How cold before you winterize? (add antifreeze)

[DPForumDog]

We usually wait and winterize our motor when we see we are going to have two or three nights of temps in the upper 20s. Here in Alabama we normally don't reach those temps to mid November.

But I have recently heard that a guy in Nashville said that it is safe to wait to winterize your motor until you see temps in the teens for a couple days (as long as the cold temps last only a few days and it warns up to above freezing during the day time)

I hate to winterize and then the temperatures warm up .and we de-winterize and use the boat. and then two weeks later it drops below freezing and we add anti-freeze for the 2nd or 3rd time of the winter.

How cold and for how long does it have to get before You winterize?

Thanks.
Granny DP

 

[GA_Boater]

Search how to drain the water, takes all of 15 minutes and no worry about fooling with antifreeze. The guy in Nashville will looking for a new motor by waiting so long. My opinion.

 

[rallyart]

I never add antifreeze. Of course my boat is in Canada so it is used to cold weather.

If your boat is covered and on a trailer or in a garage you can protect it from a freeze by putting a trouble light in the engine compartment. That keeps it warm through not too cold conditions. But just draining the water well will stop any freezing issues. That is seriously the only protection I use.

 

[Scott Danforth]

just drain it.

air doesnt freeze

 

[roffey]

I am in Canada as well, here the water level go down in October. With this in mind my boat is out of the water by the end of September. I am a fair weather boater and for the most part it's to cold and the water levels are to low to boat after September, to much of a risk for me so I winterize by October.

 

[JoLin]

I winterize by end of October by flushing the engines and drives wih fresh water, draining them, then pouring some antifreeze into the blocks. I also need to winterize the fresh water and head systems, and to get hte boat shrinkwrapped before the 'falling leaves' situation at my home gets totally out of hand. It's a lot of prep to put her to bed for the winter. I try to do it all before it gets too cold to work comfortably.

 

[Starcraft5834]

just drain it.

air doesnt freeze

What Scott said......... learn how to drain it, removing a few drain plugs takes seconds........or of course you could test the (your good with temps in the teens) and buy a new engine in the spring..

 

[oldjeep]

How cold before I winterize? Long before it is in the teens overnight.

 

[Chris1956]

Granny, I presume you have an I/O? I used to put a regular 40Watt heating pan (remove fuzzy cover) under the oil pan, on those frosty nights. I kept the boat in the water, but I still worried about the manifolds freezing. I also like the fact that the heating pad kept the motor oil warm for those early morning starts.

 

[thumpar]

We are fair weather boaters so as soon as we know that it is not going to get into the 70's anymore I winterize mine. Drain the water out and forget about it. AF isn't needed.

 

[Brian 26]

When I see 31 or less in the forecast I get nervous and drain it.

Your options as I see them (sorted in order of risk):

Get use to draining the block, depending on your engine this can be a short job
Pay for heated storage for December-Feb
Put an engine block heater on it and pay the electric bill (circuit could blow, cord could get unplugged....)
Let it go with the water in it and hope you don't find out how low you can go (VERY risky)

 

[tpenfield]

We usually wait and winterize our motor when we see we are going to have two or three nights of temps in the upper 20s. Here in Alabama we normally don't reach those temps to mid November.

But I have recently heard that a guy in Nashville said that it is safe to wait to winterize your motor until you see temps in the teens for a couple days (as long as the cold temps last only a few days and it warns up to above freezing during the day time)

I hate to winterize and then the temperatures warm up .and we de-winterize and use the boat. and then two weeks later it drops below freezing and we add anti-freeze for the 2nd or 3rd time of the winter.

How cold and for how long does it have to get before You winterize?

Thanks.
Granny DP

My thoughts . . .

It is mid-November. You are probably more correct in winterizing as overnight temperatures get into the mid-upper 20's (F). I think temps in the teens is too risky and leaves things to chance.

I idea is not to play roulette with the weather, 'cuz you know who usually wins.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Ted, can you post a link to your anti-freeze experiment. would be good for the OP to see that even anti-freeze does freeze

 

[ihearth2o]

I believe there is a direct correlation between lowest temps before cracking a block and lowest balance you want to see your bank account.

 

[tpenfield]

Ted, can you post a link to your anti-freeze experiment. would be good for the OP to see that even anti-freeze does freeze

Here it is.

 

[smokeonthewater]

since ice does not form at 33 deg I don't worry at that temp or higher but I ALWAYS winterize if the temp is at all likely to fall below that....... I am proactive and careful with my money...

To whatever degree you are lazy and reckless with your money is an indication of how many degrees you should go below that figure..... even if I could get free engines I can drain my engines MUCH MUCH faster than I can replace them.

 

[dingbat]

I'm a Mid-Atlantic Striper fisherman. Our prime season runs November thru January then starts up again the end of February.

Back in my I/O days, changed L/U oil in October and just drained the block after each outting.

Fast forward 15 years, still change L/U oil in October. Use the automatic winterization feature at the end of the day....

 

[jayhanig]

The question becomes not did it freeze but did it expand enough to split anything? I would be curious and it would be highly illustrative if he took nearly full sample bottles and repeated the exercise. I know I can make a huge mess in the freezer if I leave a full soft drink in there for an hour. What would happen with the antifreeze? Fill the bottles and then place the bottles inside a larger plastic bag to contain the mess if they pop.

I have been told it doesn't expand like ordinary liquids do when it freezes. True? False? I don't know. I would like to know though.

 

[gt2003]

Ted, You said that you ran the antifreeze through the muffs. BUT, did you drain the block first? If you mentioned it, I didn't catch that in the video. Thanks

 

[tpenfield]

Ted, You said that you ran the antifreeze through the muffs. BUT, did you drain the block first? If you mentioned it, I didn't catch that in the video. Thanks

No just did it the way a lot of folks do it to show what is left in the engine. If the block was drained prior to the AF, then there would be no dilution of the AF. The dilution is what caused it to freeze up solid as shown in the video.