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bfiesta

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"Bought an Xtreme Heat bilge h

"Bought an Xtreme Heat bilge heater online last week (NOT from Worst Marine!). Has anyone used just a bilge heater to winterize their boat? I have a 31' Silverton w/twin 318s and it's moored in the Puget Sound (salt water). We really don't have a 'boating season' per se. Yes, the temperature will get down to freezing but only for a week or two a year (rarely consecutively). Besides, I am looking forward to a Thanksgiving & New Years cruise. Any thoughts on 'winterizing' with only a heater...? Anything else I need to consider or should do?"
 
I did this last year in Ohio.

I did this last year in Ohio. Keep engine room warm enough until early January. Problem then was power went off.
 
"With closed cooling, my plan

"With closed cooling, my plan is just to run 5 gallons of anti-freeze through the raw water circuit and call it winterized. That's all I did with my old Owens and we went through the most brutal winter together in Essex, CT - I had to break the ice away from her with the anchor, and even the circulator froze up. 327 started right up just fine in April. I did have a quartz heater in the bilge though, set on 750W and aimed at the water tank."
 
We don't winterize here in

We don't winterize here in the puget sound if the boat stays in the water during the winter. The salt water is warm (43) even when it's freezing out. Put an air dryer in each state room and one in the engine room. If it's going to get down to twenty degrees you can turn on some heat and open the cabinet doors so the fresh water lines don't freeze. I use a 35 degree switch made for heat tape that you can get at the hardware store to control a heat lamp in my lazarette where my generator lives.

Dan
MBYC
Bellevue
 
"Jim (and I bet you got lo

"Jim (and I bet you got lots of grief with that name!):

Your system of winterizing sounds great to me, but I'd drain and run Pink Stuff through the water system as well. Too many places freezing could occur and wreck things.

Jeff

PS: Running a heater all winter is not allowed at our marina."
 
"Jim:

I bet you got lots of

"Jim:

I bet you got lots of grief with that name!

Your system of winterizing sounds great to me, but I'd drain and run Pink Stuff through the water system as well. Too many places freezing could occur and wreck things.

Jeff

PS: Running a heater all winter is not allowed at our marina."
 
"I do the standard winterizing

"I do the standard winterizing on my FWC engine, but after draining the bilge as dry as I can get it (there is always some water in it!), I pour a gallon of non toxic antifreeze in the bilge. It gets cold enough around here that some winters, the salt water river and bay freeze over enough to iceboat."
 
Fortunately for me the heaters

Fortunately for me the heaters are allowed at my marina (as long as it has ABYC certification which this heater does). I opted for the medium sized bilge heater. I also installed a temp gauge in the bilge that records and saves temp readings. To make certain the heater is performing as advertised.

For the cabin I have two pan style marine heaters (that came with the boat). They seem to work great at keeping the cabin warm.
 
"Another question: What is the

"Another question: What is the maximum amount of time you (everyone) feel comfortable leaving your engines alone before running them again? ...A week, two weeks, a month, longer???"
 
"I'm on the north end of H

"I'm on the north end of Haverstraw Bay and I can't say I'm not a little worried; I may have to leave the boat unattended for a couple of weeks at a time, and it can ice up around here.

So, I splurge on shrink wrap and while undercover start replacing all hoses on the engine; they look like original equipment from 1973.

The freshwater cabin plumbing actually is coming out for refit after running some pink stuff through the pump. Previous owner, God rest him, thought he could just clamp tubing to the threaded faucet shanks.

I sure hope a heater is legal here, but I'll check on that. I would not rely on a heater alone in this climate, if the power goes out you're looking at serious damage. Not so risky in the Northwest, I guess."
 
Unattended electric heaters in

Unattended electric heaters in a boat is illegal in the state of Maryland! Better check your state regs before plugging one in.

Jeff
 
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