My first time winterizing

[freeheel4life]

Yes johnnie, you will need to block off prop. Chunk of 2x4 wedged between hull and prop works good. Just don't forget to take it out when you get done. Glad dealer is getting you sorted. Normally that nut is a nylock so not sure how they were expecting it to stay tight. Does it look like any threadlock was used??

[JohnnieMo]

My first time winterizing

Yes johnnie, you will need to block off prop. Chunk of 2x4 wedged between hull and prop works good. Just don't forget to take it out when you get done. Glad dealer is getting you sorted. Normally that nut is a nylock so not sure how they were expecting it to stay tight. Does it look like any threadlock was used??

I don't think that thread lock was used. I would check except I made a minor tactical error. Any idea what what might have been?

[chpthril]

No rush, right?

[bsreid]

Johnnie!! Cover your boat!!! That hurts my eyes!

[JohnnieMo]

The boat port always protects it. I didn't really expect the 100kph winds from the north... The worst angle naturally.

I'll have to dry it out this weekend and clean it up. Damn.

[Wagonhound]

[QUOTE=chpthril;785177]no, say it isnt so! You used automotive antifreeze?

Is automotive antifreeze a bad idea?

[freeheel4life]

Your most commonly used green auto antifreeze is ethylene glycol, which is toxic. There are some auto antifreeze which are propylene glycol(PG), which is non toxic. The pink stuff is PG and won't pollute the waterways you use, hence the reason it can be used in freshwater systems on boats and camper. Even if you run your boat on a fake a lake first in the spring the toxic EG is going down the drain into wastewater or into soil. All around not a good thing to be winterizing your boat with. I'm sure there are other arguments as well for not using EG

[freeheel4life]

I don't think that thread lock was used. I would check except I made a minor tactical error. Any idea what what might have been?

Ouch, these things will happen. Last winter had a guy leave his bilge plug in. Boat filled with water all fall, then a long cold stretch hit. Brought his boat in for a steering cable and his bilge was a solid block of ice, so high up the floor was frozen to it so you couldn't even lift it. Took forever to thaw out

[JohnnieMo]

Ouch, these things will happen. Last winter had a guy leave his bilge plug in. Boat filled with water all fall, then a long cold stretch hit. Brought his boat in for a steering cable and his bilge was a solid block of ice, so high up the floor was frozen to it so you couldn't even lift it. Took forever to thaw out

This was straight dumb on my part. I knew the snow was coming but I failed to consider the wind. It will sit there the rest of the winter and not see this much snow.

I still need to clean it and treat the seats. It's supposed to be +21 on Thursday. Welcome to Calgary.

[JohnnieMo]

My first time winterizing

So, for those who are fascinated by science, I conducted a bit of a study on temperatures/freezing etc as it related to my boat. I often want to extend my season deep in to the fall here in Calgary, however we get these occasional wicked snow storms (as you can see above). I wanted to test and see at what point the engine block was in danger of actually freezing. So here is what I did!

I hooked up an assortment of Smart Things multipurpose sensors to my home automation system. I calibrated them to all read the same value in the same location.



I then placed three of these sensors in three different locations. One was in my back yard. One was on the gunwale of my boat, which is inside a carport. One was sitting atop the engine shroud inside the closed engine bay. I also used a local weather station to capture ambient weather through this cold snap. Here is what I discovered.

Here is a mapping of temperatures over about 3 days. IT is a mess.

BoatGraph1.jpg

Now here is just the ambient temperatures from the local weather station. The horizontal black axis is the freezing point (0C). As you can see the weather got progressively colder throughout the week. It was fairly erratic Sunday morning (Oct 1) and this is when I was actively winterizing the boat.

BoatGraph2.jpg

Now in this next one I also am showing the temperature I am sampling in my back yard, but OUTSIDE of the carport. You'll notice it swings even more wildly, as it is likely less dampened than the weather station.

BoatGraph3.jpg

Next let's just look at the yard sensor, combined with the carport sensor. A couple things to note. The blue circles indicate when the sun was out. As you can see the yard sensor was directly in the sun (my bad) and it would spike. However even the inside of the carport would benefit from the sunshine. You'll also note the red circle showing that there is a fairly steady state difference of 3C from inside the carport to outside. This difference disappears when the wind picks up (as it does around midnight on the first night)

BoatGraph4.jpg

Now here it the money chart. This is the temperature inside the engine bay, as measured against the reported weather (i.e. what you would look at on your phone). In the first blue circle you can see a spike in the engine temp. This is when my 100 watt light bulb was turned on (it remotely triggers at 2C ambient). This causes a spike inside the boat enngine bay. From there you can see the boat engine never gets below +2C. You can also see that the boat engine bay is always at least 6 degrees warmer than the ambient temperature of the neighbourhood when that bulb is on.

BoatGraph45PNG.jpg

And then here is the final chart showing the temperature reported by the yard, against the engine bay. It shows the engine bay is as much as 10C warmer than the yard when that bulb is on. In fact, 24 hours below freezing in the yard and the engine stays above +2C.

BoatGraph5.jpg

So this is my take away.

BoatGraph6.jpg

I truly believe that unless the temperature stays below -5C for an EXTENDED PERIOD of TIME, your boat will not freeze up. Further if you add a bulb or a carport I'd say you are good to -10C for a short duration. I would pretty safely leave my boat in -5C and not be worried.

Note: I also put a smaller 40W bulb under my heater core to protect it as well.

[freeheel4life]

Cool data Johnnie. Like your breakdown as well. A lot of folks rock the work lamp to extend time. I would agree it works. The scary part to me is if you were to have a storm knock out the power while you are gambling. Have definitely done a motor for a guy that didn't bother to winterize because he kept his boat in a "heated" shop. Power got knocked out for three days during a large storm. Obviously during shoulder season its not as much of a worry as cold temps aren't usually sustained. Just thought I'd mention it so some crazy folks decide not to winterize in lieu of a light or other heaters.
I know of one guy here who plumbed in a quick connect(pre oil and tranny coolers) so that he can easily suck in anti freeze. He set it up because he concocted this large fishing platform that he exchanges for his swim platform and fishes off of it. Even has a little kicker on it. Its pretty outlandish, but it works and he's able to use boat during sub zero conditions and easily re-winterize.

[bsreid]

Now you’ve figured out the temperature you can go down to without freezing. What about when the boat is in the water? It’s been super nice in the day but cold at night. Probably going to pull it out this weekend, but just a little curious. I’d imagine the water would keep it warmer than on the trailer.

[JohnnieMo]

Water would absolutely be warmer. The amount of heat energy in the lake is astronomical. And it acts as an insulator to the bottom of the boat (which is where a lot of the cold likely comes from).

[chpthril]

The engine bay of a boat sitting in the water, will be within a few degrees of the lake water temp. So if the lake dont freeze, likely the engine will not freeze. Most wet-slipped cruisers round here dont do a full winterization for this reason. Our lake temps rarely fall below 50*

[JohnnieMo]

Now you’ve figured out the temperature you can go down to without freezing. What about when the boat is in the water? It’s been super nice in the day but cold at night. Probably going to pull it out this weekend, but just a little curious. I’d imagine the water would keep it warmer than on the trailer.

You could probably buy a thermometer that will track the lowest temperature reached. Throw it in your engine bay for a week and see.