While in water

Empty black water tank and flush head.
Drain engine oil while engine is still hot. Then change the oil filter and add oil.
Run engine 2-3 min to distribute new oil and test oil filter seal.
Drain water tanks. Disconnect tank tie and let water run into bilge.
Remove Sails, Boom, and mast boot. Disconnect mast wires
Horse pads on boat. 6x6 x1/4" plywood pieces to go under horse legs.
Pieces of carpet to go between plywood and deck.
UNSTEP MAST
Remove instruments from masthead while boat is still in the water.
Put boot on masthead Again easier if still in water. Want to cover swedge fittings.
Mast post in 2x4 from mast step to yoke under mast. Wedge at bottom will get whole thing snug. Weight from snow will be supported on mast step. Waterproof post hole and secure mast with ties. We have seen a mast that was blown off of a boat. There can be a lot of sideways force from wind on the cover.

In Cradle or on Jack Stands

Blow out heat exchanger by disconnecting the hose at the sea water pump. Then lowering hose to floor and let it drain. Then connect Dinghy air to pump to waterline. Force water out of exchanger with air. If water is left in the heat exchanger, moisture will work its way into engine through open valves.
Disconnect muffler so that moisture in the heat exchanger can find its way out. Water in the muffler is isolated from engine. Best if all this is done while engine is still warm.
Drain and lubricate the sea water pump by removing the faceplate and smearing the impeller with Vaseline. Might want to consider just replacing impeller every fall.
Face will have to come off to get water out of housing regardless. Remove the Seawater strainer and all water in the housing.
Drain Accumulator tank. Reconnect
Service head Pump by pumping antifreeze through it.
1/2 gallon of antifreeze in holding tank.
1/2 gallon of antifreeze in each of the potable water tanks.
Drain and blow out potable water side of water heater. Open pressure relief valve. Open water drain plug. This should do it, but it doesn't! There is still a lot of water in it. Disconnect water in and water out lines. Connect dinghy air pump to in fitting and blow out the rest of the water. Try the out also. One gets the water out better. Connect by pass Use fittings on in and out lines of water heater to connect them together. Heater now bypassed.

Blow water out of drinking water lines by running water pump and opening faucets one at a time, until air comes out. This reduces the amount of antifreeze needed in next step.
Pump antifreeze Make sure port water tank valve is off. At tank tie, take port line coming from port tank and insert into a gallon jug of antifreeze. Typically need to add an extension to line to get it into the antifreeze container. Turn on water pump and open faucets one at a time until antifreeze comes out. Using a clear plastic cups to catch fluid coming out of the faucet allows for easier color matching to make sure that its 100% antifreeze in the lines.

Remove Wind, depth, and speed instruments. Disconnect wires. Unsnap retaining ring and they will slide out the back. Cold weather can harm instruments.
Stereo out
Radio/Loran out Cold weather
Tie stays to mast Tape cloth between mast and stays to stop chaff from wind vibration.
Remove lifelines to have higher cover pitch.
Anchor off
Drain ice box
Wheel off Makes it a lot easier to get around on deck
Fill transmission See manual
Empty the shower sump.
Dry bilge.
Spin engine after the engine has dried out a couple of days. With decompression on, spin engine for three ten-sec cycles. This will spray fuel oil into the cylinders to deter rust. Fogging the engine may do a better job.
Batteries out
Seal engine intake Baggy. Seal exhaust Baggy over exhaust hose going from engine to muffler.
Block hull if necessary.
Mt fuel tank Siphon For last cup or so, hand pump- hose on dowel, hose to bottom corner. You will get a lot of junk Check outside icebox
Cushions off
Check for liquids that might freeze. Soda etc. Bilge some people put antifreeze into bilge to prevent hull cracking if the cover should be blown off and the bilge fill with water. Never did this. However, we checked cover pretty often.

Check the antifreeze in the engine. The batteries are hard to get out. Using a piece of wood 1 and 1/2" square by 4ft to go from the sail locker, through the battery strap to the access port in the 1/4 berth. One person in the 1/4 berth and other in sail locker can lift up on the wood until the battery clears its case and then slid the battery along the piece of wood until it is in the sail locker. A strong person can lie on stomach in the sail locker and reached in and lift the battery out.

Another thing you might want to think about when the boat is out of the water. The through hull for the depth sounder has been weeping for the last 4-5 years when the boat was first put into the water after being out for the winter. At first is just stopped on its own (probably the wood ring around it swelling up) but the last two years I had to put some sealing compound around it and in the center well of the unit. If it starts to leak when the boat is in the water, I don't see any way of fixing it unless the boat is pulled out of the water.

 

90% of this information came directly from the initial owner of Sankaty. It was a tremendous help to have the initial owner available to help us over all this new stuff.