Winterization

[PeterMac]

Hey Boat Owners-

I have and I/O on my boat and want to know what I need to do should the weather turn sub freezing. I have friends who go through a weatherization process, but they don't use there boats this time of year. I intend on using it each month, so I am hoping there are safeguards I can take without it requiring a full afternoon every time I want to use the boat.

Mine is an old 4 cyl mercruiser.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
PeterMac

[SLEDDER]

PETERMAC,if the water you are floating in is the cooling water for your engine block, the block needs to be drained. The drain holes usually have pipe plugs in them and they are located down low on either side of block. If you have a enclosed cooling system, Antifreeze and radiator type set up, then you just need to ensure that antifreeze mixture is adequate to prevent freezing. 50% water 50% antifreeze. The heat exchanger that this antifreeze mixture goes through to dissapate the engine heat usually drains as you pull boat out of water. All rubber water hoses should be drained, your thermostat housing should be emptied. Your cooling system will refill when you float your boat again. I would ensure your I/O unit is greased properly also. In the winter I would use a high quality synthetic motor oil like Mobile 1 it flows better than conventional oil in the colder tempatures. 10w-30 or 5w-50 or somewhere in between. Ensure your exhaust manifolds are not full of water, they usually drain sufficiently as you leave the water. Expanding water I/E ice will crack cast iron or cast aluminum, so you have to give the water room to expand as it freezes.

[DK]

petermac it can really be a lot of work trying to drain hoses manifolds inclosed system or not, find a container big enough to hold the out drive fill it anti freeze and water flush outdrivein let circulate, that way any water left in hoses or manifolds will contain antifreeze and will not freeze up.

[PeterMac]

Sled and DK, thanks for you help. DK, that sounds like a smart idea. Sort of a quick way to out smart the cold.

Thanks http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif

PeterMac

[Phunybonz]

moving this up in hopes of a 70 hp evinrude procedure. Here it's gonna get cold this weekend....probably another false forecast. With that said, I'm gonna go find my longjohns.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Petermac,

I have a 3.8 L V6 I/O.
Like you I didn't want to go through the hassle every weekend of draining hoses, manifolds etc, here is what I did: http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Run the engine and flush until it comes up to operating temp. I use an adapter that fastens to my garden hose.

When the motor is up to temp, turn it off, connect the adapter to a short hose, I use a 10 foot hose just for this purpose. I fashioned a funnel out of an old water bottle and screwed one end to the hose. Then I fastened the adapter to the engine, held up the funnel and filled the hose with bio-friendly antifreeze. This material is for RVs and boats and is even a little cheaper. I bought it at Fred Meyers. I feel that this material is more environmentally friendly that Prestone.

When the funnel is full I have my wife start the boat and pour more antifreeze into the funnel until I see it coming out the discharge. Then I have the wife turn off the engine. Mine took almost a full gallon. Raise the engine and pull the battery and store it in the garage.

Pretty simple and relatively friendly to the environment.

Hope this helps,

Mr. F.


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