Winterizing

Its almost that time. This is the first year with my inboard and was wondering if I should attempt to winterize my boat? I will be storing it in my garage that is unheated so I will need to follow all the guidelines in the manual.

Has anyone winterized and had issues in the spring or did it go smoothly? I don't mind taking it to the marina and get them to do it but I always like takling things myself first if I can do it.

You're in Canada so winter definitely hits and the biggest issue is freezing. Getting the water out of everything is the critical trick. I'd always tow the boat around some with all the drain points open and the plugs out. That would shake anything out that was in some cranny and I always got water out doing that.
Never had a problem in the spring. Just make a list of what you did and reverse it, checking them off.

unhook the hoses.... pull drain plugs... fog the engine

you'll be good to go

what about putting plumpin antifreeze in the engine, does that help if there was some spots with water still in it?

You can run RV or plumber's antifreeze through. But still drain it. If you have a heater make a special effort to get the water out of that.

do you use an air compressor and blow the water out as well? if so what point do you blow the air into? and what is the best way to get some rv anti freeze into the engine..sorry for the noob questions

Why drain the anti freeze out Art?

You want to drain the antifeeze out before you put it in the lake. Propylene Glycol is not as bad as ethylene glycol but I don't really want it in my water. It could stay in but there is not any great benefit to leaving it and I'm not good at remembering everything I want to do in the spring anyway.
I've use a shop vac to suck my heater lines. I guess I could use it to suck the exhaust out too, but I haven't. I have not used compressed air. It's not pressure so much as CFM of air that will move the water out of the way.

Ah, now I see.

I use a 12v inflatables to blow out the heater lines and I shop vac everyhting else including the ballast lines.

You can buy enviromentally friendly RV antifreeze then you don't have to worry about draining it prior to dumping it in the water. Just starter up.

(Message edited by BCRider on September 16, 2008)

I pop off the intake hose, put it in a bucket of antifreeze and run the boat until it hits its running temp. That insures the thermostat opens up and antifreeze gets in everywhere. I also run the heater and shower and pump some antifreeze into the ballast tanks.

I have owned two boats since 1996 and winterized both myself every year with no problems- You don't need antifreeze and I am frightened to think how much of that stuff goes in the lake in the spring-even the Enviro-friendly stuff is still BAD NEWS for fish, etc.

Here's What I do:
1) Hook up the fake a lake and run fogger through the throttle body.
2) Shut down the motor, pull the drain pugs- I have 5 on the Merc MPI motor. Pull the hose to the impeller and shower, pull the hose for the heater and blow really hard through it to get all water out of the heater core. I also pull the main spark plug line to the rotor cap and turn the engine over a few times to force any water out of the impeller housing.
3) Pull the spark plugs onat a time and squirt fogger into every cylinder.
4) Change the oil- so I don't forgetin the spring.
5) Change Fuel Filter too.
6)Drain ALL water from the bildge- drive it to a ramp if you need to.
7) Pull Battery - it goes in the house.

That's it! 12 years and no cracked blocks and the boats run great.

Leaving the antifreeze is not a problem if you run the boat out of the water at the beginning of the new season.I always start mine in the driveway the first time every season.It takes care of two things,it gets the antifreeze out and makes sure it will start and there are no problems before I go out.Also it keeps you from blocking a launch ramp while you're trying to figure out why your boat won't start.

^^^Using a fake a lake so you don't damage your impeller.

Right... Sorry should have included that.

yup, I drain my antifreeze back into a bucket at the beginning of the year and dispose of it properly.

Just take off the raw water pump line from the thru hull, stick it in a 5 gal bucket and run the hose to keep it fed. no fake a lake.

We've had a problem with the mufflers cracking because they still have water in them when it freezes. So I do a dry start to make sure it's all blown out.

Then I pull the impeller, inspect it, and put it in a baggy with a little WD40. Never had a problem. This year I ran the Globe Run Dry impeller so it'll be interesting to see it's condition when I pull it.

I have radiator flush Ts in the heater lines at their lowest point in the bilge. Pull the caps & gravity drains the heater core & lines.

I use an air compressor to blow the engine hoses out. If I'm really worried about freezing I'll put anti-freeze in everything & then drain that too.

We'll use the boat numerous times thru the winter so the winterizing task gets done quite a few times. Takes me 5 or 10 minutes... usually sitting at the ramp right after we're done riding.