[Rhodes22-list]Thanks re winterizing

[P&M Beals]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I am saving, copying and will invariably
end up using a tip from here and a piece from there. Clearly there are
varied opinions but I would much rather have more information than less.

I am surprised  Bill you don't have to pull your battery out...everything I
have read in articles recommends it, but maybe the key is the solar
charger...and NJ winters tend to be not that brutal...we hit 0 rarely, and
the average temps are in the 30's.

I think actually the motor we have may be the original with the boat that is
1986.  It certainly was the purchase of the original owner not the second,
and that owner I believe was a Floridian...only knowing this from some old
papers left on board. Does anyone remember the owner of the boat that was
prior to Joe Ware (Va.) or is that info. not shared? I find the history of a
vessel to be interesting...you know the souls that inhabited and sailed in
different parts of the seas....

Rummy, do you keep the records if the earlier owners were listed with the
Rhodes list?  

At any rate I will report that the Yamaha 9.9  4 stroke motor has been very
reliable starting up after a couple tries only,  has used very little gas.
And the boat does  have one solar charger at the bow. The only time we ran
into trouble with the motor was going in reverse to dock stern first one day
when the northeaster was about 20+ knots and the tide was very strong
against us.  Otherwise I am pleased with the motor.

I also found a website probably not news to the long-time salts, see I
didn't say old salts- for repair manuals and info. on outboards
www.repairmanual.com/marine  I am going to get one since by the time of our
taking ownership no such manual or info. was to be found or had from the
seller.  

'Will report back how lowering the mast tomorrow, hopefully not in very
strong winds goes. It was wickedly windy here today, but I am hoping for
some ease in the winds tomorrow.

Since I did not put a new coat of bottom paint on in September before
launching her I can't wait to see how many barnacles we have to contend
with!  Yuck!

Phyllis
Whisper
NEW JERSEY 

> From: "Bill Effros" <bill at effros.com>
> Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 09:51:15 -0500
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] winterizing- help please
> 
> It's OK Phyllis, you're in the club--no further need for disclaimers about the
> dog eating your homework.
> 
> Next lesson about how to use the advice you can get from this list--always
> know the source. 
> 
> Winterizing advice from people living in Winnipeg is going to be different
> from winterizing advice from people living in Key West.  Winterizing advice is
> going to be different from people who actually do it themselves, as opposed to
> people who just read about it, and then pay others to do it for them.
> 
> I live near you, and I do it myself.  Here's what I do:
> 
> 1.  Steer Boat Onto Trailer.
> 2.  Hose slime off bottom of boat, and salt off trailer.
> 3.  Run Fresh water through engine for 5 minutes.  (I use earmuffs)
> 4.  Store boat on the trailer--bow very high.
> 
> That's it.
> 
> I don't take my batteries out of my car in the winter, nor does anyone else
> where we live.  I don't know why we should take them out of our boats.  I have
> solar panels on my boat which constantly top off the batteries.  If you don't
> have them, get them.  It's much simpler than taking the batteries out of the
> boat every winter "just to be on the safe side."
> 
> We've had some pretty cold winters and my batteries lasted for 6 years.  They
> still had some life in them, but it seemed dumb to push my luck for another
> season.  I like the old fashioned wet cells.  They are cheap, and they take a
> higher charge so there is less of an overcharging issue.
> 
> One winter, owing to a mental lapse, one of the batteries was frozen inside a
> cake of ice for 6 weeks.  It still worked, though, and after the ice thawed I
> just left it where it was--apparently no worse for the wear.
> 
> I don't put tarps on the boat.  I figure it is in the elements all summer,
> what's the difference in the winter?  I try to put a coat of wax over
> everything before the winter.  Collinite is good for a 1 coat wax job.  I have
> done damage to previous boats with tarps and would never use one unless I
> could see my boat 24 hours a day.  Also, I always work on my boat in the
> winter, outdoors, and you can't do that when the tarp is over everything.
> 
> Here we go on motor reliability again, but.  Rummy, and Ed, and I, and others
> with Tohatsus will all tell you that we never have problems starting our boats
> in the spring.  We never report "stale gas" or "carbonized valves" or
> "crystallized oil" or any of the other "dog ate my homework" problems reported
> by people who invariably turn out to have new 4-stroke engines.
> 
> I gather you have a new 4-stroke, so I can't tell you what to do from my own
> experience.  I will tell you that if your engine is truly as reliable as mine,
> spraying snake oil and indulging other superstitious rituals is unnecessary.
> 
> I leave food on board, and eat it when I go to work on the boat during the
> winter.
> 
> Freezing water in the bilge is not a problem.  (The cake of ice mentioned
> above encompassed the entire foredeck, cabin and cockpit to a depth of 1 foot
> each.--No harm done to anything.  All the water entered the boat after it was
> on land.)
> 
> I haven't changed the gear oil in my lower motor unit, ever.  I try to change
> spark plugs once every 10 years, but usually miss by a year or two.  Doesn't
> seem to make any difference.
> 
> I leave all the seats and cushions on board all winter.  I've never had a
> mildew problem.  I had more problems storing boat stuff in my basement than I
> did on my boat.  Again, what's the difference between winter and summer as far
> as your boat is concerned?
> 
> I try to do some fall cleaning on the boat.  Here the rule of thumb is to
> remove anything except safety equipment that I never used during the season.
> These items never return to the boat.  I'm still getting rid of stuff I put on
> board 10 years ago that I've never ever used.
> 
> (One of the problems with the Rhodes is that it has so much storage room there
> is a temptation to use it all.  The boat is much easier to use if it isn't
> also functioning as a floating junkyard.)
> 
> Well, that should keep politics off the list for a while.  Everyone does not
> agree with me regarding the above.  But that's what I do, and it has worked
> just fine for me.
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "Conservatives are so afraid of losing their majority
> status right now that.they're showing an astonishing
> willingness to spend now and dump all the cost in our
> children's laps, and an amazing unwillingness to
> reconcile the size of government with the amount of
> taxes needed to fund it."
> 
> Brian M. Riedl
> Heritage Foundation
> November 24, 2003
> 
> Source:
> www.QuoteWithoutComment.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: P&M Beals 
> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 10:27 PM
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] winterizing- help please
> 
> 
> Dear Rhodies,
> 
> I checked out winterizing at the rhodes22.org site, which is our only
> reference site besides GB's site, correct?
> 
> and I reviewed all the saved messages from a couple weeks back.
> 
> Here are my questions:  Remember I am not a motor acquainted sailor  until
> two months ago...
> 
> We have a Yamaha 9.9 electric start motor ( since we don't need to mix oil
> with the gas I believe it is a 4 stroke).  What if anything do we do for
> that type for winterizing?
> 
> Is it necessary to top off gas tanks to prevent condensation?
> 
> We will remove the batteries.
> 
> Do folks remove the spreaders from the mast when putting their boat down for
> the winter?
> When I first stepped the mast with Joe Ware in August the spreaders were not
> on the mast, but when we prepped it for travel north Joe said leaving the
> spreaders in place would be ok.
> Will there be a problem of them bending or too much stress etc if left in
> place? I do recall we had one  heck of a time getting them in place.
> 
> we will be covering the boat with a cover, quite securely but it will
> definitely be an outside storage.  also besides washing down the hull can we
> wait til late winter to bottom paint again or is that necessary now?
> 
> Any extra drainage steps to take....we didn't use the water holding tank at
> all.
> 
> Looks like this Sat. we have to pull  her out.  Would like to have had more
> sails but that's about it for up here.  When I was a kid to teen, and sailed
> on the Hudson up north we had a family tradition of sailing on Thanksgiving,
> with a small pot belly coal burning stove in the cabin...with a smoke stack
> vent of course. We had to chip away a thin ice sheet some times from around
> the bow. good memories though.
> 
> Thanks 
> Phyllis
> Whisper
> NJ   
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