Starting early and protecting against freezing

I’d like to start wakeboarding next month but in my part of the country there is a chance for a late season freeze all the way through April. One meteorological chart I looked at shows freeze dates for 9:10 chance, 1:10 chance and last of the season. Surface temperature can be lower then air temperature. The temperature data in this table is measured 5 feet above the ground. So I expect that the dates in the table are optimistic – i.e. predict a safe date perhaps before it really is.

How do you deal with the risk of a late spring freeze on an inboard? For full winterization I’d have my dealer run antifreeze through the engine, but I don’t think that I want to go to the dealer all the time.

There are several drain plugs in most engines. Is it reasonably safe to pull the plugs and just let the lake water drain out? Do you need to pressurize the cooling manifolds to blow out water trapped in low areas?

I’ve heard of self regulating electrical heating elements. The heating elements turn on when it’s cold and back off when a safe temperature has been reached. I could run this kind of heater off of my second, isolated battery, has anybody tried that?

Thanks!

Ed, I went down and bought a magnetic block heater for my boat. it hasnt gotten down to freezing temps yet but if it look slike it is getting close I just stick it down by the oil pan and plug it in.

Dan, do you keep your boat at home? Do you power your system from the wall or from the battery? I can’t keep my boat at my place, short of moving there’s no hope to do so. So I can’t plug in to 110 Vac power. I used to store my old boat out side, but I’m looking to rent a garage. In either case I won’t have an AC hook up so I’d have to leave a heater in place running off the battery and hope that it can supply the heater for an entire week. Most days, or really nights I wouldn’t expect the heater to kick on, might work.

You can put a trouble light in your engine compartment, that works fine. I wouldn't do it on a carbureted boat, possible gas leaks and explosion hazard.

I drain my exhaust manifolds and block, takes 10 min. That's on a Lexus aluminum v8, never had any problems.