26' Sedan Winterization

[Blue Wazzu]

Good afternoon, All

We are learning as we go here, and hoping for some feedback on what you are doing to winterize your water-kept Tolly. 

We keep Blue Wazzu in the water up in La Conner and it is a 1973, 26' Sedan with a inboard (Direct) MerCruiser. 

-We have three (overkill?) west marine air dehumidifier fans running in the cabin, but no antifreeze heater system. Should we have a boat bilge (combustible gas safe) engine compartment heater running with antifreeze settings? 

-Are you keeping your water heater plugged in and on?

Any tips and tricks that we can use this winter season are much appreciated! Have a great week~

Best, 

Trevor & Rachael

[William Kleiser]

We run the same West Marine dehumidifiers (see comments below).  Given that your boat is in the water you should have less freezing concern than an out of the water boat.   That said I would be inclined to have some low level heating anyway.   I assume your raw water feed to the engine still has sea water in it.  Salt water will freeze around 28F, so you don't want to risk those lines freezing.  I assume the engine itself has antifreeze so isn't an issue.   Also,  make sure ALL the below water through hulls are closed!   Also close the fuel tank shut offs.  I've seen a boat where over the winter a fuel leak developed, and the bilge filled with gasoline.

You should drain the fresh water system and either blow the lines or use rv anti-freeze.  When we had our boat in the water we'd just empty the water system so it just pumped air, never had a problem.  Now we're out of the water we use RV antifreeze since the lines at the bottom of the bilge will always have some water in them.  You shouldn't leave the water heater on, rather just drain it out or make sure the hot side has RV antifreeze as well.

I've used a number of the West Marine 'dehumidifiers'.  They don't actually dehumidify, they move slighly warmed air around the cabin.  What they are is a small heater (70-100w element) with a fan.   I find that after a year the fan starts to get sticky and you have to disassemble and lubricant the fan motor.  

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From: tollycraft-boa...@googlegroups.com <tollycraft-boa...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Blue Wazzu <Teva...@outlook.com>
Sent: Monday, December 9, 2024 2:36 PM
To: Tollycraft Boating Club Forum <tollycraft-boa...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: 26' Sedan Winterization

 

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[Lawson Earl]

We like to use the boat in the winter, so choose not to winterize it.  We're in Shelter Bay across from La Conner, and the bay will actually freeze in the winter due to brackish water.

We run real compressor-based dehumidifiers in the boat, but they require air temperatures over 50-55F to actually work - lower than that and they shut of or just make noise without actually removing moisture.  On our 34 last year, we kept one 1 kW electric element running on our hydronic heating system with the thermostat set at 55F.  If it couldn't keep up, the diesel boiler would fire up and provide as much heat as needed to maintain cabin temperature.  It worked great - no boat smell, no mildew, no condensation on the windows.  It, of course, cost some money in fuel and electricity, but I think that's better than having a gross boat, or worse, frozen pipes.  We did have to stick an additional heater in the lazarette to keep the water system from freezing.

We've sold the 34 and moved up to the 48, which has a different heating system.  We'll run the compressor-based dehumidifiers and keep the engine block heaters on (timers, 6 hours on, 6 hours off). The nice thing about running the block heaters is the 4000 lbs worth of cast iron will continue to radiate heat during a power outage. In addition, we'll stick some small electric heaters in the water compartments.  Diesel forced air heater set at 55F.  The boat is ready to go whenever we are.  This boat is only 30-amp service, which isn't enough to keep it warm on electricity alone - diesel heat is required.  

Lawson & Jason

Done Workin'

1986 48 Convertible