Winterizing A4 and General Boat Preparation

[sastanley]

Mo, is the hex part of the reducer on the inside of the bilge or the outside of the hull?

[Mo]

Outside...can't get at it from the inside because the low part of the bilge in beneath the mast step.

[Mo]

Attached is a pic of Odyssey as she sits for the winter. I am close to the club and that's my "spot"...easy access to water and electricity and no congestion when I want to launch.

I don't cover her because I've found the covering to be a nuisance. Snow blows off in the wind and if we have allot I'll shovel out the cockpit with a plastic shovel. No water gets in the boat as I cover all vents except the cabin-top ones. The bilge plug is removed so any condensation drains out. No mold accumulates over the winter and once I clean the boat's interior after take out it stays fresh smelling. I use shrink wrap tape around the front hatch, a portion of a tarp over the binnacle, cover the engine panel with shrink wrap tape and cover the speakers with shrink wrap tape....then it is pretty well done.

[Mo]

Hole placement may differ on each boat.

Keith,

Dave Potter drilled a hole in his C&C 30 yesterday and called me to let me know how it went. His is a 1972 and the hole he drilled had to be a little more forward and about a 1/2 inch lower than mine.

I am thinking that they may have layed more glass in some boats than others. Where the hole is in mine is the lowest part of the bilge. The bottom of the hole is level with the floor. Dave's bilge ran deeper in the forward section than mine and he put a pilot hole in where mine was. He found it didn't come in low on the floor in his boat. He subsequently did some measurements from the inside and drilled another. Dave thinks he has it in the correct spot this time.

Considering Dave's experience with this I think each boat will need to be measured on an individual basis when putting in a drain hole. We can expect a post on the C&C website, and here as well, once he gets organized to do it.

[Whippet]

Stick Up for Winter

Mo

i know you are experienced mechanic based on your thoughtful posts. There is raging debate going on in the C&C 27 forum whether to be mast-up or mast down for winter. from photo, i see where you come out.

aren't you afraid of undue strain on rigging and hull from stick up? 98% percent of boats at my winter storage are mast up -- but seems many purists think this is blasphemy.

Not sure this is proper topic for an A4 forum, but curious to get your thoughts.

[Mo]

27 should be fine with stick up.

Hi Whippet,
I'm not really a mechanic. C&C 27 can sit with the mast up no problem and lots do it. Loosen each of the shroud turnbuckles a turn or so...don't have them too loose and put the cotter pins back in. It's a good idea to take the mast down every 3rd season and check everything.

I would not keep the mast up when using jack stands (unless on concrete and chained)... but in a cradle is good. There were a few boats go over here in 70kts + winds (different club) because the jack stands sunk into the ground and became unstable. The ground had frozen, then thawed soft and the wind then did the job. Those guys then became liable for the damage to other boats they hit.

Mine is keel stepped unlike the deck stepped 27. Most of the masts are down at our club ONLY because the crane company won't lift them out with a mast in. I come out on my trailer so I got myself out of that game and can go in and out when I wish...with the mast up.

Hope that helps you out.

[Mo]

checked boat today

Went to club and aboard the boat today. A bit of ice in floor of cockpit but all looked good . Batteries are maintained with demand chargers; turned engine over on starter for about 5 sec;

Good idea to turn over a winterized engine periodically.

[Mo]

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.

That time of year again. Odyssey was pulled today, Oct 30. Winterization and a weeks work putting things away to look forward to....

[Whippet]

Good to do?

Mo

PO used to do 2 winterize steps that aren't often on lists

1) pull impeller
2) loosen alternator belt

IYHO, (not sure your friends describe you with H word), do these steps have value? Not anxious to do step 1 since will get bilge full of antifreeze at this point

Thanks as usual

[hcrisp]

Mo's Garage

Thinking about your garage, Mo, and have to ask where you get the reflective tape that is on your foul weather gear. Looks good. I want to add it to mine.
Thanks,
Howard

[Mo]

Mo

PO used to do 2 winterize steps that aren't often on lists

1) pull impeller
2) loosen alternator belt

IYHO, (not sure your friends describe you with H word), do these steps have value? Not anxious to do step 1 since will get bilge full of antifreeze at this point

Thanks as usual

Don't worry about either

[Mo]

Thinking about your garage, Mo, and have to ask where you get the reflective tape that is on your foul weather gear. Looks good. I want to add it to mine.
Thanks,
Howard

Howard,

That was reflective gear from the days doing medevacs / rescue stuff and working as a medic in industrial sites. It came like that. Typically it can be bought from industrial clothing outfits...I think. I find the foul weather gear made by Henry LLoyd, Gill, Gull, etc much better in the long run. A number of years back I bought some Wet Skin rain gear at Walmart...paid less than $100 for it and it work better than the stuff you see in the pic. Not as good a Gill off-shore but I find that too heavy in summer anyway.

Most of the nautical wet weather gear have minimal reflective ability and that is usually around shoulders and head because they figure people will be in the water when being searched for.

A good idea would be to have reflective tape on life jackets and life rings as well so the Helicopter lights will flash off it....amazing how reflective gear lights up under illumination or even flares.

Should be able to purchase reflective striping, that you can sew and / or stick on, at any industrial safety place.

Hope that helps.

[edwardc]

...Should be able to purchase reflective striping, that you can sew and / or stick on, at any industrial safety place...

Howard,

Try McMaster-Carr

http://www.mcmaster.com/#reflective-marking-tape/=p6u7eo

[Mo]

Antifreeze in engine today.

END OF 2012 SEASON Wednesday, Oct 30 th, I pulled the boat out on it's trailer and parked it. Yesterday we pulled the marina fingers and were supposed to do the marinas today...alas a 35 gusting to 45 kt wind made me postpone that until Nov 5th.

So I was down there this morning in the wind and rain and secured halyards etc so they wouldn't be making a racket for the neighborhood behind the club. Also fired up the engine and ran freshwater through for about 15 minutes. Then ran my 50/50 mix of auto antifreeze through. Then winterized the toilet as well...done deal on the frost issues. Water tanks and pumps are completely drained and I don't put any type of antifreeze in those.

Went ahead and centered the boat on the trailer as she was off a bit...nothing major but I like things just so. Then I leveled the boat beam to beam with a slight bow dip...my cockpit drains are forward in the cockpit so water will drain just fine now.

Tomorrow I will show a new A4 owner and his wife how to winterize their boat. After that the plan is to remove my carb, put oil in the plug holes, rags under the manifold where the carb came off... and turn it over on the starter. Always some oil comes to the carb when I do that but it lubes the valves very nicely.

Then the big job starts....getting the sails, electronics and "nautical stuff" off the boat and back to the garage for storage...that's the part I can't stand.

A few pics of the old girl. Not one barnacle on the boat this year...just a very slight slime...othewise nothing. The pic of the prop...painted with undercoat but it came out as you see it...there were allot of barnacles on boats here this year, props as well. Part of it is keeping the boat out and moving.

Odyssey went in Mar 30th and came out Oct 30th...7 full months. If I didn't have that trailer I'd loose a month in the water.

[Mo]

Got around to lubricating the top end of the engine today. Took a few pics of how I do things...very easy and I did another A4, besides mine, as well.

-pic one...fuel shut off via valve, carb removed, shop towel below where carb sat on manifold...carb set off to the side.
-pic two...Plugs removed...NGK XR4 plugs here, used 2 years without a problem. Plugs will let you know how well the engine is running.
-pic three..plastic cup under manifold area where you removed the carb.
-pic four...head with plugs removed. Pour some oil down each plug hole then replace the plugs. Turn over the engine on the starter and oil will get down around the valves and keep them lubricated for start up in the spring. When you turn the engine over oil will go into the cup where you removed the carb...it would otherwise go into the carb and cause problems starting in the spring.
-choice of cleaning the carb via dissassembly or just cover and leave it sitting off to the side until start up day.

-don't forget to lubricate all choke cables, shifter cables, centrifugal advance springs on distributor.