Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

[jigngrub]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

It was 42 degrees this morning when I got up, but will be going up to 77 today. I was told that that couple of hours of 42 degrees isn't going to hurt a boat engine here at all.

Winter doesn't start until Dec. 21 2012

 

[Quit It]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Man, this thread seems to have turned into an attack.

Folks, heat isn't required for days at a time. This is Florida. Our cold snaps are overnight. They're not even overnight, there's a few hours were it's bellow freezing. And, it's rare that we have cold snaps - if they were the morning OJ prices would be much higher.

I'm still going to drain on those rare occasions. I don't fault the OP for not being able to do it easily. If anything block draining seems like a problem looking (begging) for a solution. I'm really surprised no one has invented a way to remotely drain the block.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Folks, heat isn't required for days at a time. This is Florida. Our cold snaps are overnight. They're not even overnight, there's a few hours were it's bellow freezing. And, it's rare that we have cold snaps - if they were the morning OJ prices would be much higher.

I'm still going to drain on those rare occasions. I don't fault the OP for not being able to do it easily. If anything block draining seems like a problem looking (begging) for a solution. I'm really surprised no one has invented a way to remotely drain the block.

Doesn't your second paragraph contradict your first one?

There's about 8 weeks you have to be careful of in northern Fla., the last 2 weeks of Dec.- the first 2 weeks of Feb. Before and after that it's not a problem.... and it doesn't happen every year, but every few years it'll jump up and get you.

Just let that winter jet stream dip down far enough one year and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[Quit It]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Doesn't your second paragraph contradict your first one?

Not unless they changed the definition. I never said there wasn't an occasional need (though there's no proof as to the number of actual problems), I was correcting the belief that our snaps would require batteries to last for days. This is Florida, it's not like it's conditions not fit for man nor beast (though the "Plant & Pet" advisories when it gets cold are fun). It's just really (relative term) cold for a few hours a couple times a year.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

More opinion from me, I know you feel like you have to do something! but running it monthly is a vacant exercise in my view. If you are concerned about what the engine may experience during your short off-season then follow the layup procedures and then let it sit . Or haul it "down" to the Keys or something more like that

The audience this site reaches is large. Many people search and find posts like this and they may come away with what I would consider ill advised actions or non actions. This is why I tend to counter on items I feel may lead to an at-risk situation for someone due to less than true truisms. Your boat may be OK this season, or the next several, but to mitigate any potential issues AND ensure a good next boating season for all, well, I know where I stand (get it drained soon).

Your experience in Florida covers a very short amount of time, and good luck to you. You only mention a general area of Florida, lots of variables in that State regarding weather patterns.

Now for some well meaning chiding hopefully taken as good natured .....At this point based on your stance, what I suggest you NOT do is go to wunderground dot com or other weather data site and poke around in the almanac and history for your area . I have included a link that can be ignored

History | Weather Underground

 

[Quit It]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Your experience in Florida covers a very short amount of time, and good luck to you. You only mention a general area of Florida, lots of variables in that State regarding weather patterns.

Now for some well meaning chiding hopefully taken as good natured .....At this point based on your stance, what I suggest you NOT do is go to wunderground dot com or other weather data site and poke around in the almanac and history for your area . I have included a link that can be ignored

History | Weather Underground

Who's experience in Florida? Mine? I never claimed to be a long time boat owner, but I have lived here a long time and know the weather. We don't need 24/7 heating. If you'd like to go to WU or some other almanac and show me days of continuous freezing temps I'd love to see it.

Again, in case someone missed it, I'm not saying it doesn't get below freezing here, I'm just saying that it's not as common as some would have you believe. I'm also pro-draining the block, but can understand why so many folks don't.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Quit It, I am conversing with the original poster, LuvBoating.

 

[Quit It]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Quit It, I am conversing with the original poster, LuvBoating.

I see, that's why I like to put their name or a quote above so it's obvious (I like obvious ).

 

[aerobat]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

luvboating, when all the odd are against you -

no possibility of draining the block due to physical condition and age , no possibility of putting at least a bulb inside the engine bay due to lack of electric supply , no possibility of getting a mechanic and winterize it due to finance or the will to use it in winter months , no possibility to go for an outboard due to your wife

- we can talk the whole winter about it but you will have to leave everything as it is and not protect against freezing damage.

the question if something will happen or not cannot be answered for sure, its all about the climate in florida this year in winter .

you bought the boat 2009 and never winterized in the past .

in this thread : http://forums.iboats.com/mercruiser-i-o-inboard-engines-outdrives/new-engine-block-break-573045.html

you ask for tips to break in a new engine since the old was leaking water and had a bend rod ( water in cylinders, hydrolock? ) .

this might be the best answer for your question if to winterize or not in florida.

this threads sound a little odd and unreal to me but nevertheless the best hints i could give you from the situation you have :

-leave it in water about the winter months- do not pull on land , you will be fine in florida for sure in this case
-when not possible and the boat will be on land : look carefully for temperatures, when it seems to freeze at night run on muffs in the evening until engine is fully warmed up ( tstat opened).

i put my boat last week out of water after a last ride this year and first cleaned the hull etc etc. it took three hours before i started to drain the block and the water inside it was still pretty warm - after hours , so warming it up before one critical night should keep out of trouble .

-when running in saltwater consider NOT to flush with fresh water , this buys you some margins but will promote corrosion.

cheers !

 

[Maclin]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Quit it, it is LuvBoating's thread, right?

 

[Quit It]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Quit it, it is LuvBoating's thread, right?

Right? And, you and he are having a private conversation that no one else is reading, and are alone in replying to, right?

 

[LuvBoating]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

We had a few minutes of snow the morning of Dec 26, 2010 and I got the action on video camera. It didn't stick, but nevertheless, it snowed and was cold enough to do it. Didn't hurt the boat or the engine.

A lot of folks in the north get amazed when they hear that we had an overnight temp that was cold enough for folks to cover their plants and put frost on the windshields of vehicles. All of Florida can have some cold-to-freezing early morning temps at times during our winters.......a Cold Front coming down from the north will do that, but it doesn't happen very often. What wife/I think is pretty darn cold outside, some others (much younger than us) are wearing shorts and a t-shirt! We are in jeans and long-sleeved shirt w/Fall type jacket on.
I don't know, perhaps I'm just worrying too much! I'll see if I can get to the petcocks/drain plugs and drain. If not, so be it.

 

[Maclin]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Quit It, when I am talking to you I start with Quit It so Stop It

 

[Quit It]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Quit It, when I am talking to you I start with Quit It so Stop It

Roger WillCo

 

[81 Checkmate]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Luvboating - What is the reason for going and starting the boat a couple times a month?

Now this is just me... But always heard, read, been told it's not a very good idea to run a combustion motor for a short period of time and then shut it down and let it sit till next time it's started. It will shorten the life of the motor!

Its just like a car that has a ton of hi-way miles on it..... those motors seam to last forever, providing you change the oil. Now the Grama car that gets driven to the local grocery store every now and then..... Always seams to have issues with stuff not working or breaking becouse it never gets used!

It's your boat...money..and motor! But the money you spend on gas and time to go start it every now and then...... could be put towards having someone drain it for you before it's stored. I cant imangine you cant find someone local that will provide this service at a low cost. $50.00 at the most.....Id be happy coming over and doing it for $25.00 but i live 14 hrs away.

Also Providing we dont know( Has not been said) how far the boat storage is from your house and how often you put it the water!

I envy you guy's that have issues like this........ only to have the option of boating all year long!

It's all part of owning a I/O boat... you have to drain it if a suspecting freeze is gona happen! Or pay the Pipper to have it fixed!

If there was a better (Easy) way of doing so...than i am sure the manufacture would devise a system. You could hard pipe all your drains thru the transom with a valve on the outside of the boat.....But i would think they would clog up in no time.

Good Luck and Happy Boating!

 

[LuvBoating]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

To make sure it starts and runs. Have heard of folks that don't start their boat during Florida winter months and end up 4 months later having a problem starting and/or keeping it running period. Now, as alread stated, if the boat is winterized, the boat should NOT be started period until winter is over. Starting/running it simply gives me the comfortable feeling that #1 it started and #2 it's running ok.

As far as "all-season" boating goes here, some do it, other don't (like us). A lot of folks that boat here (northeast FL) all season, don't have their boats on a trailer, where they have to be launched/retrieved. People don't have to step into water to launch/retrieve when the boat is in a slip or in dry storage. During the winter months here, the local waterways can have fairly cold water! During our Christmas Boat Parade, the night after Thanksgiving, there are numerous boats in the parade and tied up to Jacksonville Landing. I doubt if any of these stay on trailers.

Our boat storage is 7 miles from our apartment and we have never put it into the water after Halloween. It sits on the trailer 'til the middle of the following March.

Luvboating - What is the reason for going and starting the boat a couple times a month?

Now this is just me... But always heard, read, been told it's not a very good idea to run a combustion motor for a short period of time and then shut it down and let it sit till next time it's started. It will shorten the life of the motor!

Its just like a car that has a ton of hi-way miles on it..... those motors seam to last forever, providing you change the oil. Now the Grama car that gets driven to the local grocery store every now and then..... Always seams to have issues with stuff not working or breaking becouse it never gets used!

It's your boat...money..and motor! But the money you spend on gas and time to go start it every now and then...... could be put towards having someone drain it for you before it's stored. I cant imangine you cant find someone local that will provide this service at a low cost. $50.00 at the most.....Id be happy coming over and doing it for $25.00 but i live 14 hrs away.

Also Providing we dont know( Has not been said) how far the boat storage is from your house and how often you put it the water!

I envy you guy's that have issues like this........ only to have the option of boating all year long!

It's all part of owning a I/O boat... you have to drain it if a suspecting freeze is gona happen! Or pay the Pipper to have it fixed!

If there was a better (Easy) way of doing so...than i am sure the manufacture would devise a system. You could hard pipe all your drains thru the transom with a valve on the outside of the boat.....But i would think they would clog up in no time.

Good Luck and Happy Boating!

 

[Don S]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

I would guess the biggest reason people have problems with them is just plane ole lack of maintenance. Winterizing and summerizing if you will, are when people store their boats and do preventive maintenance. If people don't have a season to do that, it just never gets done.\
Amazing what a tuneup, new fuel filters, oil, and drive maintenance can do on how your engine starts.
Sure some carbed engines get hard to start after setting for a few months. That's normal. Takes a bit more to prime and get started. If they won't stay running, well, they have a problem.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

I noticed a complaint about my "truckload of batteries" comment so I'll say this:

sure you could heat the engine compartment with a space heater and inverter... I'd say that 10 group 27 deep cycle batts would get you through 8 hours of running the heater without a recharge... sooo for roughly $1500 and half a day of work you could have freeze protection for 1 or 2 nights.......

If all you needed was a 100 watt bulb for heat then the same 10 batts would give you possibly 80 hours
but that will only raise the engine room temp a couple of degrees on some boats and more on others depending on how air tight and how well insulated

You could also consider a generator but if anything fails the heat stops....

Or pay someone < $100 (less than the cost of even 1 big battery) to drain the water from your engine and sleep soundly till march when you pull the boat out of storage.

BTW a friend of mine who lives in lakeland florida (near orlando) had to put an engine in his boat a year or two ago because the engine froze and cracked... he had used it one day and was going to use it again the next but the block had cracked over night so that trip was cancelled.

He always bragged to me that he never had to winterize his boat every time I did mine.... He probably would have told you not too also then.... now, he drains the block religiously

Best of luck with whatever you choose friend..

 

[81 Checkmate]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

Luvboating - You are in no different situation then us here in the northen states. Store boat in October and open back up in March!

All im saying is your wasting you money going to start it once a month...... The money you spend doing that could be put to having it preped for the winter and nothing to fear come spring.

You just spent hundreds of dollers on a new motor...why take the chance..... if is gona sit for 5 months anyway.
I could see having concerns if you are boating all year...on what to do in those inbetween times when its sitten. But you store it for the winter! Have your dealer check things out, winter prep and drain the water at the end of your season and let it sit!

If your boat dosen't start after a 5 month layup...Then as Don said you have other isses.

Good Luck!

 

[Maclin]

Re: Winterization In Florida........Yes or No?

I had to let mine sit unexpectedly back in Kansas for 2 years from August 2009 until September 2011 after a prop strike then moving several hundred miles away from where I had it stored. I was able to drain it in October 2009, then it sat until September 2011 when I was able to move it to storage near the new residence. I put in 10 gallons of fresh fuel, it had sat with about 15 gallons or so in it for those 2 years, it had been treated with StaBil before the layup. Also a new water separating fuel filter but I do that every year anyway, and an impeller change. It started fine, even with the same battery (after charging), took about 3 10 second cranking bursts. I was confident it would, so I exhort you LuvBoating to have confidence in the engineering that went into your boat and relax some. It will start again just fine after a 5 month hiatus.