Un-Winterizing

(March 2024, I know we’re behind in posting)

After a wonderful time with family over the holidays we finally made it back to Mischief. We were missing Mischief and were glad to get back to Urbanna to check on her. It was the longest time we’ve been away from her since we bought her in 2016.

No real surprise but we were greeted with a thin film of mold. Not the worst infestation but enough to entertain ourselves with for a few days as EVERYTHING was wiped down and Mold Control sprayed everywhere. She was finally livable again. Next on the agenda was de-winterizing her. This meant filling the holding tanks emptying them, letting water flow out of every faucet until no longer pink then repeat over and over again until all the antifreeze was flushed out. We also ran the engine and genset to flush out the antifreeze.

Next on the agenda was installing a new water heater. The old one had stopped working and was removed in the fall. And like any boat project we became distracted and decided to work on a few other things while the heater was out and there was room. Like painting inside of the cabinet where much of the plumbing is and checking many of the boats PEX connections for leaks. Putting in the new heater just meant removing door frames, taking out shelves , dropping the new heater in, reconnecting everything, topping off antifreeze for the engine since it goes through the heater and some was lost, and finally reassembling everything. A good days work but we felt accomplished.

Pumps, Pumps, and more Pumps! According to general consensus winterizing doesn’t “harm” the boat but… After dewinterizing we first had to replace the shower sump pump. Okay that one was not a surprise. It had been acting up in the fall and was probably 24 years old. But next we had to replace the freshwater pump, next to the newly installed heater. It would have been nice if it had stopped working before we put the new heater in. Oh wells. That one was only 5 or so years old, hmmm – was it the antifreeze? Then the joker valve had to be replaced which meant removing the toilet since designers can’t put screws where they are accessible. We were warned about the joker valve, antifreeze can be hard on them. Getting ahead of this blog we also had to replace our macerator pump that was only 6 years old, again hmmm. That was 3 pumps in a very short span.

Other than that Mitzi re-trained everyone to give her treats on demand, and we just hung at the marina, caught up on the local gossip, and enjoyed being back on the boat.