How cold before you winterize?

[ricohman]

Its the middle of August and it will be 4 degrees above freezing this week during the night.
I dumped my cooler on the lawn yesterday at 6pm and the ice was not melted this morning.
How cold does it have to get before I should start worrying about live well lines and such. On that point, what do I do to prevent the pumps from freezing? In my RV I could suck antifreeze into them.

 

[Bondo]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

Its the middle of August and it will be 4 degrees above freezing this week during the night.
I dumped my cooler on the lawn yesterday at 6pm and the ice was not melted this morning.
How cold does it have to get before I should start worrying about live well lines and such. On that point, what do I do to prevent the pumps from freezing? In my RV I could suck antifreeze into them.

Ayuh,..... Drain everything,..... Air just Don't freeze....

I start drainin' mine in September/ October, when overnight lows dip to below 30?....

I guess that'd be -1? where you are,.....

 

[ricohman]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

Ayuh,..... Drain everything,..... Air just Don't freeze....

I start drainin' mine in September/ October, when overnight lows dip to below 30?....

I guess that'd be -1? where you are,.....

I can elevate the lines to drain, but will the live well pump drain? I've never used the bilge pumps yet so they should be dry.

 

[ricohman]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

And another question.
I have been reading about guys draining their motors and then pulling lines and dumping anti freeze into the lines and engines.
It get below -45 here and all I've ever seen local i/o guys do is drain the motor by removing the plugs after winterizing.
Nobody I know removes lines and pours anti freeze in.

 

[Bondo]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

And another question.
I have been reading about guys draining their motors and then pulling lines and dumping anti freeze into the lines and engines.
It get below -45 here and all I've ever seen local i/o guys do is drain the motor by removing the plugs after winterizing.
Nobody I know removes lines and pours anti freeze in.

Ayuh,.... 'round Here, is like 'round There,.... Air, just don't freeze....

The odds of a Botched winterization escalate by Millions usin' the antifreeze method...

I ain't sayin' that drainin' can't be botched,...
Not pokin' the crud outa the drain holes is pretty common, when the cracked block threads start in the Spring...

Bilge pumps are self-drainin', 'n I ain't got livewells,...

Pull hoses off, or whatever it takes,....
Just DRAIN, Everything, 'n you'll never have a worry, at any temp, or lack of it.....

 

[ricohman]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

Gotcha.
And by doing the plain old drain method that I've seen for years I can then fish into the fall. Draining the plugs and lines won't take very long and we do get some very nice fall days for fishing. But just not this year as my boat is heading back to the factory for some paint issues.
The manual I got with the boat does not suggest pouring any anti freeze into anything after draining.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

Check your livewell drains and plumbing to see if they need draining, if you can get water to come out of them they need it.

My livewell must be self draining because I've never worried about it and it has never frozen, and we get temps down into the teens here sometimes.

 

[dingbat]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

Living up north with a boat must suck. Here you are talking about winterization and I will not even "winterize" the swimming pool for another month let alone the boat.

Striper season in the Bay ends at midnight December 31 so I typically winterize the following weekend. I run an outboard so winterization is nothing more than pouring non-toxic anti-freeze into all the cockpit drains and draining the washdown system.

 

[Maclin]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

Cold snaps can hit at anytime in the Fall. Last year I got a weather alert about temps going to 28 overnite, usual low temps were 35 or so for mid to late October. I went out at 9pm to drain it, was going to winterize the next weekend anyway which would normally have been in plenty of time for a normal season, lows starting to get to 35. Glad I did, it went down to 26 for an hour or so and was at 28 or below for 6 hours. My point is, in my opinion anything below 30 for more than 4 hours puts engine blocks at risk. A lot of this is determined by where it is, in outside or inside storage, in a garage connected to the house, etc. Mine is out in the open.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

I drain mine before I put it in storage some time in Oct. Boat sits inside an insulated garage when at home, hardly gets below freezing in there during Jan when it is -20F

 

[Captain Caveman]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

What kind of boat and motor are we talking about here? An inboard or I/O have different issues to deal with regarding freezing than an outboard.

For my outboard, all that I have to do is trim in all the way and whatever water resides inside will drain out. I can boat all winter like that if desired. Livewell and bilge pumps will typically not hold a significant amount of water in them. Just make sure that you open up any drains and keep your boat tilted back so that any water can drain. I don't worry about freezing temps until I'm ready to store my boat for the winter.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

I vote for using full strength antifreeze for winterizing, after throughly draining the block and manifolds. My V6 Mercruiser block and Alpha 1 outdrive always had some water in them after the drains stopped dripping. Introduction of the antifreeze would drive the water out.

Just my observation. I never had a block freeze and always captured the antifreeze for reuse the following season.

 

[JesseP]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

I have winterized a lot of boats after it has gotten down to 28F over night. They never had water in their live wells, so I can't speak to that, however the material that is used for these can expand a little before it is an issue and hoses are cheap anyway.

 

[ricohman]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

+3 last night. I am going to use the boat this weekend and we had a great day fishing yesterday. Then next week I will slowly begin the winterization. I have a 4.3 i/o and all I am going to do is drain it. The manual does not suggest doing anything else but drain it and all the guys I know with i/o's have never added any antifreeze to their motors.
I am going to drain the livewell and pumps and lines. I may dump some rv antifreee down the live well drain.
How long can you run a motor on muffs to bring up the oil temp before changing it?
Maybe I should get out of the water early and drain it into a pan in the lot.

 

[dingbat]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

They never had water in their live wells, so I can't speak to that, however the material that is used for these can expand a little before it is an issue and hoses are cheap anyway.

A couple of years ago we had 2 guys lose their lives when a frozen live well hose let go while underway. Hoses may be cheap, replacing a family member, not so much

 

[skiray6825]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

I usually run engine on muffs till engine reaches operatin temp, to open thermostat. Then Hook up a hose and funnel to Muffs and pour in antifreeze(A/F). I put duct tap around muffs to minimize A/F loss. Start engine and run until pink A/F runs out for at least one minute. I some times remove the drain plugs after this.
Running the engine on muffs with antifreeze helps ensure the engine and outdrive get flushed and filled with antifreeze.
I think just pouring AF into the engine skips the out drive. And may lead to a cracked outdrive.
just my $.02 ...

 

[Bondo]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

I usually run engine on muffs till engine reaches operatin temp, to open thermostat. Then Hook up a hose and funnel to Muffs and pour in antifreeze(A/F). I put duct tap around muffs to minimize A/F loss. Start engine and run until pink A/F runs out for at least one minute. I some times remove the drain plugs after this.
Running the engine on muffs with antifreeze helps ensure the engine and outdrive get flushed and filled with antifreeze.
I think just pouring AF into the engine skips the out drive. And may lead to a cracked outdrive.
just my $.02 ...

Ayuh,.... That method, Right there causes Thousands of cracked blocks, Every year....

If yer gonna putz 'round with antifreeze, ya gotta Drain the block, 'n manifolds, BEFORE ya hook up the antifreeze bucket...

And,... If ya already drained the block, 'n manifolds,...
There's No reason to use Antifreeze...

A properly drained block can't hold water back, 'n the drops left, evaporate,...
Even if the tiny bit froze solid, it ain't enough to Push on anything...

'n the outdrive is self-drainin' in the down position...

 

[Grub54891]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

I always run anti freeze in my mercruiser just to be safe. Anti freeze is cheaper than a block! Also I run it through outboards,they self drain but I saw one freeze,apperntly something plugged up and it did not drain completely. Better safe than sorry!
Grub

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

Its normaly in November before I have to.

 

[aspeck]

Re: How cold before you winterize?

Easiest way I have found is a heated garage

Sorry, couldn't resist. Pay attention to what you are doing, remove all plugs, and as Bond-o said, air don't freeze.