Winterizing
Today Simon, our friend Kalle and I spent a cold sunny day winterizing the boat. It was chilly, about 3degC. But we were grateful for sun and blue skies (and a beautiful crescent moon from about 4pm, which is not far from sunset this time of year!).
What we learned:
Outboard motors are freaking heavy
It felt a bit sad to say goodbye to the boat for the year! We took comfort in the fact she has 47 winters under her belt
IKEA bags are not watertight but they work as a bucket if you keep filling them (which we did to rinse the motor with fresh water before storage)
If Kalle asks nicely, the friendly woman at the harbor shop will lend you the showroom motor display stand to clean your motor
Make sure there is nothing standing on the jetty between you and the hose
After a lot of searching, we found the greywater station in the motor home area, which becomes a place to store boats on land in winter. (Misnomer, that water is brown!) I watched a quick YouTube video for how to empty our chemical portapotty. Key is to press the button to vent it to drain.
You feel like a crab on the bottom of the ocean when boats are up on land towering over you!
“Boats sink in this harbor every year. All you need is a tiny hole, there’s all the time in the world for the water to get in,” our cheerful neighbor informed us. 😬
Tasks we did today:
Remove motor: Attach storfall to motor handle, unscrew 2 black screws, one person pull fall 2 carry off boat. Undo fall as pass mast. Borrow dolly from Hartman's. IKEA bag w water on top of plastic box. Remove propellor.
Run motor in fresh water. Store propellor off. Step on dolly before turn on motor!
Fully charge and take home battery
Dump toilet. press button rinse a few times flush thing
Secure furlex to bottom of front stay
Close fuel tanks
Leave sprayhood on for winter it's not removable
Empty water tank
Clean the gelcoat with anti-algae treatment (swab the decks matey!)
Push power plug in as much as poss in fack so not in water
Remove and dry capulet and cover and ropes
Remove storskött line
Raise boom to drain water fwd and secure
Remove main sail and foresail, drop off at sail shop for winter service and storage
Tighten lazyjack
remove all fabric, cushions, pillows, life jackets for winter storage
Store teak cockpit flooring and capulet in boat
Leave all facks open to dry
Leave desiccating bucket and extra packets on floor to collect winter moisture
Leave a small bucket in the bilge (there was a bit of water there again 😬) but this time no shoes and doormats to get moldy
Pics from Kalle!
