the tank. 5. Tossed pink stuff into the bilge, which is wet. 6. Closed all seacocks except the cockpit drains. 7. Added a hardware store tarp as a boom tent. 8. Added a hardware store tarp between the dodger and bimini, which I left up. 9. Prayed. Mistakes I made: 1. Not sure about the pink stuff in the bilge. The water outside never froze, I doubt the water inside would. The problem is the boat smells like pink stuff to this day, despite all my efforts to evacuate all remnants of it. May go the cheap vodka route just for the bilge this winter. 2. Unbeknownst to me, there was a leak around the mast collar from before I bought the boat, and the surveyor missed this so I don't feel so bad, but... I will be removing the outer skin of the coachroof next season and adding fresh balsa core over top of the head compartment. Ugh. I also closed the propane compartment through-hull, which managed to fill to overflowing with rainwater during our unusually rainy spring this year. Lesson learned, Grasshopper.

Best winter hack is to sail your boat to summer somewhere else on this wonderful planet.😂😊

Change the oil 100% I also add a 20mm of Marvel Mystery oil to the cylinders to avoid corrosion. Pull the plub, squirt it in and hand crank the engine. I do not use the pink antifreeze to winterize the head, it has a tendency to distort the soft rubber seals, so only in my head do I use windshield washer antifreeze. It is designed to be used with soft rubbers in the washer pump. I learned the hard way having to rebuild my head a number of years ago when it would not draw water from the intake valve. I also drain my Atomic 4 engine block and manifold recovering antifreeze from the block. This is easy to do in an A4 due to the valves that I have installed on the block extender and the manifold. Air does not expand or contract when frozen. I drain my fuel tank, as suggested by a number of marine engineers, but that's a 50/50 split. I have also left if full with an stabilizer. My boat is a 1973 C&C 27MkII, and the engine is still running like a dream. Lucky but cautious about storage.

Our winter storage has the option ($$) of shrink wrapping the boat, rather than a canvas cover. The plastic get recycled in the spring. While expensive, it really kept the boat in good shape over the Chicago winter, and also made working on it easier in the early spring.

Here in NW Florida some days might have to use preheat before starting.

Instead of connecting a hose for antifreeze, those with inlet water strainers that are elevated may simply pour antifreeze into the strainer. Also, I plug the air vent for the fuel tank for the winter.

Well said, I totally agree. That's how I do it too.

Tim, As a fellow sailor on the Great Lakes (I'm on Lake Superior) I enjoy the benefits of you being in a similar climate. In addition to these 3 winterization tips, I also like to tip up all of my interior cushions and place several "Dryer Sheets i.e.. Bounce" around the cabin, cabinets and storage areas. I also remove the sails and store those at home in my basement. Having a declutter cabin makes the spring re-commissioning / splash easier.

Would love a video on the pros and cons of shrink wrapping vs canvas vs naked.

I fill the oil filter separate from the added oil that's part of the change to reduce the time it takes for the system to be completely full of new oil.

I don't like to put non toxic antifreeze in my tanks because it takes forever to flush it out in the spring. What I do is drain my water tank and leave it empty. The next thing I do is to take the water heater out of the boat's water system. That is done by removing the inlet and outlet hoses and connecting them together. The water in the tank then drains out. Once the water heater is out of the system and the water tank has been drained I put the pickup hose from the water tank into a jug of non toxic antifreeze and run that through the waterlines until all the taps run pink. Not putting pink in your water tank or water heater makes it much easier to get the pink flushed out in the spring. Don't forget your washdown pump. I also winterize my head as follows. After the final pumpout of the season (and flushing with fresh water), I pump a gallon of non toxic antifreeze through the head into the empty holding tank. I have my head connected to the vanity sink drain, so winterizing the head involved closing the head sink drain seacock, pouring non toxic antifreeze into the sink and pumping it through the head. One other thing I do is to drain my raw water strainer. My Grocco strainer has a drain plug on the bottom. Finally I open all seacocks for haulout so they can't freeze. Also don't forget to make sure your batteries are fully charged. If the batteries are fully charged they won't freeze and can be left on the boat as long as NOTHING is turned on. I also disconnect my solar charge controller because it will draw the batteries down over the winter. Another thing it is good to do is to remove your raw water impeller and put a new one in. I winter store my boat in an unheated shed so I don't need to cover it.

I agree, that you should use "non toxic" antifreeze for your drinking water system. If, for other uses, your intention is to save fish from toxic chemicals, it does not matter. According to their material safety data sheets, fish-toxicity of propylene glycol ("non toxic") and ethylene glycol (toxic for humans) is low for both.

I’ve always found spending the winter months in the Bahamas is an excellent way to protect against winter issues.

I don't have any hacks to add, but that I didn't protect my engine how it's supposed to be done and then engine seized up. No having the money to get someone to do it, I had the skills and knowledge to rebuild it myself, a Yanmar 3GMF, getting the block and head mating surfaces machned, replacing everything inside the block, and inside the head, though it took 6 months to complete as I had to allow for funds to be available for the parts. So now that I have a near zero hour 1984 Yanmar, I'll heed to the hacks and not let it happen again. Thanks.

I can't relate to any of this (Queensland, Australia)

Run a little antifreeze on top of each closed thru hull, then open the valve. Water can get trapped around the ball and this will displace it before it can freeze and bust the valve body. It may be a rare failure mode, but sure sucks when you discover it at lift-in.

MAKE SURE you use PROPYLENE GLYCOL - NOT alcohol based antifreeze in open areas. Bilge, toilets etc. The alcohol based anti-freeze will evaporate and as it is not 100% alcohol, the remainder is water and will freeze. I lerned this the hard way with a toilet bowl cracking. The mfg's are crafty and it is hard to tell. Look for a FIRE emblem on the label denoting alcohol and avoid it.

I see in the comments to wrap or cover a boat for winter. My experience with small craft and winter. A wood boat is better wrapped than covered. It will rot covered like a car in a field at least here in rust belt if covered. Cover a fiberglass boat so it can dry out condensation. Pontoons it depends on seating. We pull all our seats off boat for winter and wrap. I have seen nasty growth being wrapped and not vented good on pontoons.

I've had a "P" trap under the sink break from water left in it.

To save on the pink stuff, I disconnect and drain the water heater. I put a bypass hose between the cold and hot lines that run from the water heater. Now when I run pink through the faucets on both hot and cold it quickly purges the water without wasting a bunch of pink filling the water heater.

vodka solves great many other problems

How about a septic tank?

In the Pacific North West, where I am, the weather tends to be temperate, but we get several freezing days. What has worked for me, is changing the oil every hundred hours, and keeping marine rated space heaters set at a lower temp in the front and back of the boat. I open all of the cabinets so the warmer air keeps the lines from freezing while I'm on the dock. I have a diesel heater that keeps me warm when I'm on anchor. When I run the engine, which is every few weeks, I always bring it up to full running temp. I also flush the heat exchanger regularly and keep fresh "pink stuff" in it. It's always a good time to exchange the exchanger zincs too. All that said, I'm always concerned that I may have missed something or that there is a better way of prepping the boat...

Sell it, buy a bigger boat in Spring

Suggest your boat be covered with a large heavy-duty tarp ("gray or silver") versus "Boatyard Poly Wrap." The tarp will be reusable (economical!), mine lasted almost 20 years! Also, with a tarp, the air can move around the boat, a plus.

In 25 years I've never removed my bilge pump and never had it damaged by ice. I keep my boat in Maryland, overwinter on the hard, we generally get at least one or two single digit nights and the warm cold cycles leave plenty of opportunity for ice damage. On the other hand, one winter, one of my cockpit scupper hoses broke sending large quantities of water below. Without that bilge pump I think my teak and holly sole would have been ruined.

My tips are for inland lakes that freeze. Get floats to remove docks and boat lifts. 4 good floats will float most boat lifts. Use lever if you need to get lift over a seawall. I use 2 ten foot poles and sometimes as ramps. A chain fall is used on big steep hills with heavy boat lifts. And we chain the boat lift to a tree for winter. Dump all the water out of your dock poles. Grease your lift before winter to force out water before it freezes. Stack your docks so they don't sag or freeze into ground or ice. Tip your dock guy and have at last one story about lake life over the summer to tell them.

Here in the Pacific Northwest we get periods of nice weather among our typical winter cold rain and intermittent freezing. We often see sails on the Sound on these warm days. We might even take a trip to the islands. Should we start over with new oil if the boat is then going to sit for a couple months?

Great video. I would also change the lower unit oil on your outboard.....if you have one. Remove cushions and paper products...the squirrels love the paper. I usually put fabric softener sheets in all the cubbys and storage

Great video. What about a refrigerator with a sea water heat exchanger and air conditioner. These both have sea water trapped in them. Previous owner never flushed these with antifreeze and nothing bad seems to have happened but I started flushing them with antifreeze (not easy to do) and still all good? Do I need to do this or am I wasting my time?

For the bilge add a garboard hole with a threaded fitting so you can unscrew fitting in winter to drain bilge and screw plug in summer this works better than antifreeze if you have a bigger boat/live in a very rainy area. This is because there is too much water for antifreeze.

As others have said, anti-freeze through the head - I know there are concerns about the seals, but after 6 years doing this I've had no problems. Open all through-hulls to let water drain out to the ground and I leave them open. Dryer sheet or a plastic bag in the exhaust to prevent rodents from nesting inside (I have had it happen on other vehicles that sit over the winter). I stopped removing the batteries and leave them on a trickle charger and they are as robust as new, and I have lights if I want to work in the winter. I put a couple of bilge socks in the bilge in case water finds its way in, at least then it is absorbed rather than running to the keel bolts etc. After it is covered I open the screened hatches, lift cushions and leave all storage areas that can reasonably be left open partially open for air circulation. I use a calcium chloride drip bucket to control humidity, and leave air odour and moisture absorbers in a few places. It does well through Ottawa, Ontario winters.

Another Lake Superior sailor here. AGM batteries self discharge more slowly than regular lead batteries, but they still do self discharge, and AGM batteries left in a partial state of discharge for months will experience permanent loss of capacity. To prevent this I bought a cheap little solar panel that has a built in regulator (the type usually used for cars), and wired it to my AGM starter battery with lots of extra wire length. When I put the tarp on my boat, I mount the solar panel on the outside of the tarp so that it can trickle charge the battery. I usually mount it at a slight angle so that snow will slide off, but I find that even with some snow on it, it is still providing a trickle charge - enough to overcome the battery's self discharge. I remove my LiFePO4 house batteries from the boat and take them home where I can monitor their health over the winter. I'm also in the camp of not using antifreeze in my potable water system. I use a compressor to blow the system out completely. I do the same for the freshwater system on the engine. Pull the hose off the water pump, open the spigot on the muffler, and blow the system clear of water. Then blow the hoses from the water pump to the water intake through-hull. Remember to check your water intake strainer to ensure it is drained. Similarly, check your diesel fuel filter for water.

I drop an old beach towel in the bilge with a rope attached to pull it out, soaks up all the water and you can drop the soaking towel into a bucket and remove the water that way. I tend to leave it in there over winter and check it once a week.

On the topic of diesel storage - based on a PS test I always run biobor JF at the shock dosage for long term storage and star ton to help with water issues. Gas engines I would recommend draining tank completely unless you’re running ethanol free fuel.

Lower units can have a lot of water in them. Drain before winter. Portable heads have water in upper and lower tanks. Need to drain. Can manually pump upper tank to lower tank. Add some pink stuff to empty top tank at the end and pump some through the bowl to bottom tank.

I would like to see the same piece but for those who leave their boats on the hard in the Caribbean for the summer. My boat summers in Trinidad.

These are all great and must does for any boat spending winter in the cold. Here are few thing I would add; 1- make sure the engine oil is hot before sucking it out. Hot oil is more viscous and you actually remove more of the old dirty oil. 2- Every two years, I also suck out and replace the oil in the transmission. This will give your transmission many more years of service before having to be rebuilt. You might never have to rebuild it! 3- After putting new oil, I go for a 30/40 minutes motor ride to get the new oil up to operating temp. 4- I do the same exact thing to my water system. Except I leave the faucets half way open and not all the way. This is to prevent them from jamming too tight when the temperature goes down to freezing for a long time.

Great advice thank you . I also would love to hear more tips from other viewers . Shared knowledge and experience is THE most valuable resource not just for pups but old dogs too .

Best winter hack move to Australia.

Oil change is spot on in the fall. Don’t trust someone else to winterizing your boat, know how to do it yourself properly. You will be hard pressed to get someone to fix it in the spring. Way too busy. Good video!

Move to the west coast

Thank you

I use an anti-corrosion additive in my oil sump, I installed a garboard plug to ensure my bilge is always dry on the hard. I completely drain my water system into the bilge to drain out the garboard plug. I only use anti-freeze in the head. I also add anti-freeze to my black water tank after pump-out. I fill my fuel tank and use Fuel Right. I use -100 anti-freeze in my engine. With the benefit of a garboard plug, I can drain the fresh water from my engine into the bilge before I start winterizing. Its peace of mind knowing that I have removed as much water as possible.

i hate trying to flush the pink stuff from my fresh water system. last year i drained all the water and removed all my fittings and pulled hose clamps and lines/hoses. my water pump has quick connects and i pulled them too also filters. ran compressed air and just left everything dry. no leaks this spring and just fresh water!