Winterising a boat

[comfortably numb]

Having recently bought our boat from Whilton Marina, we have to get it back to Droitwich during the Christmas holidays, so it will be a bit of a slog for us. We have a week to do it before the locks at Stoke and Aston are serviced. Looking forward to it though, our "maiden voyage".

 

At least is looks like there won't be the big freeze that they predected (wrongly as usual) a few weeks ago. You might get a bit wet though. Hope it goes well and I'm sure you'll love it. I hope I will be in a similar situation very soon.

[Tom766]

problem is that if you winterize, you have to undo all the work if you fancy a little cruise during winter.

 

Question,  how do I get the water out of my engine, it's cooled with canal water so I cant use anti freeze!

[Naughty Cal]

On 8/6/2017 at 22:25, Tom766 said:

problem is that if you winterize, you have to undo all the work if you fancy a little cruise during winter.

 

Question,  how do I get the water out of my engine, it's cooled with canal water so I cant use anti freeze!

We heat our engine bay to stop the raw water coolers freezing up.

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

We heat our engine bay to stop the raw water coolers freezing up.

As do we.

4x tubular greenhouse heaters - uses about £1 per day of leccy.

[Tom766]

Wonder if I can wrap the engine in something as we will be mooring riverside with no electricity?

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Tom766 said:

Wonder if I can wrap the engine in something as we will be mooring riverside with no electricity?

Doing that will certainly delay the 'freezing' by a few hours, but it is only a shot term 'fix' - it will still get cold.

Will you be using the boat ?

If not in regular use, and no power, then draining looks like the most reasonable option. 

[Tom766]

I'd like to think I could take the boat out occasionally through winter. Just wondering how to drain canal water out of the engine, I know there's a tap near the bottom end of the intake pipe but that still leaves water above that in the pipe....

[NickF]

On 9/2/2008 at 17:14, Greybeard said:

 

All good ideas especially this one.

 

Earlier this year I saw some photos of narrowboats surrounded by frosty footpaths and trees and I just can't wait to get out during a cold snap, not up for ice breaking though.

 

I spend a lot of time outside during the winter so I've got the gear for it.

 

I've read that cruising on a clear & frosty evening really takes some beating - don't know about doing locks when it's dark and frosty though!

You mean when your mooring line is frozen solid so you can't untie it! ..........but as you say no problem when you have the right equipment ... have fun!

[Mad Harold]

On 09/08/2017 at 20:51, Tom766 said:

I'd like to think I could take the boat out occasionally through winter. Just wondering how to drain canal water out of the engine, I know there's a tap near the bottom end of the intake pipe but that still leaves water above that in the pipe....

I assume your engine, like mine,is cooled by canal water circulating around the engine.   Mine has a seperate water  pump foot mounted at the front of the engine with three pipes.Inlet,bypass,and engine feed.I have fitted a "tee" into the engine feed  and a tap [a standard plumbing type isolating valve found on toilets and sinks] opened and closed with a screwdriver.It is quick and simple to drain the water out of the engine.Its at the lowest point in the coolimg system,and drains out about two litres.

[Tim Read]

I found a refractometer good for checking coolant ( see attached ). But I wondering if I don't need to add some sort of biocide.

 

Some signs of growth in the header tank and I needed to bleed most of the radiators ( air - or CO2/CH4 from bugs ? ).

 

Anyone put a biocide in their heating system ?

Edited October 12, 2020 by Tim Read
Photo size

[Chewbacka]

On 12/10/2020 at 22:49, Tim Read said:

I found a refractometer good for checking coolant ( see attached ). But I wondering if I don't need to add some sort of biocide.

 

Some signs of growth in the header tank and I needed to bleed most of the radiators ( air - or CO2/CH4 from bugs ? ).

 

Anyone put a biocide in their heating system ?

 

If your circulation pipes are plastic and don’t have a barrier layer, oxygen can diffuse through the pipe walls encouraging corrosion of rads and possibly helping ‘bugs’ to grow.  Copper on the other hand is a natural biocide.

[glocash0512]

live the summer day

[Tony Brooks]

On 06/08/2017 at 22:25, Tom766 said:

problem is that if you winterize, you have to undo all the work if you fancy a little cruise during winter.

 

Question,  how do I get the water out of my engine, it's cooled with canal water so I cant use anti freeze!

 

Please, can I have the full details of your cooling system. There are two types that use canal water. Direct raw water that actually circulated through the engine, or indirect where the engine itself has antifreeze in it. Also, is your exhaust manifold water cooled. A photo may help. Make and model may also help. Without that everyone is guessing.

[Tracy D'arth]

1 hour ago, glocash0512 said:

live the summer day

And the purpose of your cryptic first post was?

 

We have enough clowns on here already thank you.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Please, can I have the full details of your cooling system. There are two types that use canal water. Direct raw water that actually circulated through the engine, or indirect where the engine itself has antifreeze in it. Also, is your exhaust manifold water cooled. A photo may help. Make and model may also help. Without that everyone is guessing.

I suspect that 4 years on, @Tom766 has either solved the problem or frozen his cooling system.

[Tony Brooks]

8 minutes ago, David Mack said:

I suspect that 4 years on, @Tom766 has either solved the problem or frozen his cooling system.

 

Thanks - did not notice that, seems I got confused by what looks like an idiot.

[Tracy D'arth]

4 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Thanks - did not notice that, seems I got confused by what looks like an idiot.

Hopefully that will see him/her/it off.

[paul68]

On 03/08/2021 at 09:03, Tracy D'arth said:

And the purpose of your cryptic first post was?

 

We have enough clowns on here already thank you.

Oh the irony....

Edited August 5 by paul68