Tuesday 17 Nov, HHN, boat winterizing day 48:
Back in the warm days of October, I had thought that if Covid somehow delayed my return to Bucharest, I possibly wouldn’t mind too much. But today that thought changed. The weather has turned bitterly cold, just as it did in the few days before we set off south, this time last year. I’m ready to return to my warm bunny! to the Admiral in her warm apartment.
It’s a day of clearing up, cleaning up and packing. Biggest job is getting the new sails inside the saloon without breaking my back. I manage to end-to-end them from the aft deck to top of the companionway steps … but from that point they kind of “fall” into place in the saloon. (I know Oana, I did say I would not let them drop, but gravity has its way of taking over!). So now they are standing upright in the saloon like 3 silent people, getting in the way. And that’s where they will stay for the next year until the mast is back up, because there is no way to get them back out of the cabin without the assistance of a halyard. Hmm, and I had mistakenly thought these new EPEX sails would pack smaller and lighter than our old laminate set.
The other big task of the day is to flush the fresh water system with antifreeze. The last bit of winterization. To do this, I set up a large builders-bucket in the engine room, fill it with antifreeze and take a hose to the inlet of one of the fresh water pressure pumps, which will suck the antifreeze through the system, on demand. I do manage to run the washing machine on a short rinse cycle, which seems to have done the trick. It’s interesting to see the pink water sloshing around in there with no clothes inside. We must remember to re-flush with fresh water in the spring, or the first wash will likely result in pink clothes!
The other faucets, showers and toilet are easy. Just turn them on and wait for the pink water to come out. With the cold water side completed, I wonder how to flush the hot water side without having to fill the whole hot water tank with antifreeze before it can exit to the taps. The solution I find is to adjust the bypass thermostat to minimum temperature. This sends most of the incoming cold water (incoming to the hot water tank), directly out the hot water side without it going into the tank.
This works well, until I run out of antifreeze solution just before I start the forward heads. So will have to wait till tomorrow, after another antifreeze purchase. I’m 18 gallons used now, and it looks like I’ll need 2-3 more. The main water tanks still have about 20% fresh water left inside each one. I will drain those into the bilge tomorrow, then pump out the bilge. I figure that as long as the fresh water is out of all the pipes, then any small volume left in the stainless steel water tanks should be fine if it freezes. It’s not like it’s going to break the tanks, given that HR has built them like a Sherman tank!
Last day tomorrow. I fly in the evening.
