Winterizing A4 and General Boat Preparation

[Mo]

impeller

I had forgotten to mention the impeller in my checklist....saw it in another thread so I added it in post 1

[southcoasting]

This is a great post Mo!

Thank you! As I am coming close to pulling my boat out of the water, I need to go over how to winterize the A4 as I am doing it for the first time...

Thanks again!

[joe_db]

I'll add my procedure -
Clamp a hose on the exhaust outlet.
Run it into a bucket.
Run the water intake hose into the same bucket.
Fill with antifreeze.
Run engine until hot.

IMHO constantly circulating the antifreeze makes sure it gets everywhere.

*optional step
Do all the above with vinegar to clear out deposits.

[Mo]

Thanks for the input Joe....much appreciated.

[wmmulvey]

Revised Torque

From the Moyer manual, page P1-3, Step 11
Bold type is as it appears in the manual

Although the manual states 35 FP of torque, Moyer Marine recommends 25 FP of torque.

I believe he made that statement somewhere in this forum.

Maybe this needs a conformation from MM..........

Regards

Bill

[Mo]

Winterization partially complete.

Pulled my boat yesterday. Engine is winterized,
-ran the freshwater and
-antifreeze through yesterday.
-shut off fuel valves
-removed carb,
-removed plugs,
-vacuumed around plug area to keep dirt out.
-Put oil in plug holes,
-rag in carb opening where I removed it.
-put plugs back in
-turned engine over on starter.
-sprayed choke cable ends and worked it
-sprayed shifter cable ends and worked it
-sprayed throttle cable ends and worked it.
-removed distributer cap, EI, rotor button and plate and sprayed the centrifugal advance springs in the distrib.
-light spray of rust control around the engine.
-carb is in garage and I will give it a cleaning in the next few weeks and place it back on the boat next to the engine.
-stabil and gas line antifreeze in gas tank...ensured cap was tight and seal in good shape.

That will do it for the engine. Took about an hour. I have also drained water tanks, and taken the plug out of my bilge drain plug....the remainder of winterization is what takes time. I have to make room in my garage. My truck cap is in there, my inflatable is there blown up....those two items take up so much space. Once I get that sorted out I'll take everything off the boat and bring it to the garage and stow it....I hate this part.

Edit: Re: the blue patchwork bottom paint. Had the boat out on labor day weekend and sprayed with power washer. Some of my bottom paint washed off so I touched it up with blue as I'd run out of black Might even put blue on next year.

[Bingy]

Mo

I noticed sails still attached.
Do you leave on for the winter.
Last spring we had 3 boats topple and they had left sails on.
Just left club and it is blowing a stink and the boats with roller furling sails still on are really shaking.

[Mo]

HI Bingy,
I don't leave the sails on, nor the cockpit curtains, dodger etc. I hauled the boat yesterday evening and it's blowing 30kts out there now. We too will have about 4 days of poor weather so I'll have to wait to get them off. Right now she is protected by the building...pretty much protected on 3 sides right there....not a bad spot.

[Bingy]

I assumed you did but asked anyway.
Conversation piece.
5 Lake frieghters at anchor western Lake Erie waiting for water levels to increase.

[Mo]

I think your water is on the way if that low stays in the area

[Mo]

mess

Went down to the boat and tried to get on with the winterization this morning. Still 30 kts of wind and everything wet outside so I didn't want to throw things off the boat. (different system than Hurricane Sandy)

A bigger problem is my gear in the garage....this morning my wife called me a hoarder....can you imagine that!!! I told her if she'd get her junk out of my garage I'd have room for my stuff.

I need to clean up the garage after all summer...for sure. Everything has it's place but when I'm playing on the boat I just pile it in there. Now I need to get the cap back on the truck; the new snow tires on her car; the trampoline in boxes in the corner; the inflatable deflated and stowed; the ladder back on the wall; those sails are junk and have to go (was saving them to build a sunshade that didn't happen; the bikes in the shed; the boat repair materials / baskets etc back where they belong; the welder off the bench and the bench cleaned up; tools put away....and somewhere in there is the beer fridge....haven't been able to access that since June!!! Now there's incentive.

Edit: Nov 1: 10 hrs working cleaning up garage; 1 pickup load gone to dumpster at yacht club still have at all the material from inside the boat, sails etc to come back...have room for that now.

[ndutton]

Y'know, if you didn't spend every day sailing you might have enough time to hoard in a more organized manner.

[edwardc]

When did you sneak in and photograph my garage??!!

Its uncanny how similar... right down to the stack of tires!

[Mo]

..need more motivation

I know...it's terrible! I should be out there right now sorting that out but I have one eye on the screen here and the other on CNN...LOL.

[smp]

The cooling system is winterized. I have to go back for the rest.

Question: I believe my tstat works because it maintains a constant 160 or so when I run the engine. After taking it out today I see that it's really rusty. Is this anything to worry about?

Also, what happens if you overtighten the nuts on the tstat housing?