Winterizing A4 and General Boat Preparation

[sastanley]

Technology is moving fast. 10-15 years ago it was a chartplotter on the binnacle on the newest boats. I thought it was overkill..Now, most boats are fully Wi-Fi'd up, and you can almost stream a damn movie on the multi display in the cockpit.

I want something in between. Depth coming off the transducer to the my iPad would be nice, and maybe boatspeed to compare with SOG. But, anyway, I grew up with those funky spinning light depthsounders, a Saturn compass in the bulkhead & a knot meter, and parallel rules were me sliding my finger across a paper chart. LORAN was high tech when I was a teenager.

[Administrator]

Depth coming off the transducer to the my iPad would be nice, and maybe boatspeed to compare with SOG.

Shawn:

What brand are your current instruments?

Bill

[sastanley]

Bill, I have Raymarine ST-40s (compass & depth/speed/temp). They have a SeaTalk cable but don't go to anything else.

I did a tiny bit of research and apparently can get some sort of Raymarine backbone and then send that off to some other box that would convert it to NMEA xxxx. I don't know much more about it than that at this time.

[Splash1]

Mo,
AWESOME info, thank you so much! I winterized our 24' camper trailer in VT and NH, pretty much the same drill, but this is the first time doing the A4 on our 73 Pearson 30. Had hoped the marina would take care of this but they are backed up and unresponsive to my comms, so I'll be doing it this afternoon, starting with the engine cooling system. LOTS of good tips.

Splash1
S/V Akamaru
1973 Pearson 30 #319
Newport, RI

[Mo]

Thank you, I hope it makes your life easier come launch time.

[GregH]

Bill, I have Raymarine ST-40s (compass & depth/speed/temp). They have a SeaTalk cable but don't go to anything else.

I did a tiny bit of research and apparently can get some sort of Raymarine backbone and then send that off to some other box that would convert it to NMEA xxxx. I don't know much more about it than that at this time.

Has your system all been worked out since the post?

[sastanley]

Greg, I have not touched the instruments. Did not do enough sailing this year. Instead, I spent the last of the summer moving..at least I moved closer to the boat, so I can now ride my bike to it...I am about 1 mile from the marina now.

This might be one of those all-in-one boxes to get though. I have a buddy with newer ST60's and he is installing a similar but appropriate unit for his boat, so I'll let him be the guinea pig.

https://www.tindie.com/products/Quarkelec/qk-a027-wireless-aisgps-receiver-with-seatalk/

[GregH]

Greg, I have not touched the instruments. Did not do enough sailing this year. Instead, I spent the last of the summer moving..at least I moved closer to the boat, so I can now ride my bike to it...I am about 1 mile from the marina now.

This might be one of those all-in-one boxes to get though. I have a buddy with newer ST60's and he is installing a similar but appropriate unit for his boat, so I'll let him be the guinea pig.
https://www.tindie.com/products/Quar...-with-seatalk/

I'll have to bookmark that item!

[sdemore]

Shawn, I'm interested in what your friend finds. My boat came with an ST60 wind sensor on top of the mast, but no display unit for it. I would love to get wind information, but I can't see spending hundreds of dollars for outdated technology and old units with an unknown lifespan.

[Mo]

Boat hauled, time to winterize.

This morning, myself and two friends hauled 3 boats and parked them for the winter. It was the best season I'd had in 4 years and I logged either close or over 1700 nautical miles. Most of that day sailing with a 16 day "vacation" trip thrown in there.

Odyssey did well, weathered a couple of pretty good blows underway while on holiday and the Atomic 4 held her ground without difficulty. This week I will run through my winterization checks and balances and ensure she good for winter. The plan is to also put on my bottom paint in the next few days. It's much warmer in the fall here than spring and ablative paint can go on at anytime.

Been a good year, no major issues....after this week I'll be twiddling my thumbs looking for things to do on her. Did a lot of upgrades, replacing worn items etc during her last layup and don't expect much this year.

All the best.

Edit: day after pulling the boat. All of my maintenance checks are done, engine is winterized, plumbing ie water tanks were drained prior to taking the boat out. I just have to do the routine things now like take off gear, sails, and set my rig for the winter with the mast still up. Easy stuff.

[Mo]

Windshield washer fluid for the head.

I was down to the boat yesterday to check things and ran into a member that has the contract to clean the yacht club. He was winterizing a pump he uses and told me that we should winterize our toilets / heads with "Automobile Winter Windshield Washer".

The reasoning is that the concentration of glycol in our antifreeze is actually bad for the rubber seals in the toilet. Windshield washer is supposed to be formulated not to affect rubber ie. our wipers. So, I'm going to pump the head then add windshield washer fluid.