Sailing thru the Winter / Groco SSC service adapter

[fmueller]

Well I’ve decided to keep my boat in the water at Rhode Island YC thru the winter. In order to be able to quickly pump antifreeze thru the seawater cooling/wet exhaust circuit I added a Groco SSC service adapter

https://www.groco.net/products/valves-s ... ce-adaptor

just inboard of my Groco cooling water thu-hull which resides in my keel space - a mod I made a few years ago during a general refit. It works great, takes just minutes to pop the little plug and fit the 6 ft hose I cut and fit the service plug to. With that in place the hose just slips into a gallon jug of antifreeze and that is almost exactly what it takes for “pink” to appear flushing out of the exhaust port. I’m sure there is likely some dilution occurring but it’s also -50 degree antifreeze. If I ever anticipate single digit temps I’ll switch to -100 degree antifreeze .

I’ve decommissioned the head and fresh water tank/pump for the winter. The head and holding tank have been flushed with antifreeze. The club provides upwellwrs for the season. They are only on if ice is anticipated. Power stays on in the marina and so far I seem to be able to lift my cabin temp 20 degrees above exterior with the single ceramic space heater I’ve got going. That should add a layer of protection and generally lower humidity as well. It’s a nicely robust unit. I put it in a fry pan just to be cautious about contact with the cabin sole.

I’m having a cockpit “tent” made by a local canvas shop. It won’t be comprehensive but should keep most of the rain and inevitable snow out of the cockpit. There were 10-15 days last winter where a little sun and 40ish temps had me thinking - darn I wish my boat was in.

A few pix

[Frenchy]

That's pretty neat, Fred. I'd pump through more antifreeze, though. One gallon isn't enough, considering dilution.
To be safe, I think four or even five gallons is better. Even a little dilution raises the freeze point significantly. - Jean

[Steve Laume]

That is a very nice system.

On Raven, I take the top off of the sea water strainer and pour away while the engine is running. One gallon has worked well for 16 winters so far. 4 or 5 gallons seems excessive.

I have used a ceramic heater but would worry about leaving it on all the time. Not that I wouldn't do it but I would worry. I doubt your marina or insurance company would be too happy knowing it is on all the time. They do seem pretty safe but having used them for various applications over the years I have noticed that the thermostats in them tend to fail. I had one night, where I slept aboard Raven while she was in the water and it was so cold and windy that I could barely get the temperature up to 50 degrees. Most times it got to a very pleasant temperature.

If you are going to be spending a lot of time on your boat in the winter, I would suggest insulating as much as you can. I took off all of the ash ceiling strips and installed, foil faced, bubble wrap, insulation. I put black, cloth, landscaping, fabric over it so the foil wouldn't show through the cracks. Once you have all the strips off, you might as well varnish them and definitely replace the slotted screws with Phillips heads to make replacement much easier.

Impressively clean bilge you've got there, STeve.

[ghockaday]

One gallon worked for us for years. Dennis

[fmueller]

Steve,

This is the little heater ... apparently no longer available from West Marine ...

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mar ... --12858122

but you are correct ... this one is not ABYC rated ... I'll find out what others in the marina are using ...

Fred

[Frenchy]

Well, it looks like I'm out-voted on my winterization. It's hard to take issue with something that has worked for years
and for several sailors. I'm going to keep putting four gallons of -50 antifreeze through my system though. This fall,
when I checked the freeze point of the last gush of antifreeze coming out of the exhaust, it was -5 degrees F. I use
a refractometer. Here in southern New England, that's probably safe as we don't get those kind of temperatures over
a long period.
Anyway, we all have different climates and different tolerances. - Jean

[fmueller]

Frenchy ...

I'm not discounting that what you say has some merit (perhaps a lot of merit), but also my Beta 14 / exhaust system must be quite a bit smaller than your engine (it's pretty petite as engines go) ... and sitting in seawater also adds some "protection" at least compared to sitting exposed on the hard. This summer there was a powerboat "over my bow" at the marina - captin is a nice guy, Don ... his boat has 2 - 465 hp Cat diesels ... he told me it takes 10 gallons an engine to protect them. Jeesh

All proceeding winters I have run 2-3 gallons thru ... when my boat was out of the water and was just going to sit for months. This winter I think I can be a little more varied, keeping an eye out for the hard freezes and maybe during those times run extra through the system. But the whole idea is to take the boat out as much as I can. So for instance, today I was out; and we will have well above freezing temps for the next 2 days - so I just closed the seacocks before leaving the boat this afternoon. Probably run antifreeze thru before Tuesday when it will get down 30 overnight ... but then it looks like a run of mild days again. If we get one of those two week runs of bitter cold ... then I'll be liberal with the juice ... and I wont be sailing either I don't think.

BTW one thing you can do before you pump antifreeze is to run the engine for just a bit (20 seconds?) with the seacock closed and most of the residual water will clear the block and exhaust tipping the dilution in your favor.

I think I'm going to spring for one of these ... I have to thank Steve for making me think twice.

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=6599190

cheers

[fmueller]

Following Steve Laume's advice I got a "proper" bilge heater ...

Thanks Steve ...

After as thorough a comparison as I could make of various heater devices I got a Twin Hornet 45 by BoatHeaters ... basically an on demand 700 watt heater with built in blower.

It's surprisingly small and appears to be of very high quality in build and materials; well beyond a typical electrical cabin or space heater. But most importantly, meets ISO, SAE, ABYC certifications as specified by the USCG.

It will be powered by the A.C. utility outlet on my Xantrex Inverter/Charger which has an GFI A.C. pass thru feature when shore power is available (with no ground connection to the DC system). I can disable the inverter feature (a custom setting) so that if shore power fails this little heater will not kill the batteries. (Default is that the inverter goes on immediately when supply AC is disconnected and there is an A.C. load present on the GFI outlets).

I've got an idea for a little aluminum scoop to direct airflow down into the bilge area thru the cutout in the sole on my 27 - which should then also allow warmed air to "lift" up into the engine box at the back end of the bilge.

a few pics: (ps. have been having a good time so far sailing in 35-50 degree weather which is the whole point ... I just layer up ... it's starting to seem "normal" )

cheers. Fred

[ghockaday]

I am going to play the Devil's Advocate for a second. Are you mixing brass and bronze?

[fmueller]

nope:

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/seafit-- ... 32_001_008

just has a slightly different hue ...

[ghockaday]

The hue is what made me thunk it. Dennis