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Couple of questions...winterizing/dewinterizing


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Hey,

OK, we have had our Bu for about a year and a half here...06 21' sunscape lsv. It has the monsoon engine in it. Before the winter hit in SC we had it winterized by a local guy..cant remember how much it cost..think it was a little over 100$ Anyway, can anybody explain how i would go about doing that myself. i tried searching and come up with nothing. Is it easy to do??

Also, Right when summer hit last year, i decided it was time to dewinterize the boat, but had no idea what i was doing. I thought that we had to have that guy come back and do everything again so we could start it up...apparently he just told us to dewinterize it, all we had to do was put it in the water and start it up and thats it...we were done :) Is that how it has always worked ??

Thanks

Bo

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ya know...I've always wondered about dewinterizing...summerizing...whatever the hell it's called (if there even is such a thing). I've just always done things such as:

1) Change oil (even if I just did b4 winterizing...sitting oil for 6 moths isn't worth the $25 for freshy)

2) Change as much tranny fluid as possible

3) Check spark plugs for condition and replace if necessary

4) Change impeller if necessary (usually each year)

5) Check/charge Battery(ies)

6) Add fuel treatment (even if I used Sta-bil) and use 91 octane

7) Verify all electrical components working

8) Check and test steering and cables

9) Check/retighten packing

10) Check/tighten bolts on fins

11) Check/tighten bolts on platform brackets

12) Check trailer tires, brakes, bearing buddies, electrical, running boards, rust spots

I'm sure there are several more items.

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Hey,

OK, we have had our Bu for about a year and a half here...06 21' sunscape lsv. It has the monsoon engine in it. Before the winter hit in SC we had it winterized by a local guy..cant remember how much it cost..think it was a little over 100$ Anyway, can anybody explain how i would go about doing that myself. i tried searching and come up with nothing. Is it easy to do??

Also, Right when summer hit last year, i decided it was time to dewinterize the boat, but had no idea what i was doing. I thought that we had to have that guy come back and do everything again so we could start it up...apparently he just told us to dewinterize it, all we had to do was put it in the water and start it up and thats it...we were done :) Is that how it has always worked ??

Thanks

Bo

A very detailed "how to" on winterizing the monsoon is/was available on this site, replete with

photographs, but I can't seem to find it in the search mode now either. I tried to upload it from

my file, but keep getting a notation that the "file was larger than the available space."

I have the exact same boat as you, except mine has the LCR. I've been winterizing/dewinterizing

myself and it is pretty easy. To winterize (borrowing from the "how to" article), in summary,

  • Add STA-BIL fuel stabilizer to your gas tank
  • Let engine idle for minimum of 15 minutes
  • Remove flame arrestor top and screen
  • With engine running, squirt fogging oil into intake for 10-15 seconds, then shut engine off
  • Remove water hose connecting to bottom end of transmission cooler
  • Remove bottom end of large water hose from engine's water pump (not raw water pump)
  • Remove "kill switch" lanyard and crank engine briefly to remove remaining water from top end
  • Unscrew four screws holding on raw water pump cover plate and remove plate
  • Remove impeller, lubricate, and store in a plastic bag
  • Disconnect "quick coupler" connecting hoses from exhaust manifolds
  • Remove brass drain plug on starboard side of your engine
  • Remove wire connector to knock sensor of port side of your engine
  • Carefully remove knock sensor using 3/4 in. socket
  • If water doesn't freely flow from drain holes, use ice pick to loosen anything clogging them
  • Empty water from the bilge and clean up
  • Liberally spray WD-40 front to back over engine
  • Disconnect battery, remove, and place on maintainer

To dewinterize, just reconnect all hoses, re-insert drain plug and knock sensor, install impeller and

replace gasket, then tighten down cover plate with the four screws (do not overtighten, just beyond

snug - these are brass and will break if over-tightened) (similarly, do not over-tighten clamp to hose

on bottom end of transmission cooler - it's possibly to crush the cooler). Re-connect battery.

Don't forget kill switch lanyard. Once in the water, crank her up, pay careful attention to temperature

gauge, and double-check all connections to see if water is leaking into the bilge.

The reason that all you needed to do was start up the boat was that the guy doing your

winterization had already re-connected everything after draining. The only downside that I

can appreciate from doing it his way is that the impeller is sitting inside the raw water pump

all winter, dry and with the splines on the inferior edge all scrunched up. No big deal if you're

gonna replace it anyway.

Edited by srab
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can anybody explain how i would go about doing that myself. i tried searching and come up with nothing. Is it easy to do??

...

Also, Right when summer hit last year, i decided it was time to dewinterize the boat, but had no idea what i was doing.

Winterization Checklist is in the Tech/DIY.

it's pretty complete.

as far as first float the big advise i can contribute is to take your time.

check, again, prior to the trip to the lake: life jackets, fire ext., ALL the plugs are in, kill sw. is set, ALL the fluid levels, ALL the hose clamps, tire pressure, check oil bath hubs and lights on the trailer.

sched. so you can hog the ramp. you are not in any hurry for the first float of the season.

lift the dog house and keep your hand on the raw water pump for 60 seconds at first spin up. if it gets hot you need an impeller. check it on occassion until you are up to temp.

don't pull it off the trailer until you have

1) check the oil levels (yes, again)

2) warm engine.

3) shut that warm engine down and check the oil level, again.

i'm sure there is more that will come to mind.

others will contribute, too.

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Keep em coming guys. Great info. Im pretty handy, but this is my first inboard boat..so obviously its different. Man i wish someone could upload that file for me :)

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Some service people winterize a motor so it is just a turn key operation in the spring. Some, like myself, leave hoses disconnected, drain plugs removed, and belts loose, which leaves work to be done in the springtime (summerization).

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Keep em coming guys. Great info. Im pretty handy, but this is my first inboard boat..so obviously its different. Man i wish someone could upload that file for me :)

bofer84, check your e-mail.

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  • 6 months later...

Keep em coming guys. Great info. Im pretty handy, but this is my first inboard boat..so obviously its different. Man i wish someone could upload that file for me :)

bofer84, check your e-mail.

Hey there, looking to winterize for the first time. Are you able to email that info to me as well. Thanks in advance. [email protected] is the email.

Tx Again

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Some people recommend running antifreeze through. I have run through these 3 scenarios, all have worked but I don't know whats best. Advice would be appreciated.

1) Sounds like above. drain all water and leave plugs out.

2) Drain all water, run antifreeze through the engine and drain again, leave plugs out.

3) Drain engine, run antifreeze through engine and leave all plugs in. Leaving the block full of antifreeze.

I believe the theory about leaving the block full of antifreeze was for corrosion resistance

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What about showers and ballasts I have the center mls on my boat. I read the 12 page pdf very helpful that is the only thing that it does not mention in the pdf.

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I live near Chicago and we have always winterized our boats, but talking to the dealer I can pay extra for indoor 'climate controlled' storage. If I do that do would I still need to winterize/dewinterize. The boat would be stored from approximately Oct/May. I imagine it depends on how low the 'climate controlled' temperature gets. So if he says the climate is controlled at 50 degrees, would I really need to winterize? How low is safe? or should I just winterize anyways?

P

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I live near Chicago and we have always winterized our boats, but talking to the dealer I can pay extra for indoor 'climate controlled' storage. If I do that do would I still need to winterize/dewinterize. The boat would be stored from approximately Oct/May. I imagine it depends on how low the 'climate controlled' temperature gets. So if he says the climate is controlled at 50 degrees, would I really need to winterize? How low is safe? or should I just winterize anyways?

P

I was told that you want to winterize even if you're storing in heated storage because you never know if there will be a power failure during the winter.

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I live near Chicago and we have always winterized our boats, but talking to the dealer I can pay extra for indoor 'climate controlled' storage. If I do that do would I still need to winterize/dewinterize. The boat would be stored from approximately Oct/May. I imagine it depends on how low the 'climate controlled' temperature gets. So if he says the climate is controlled at 50 degrees, would I really need to winterize? How low is safe? or should I just winterize anyways?

P

If you're going to store it from October through May, you're still gonna want to add fuel

stabilizer and run the engine long enough to get the stabilized fuel through the lines and

out to the injectors. You're also still going to want to fog the cylinders. You're gonna

want to change the oil. You're still gonna want to disconnect the battery and put

it on a maintainer.

What's left of the "winterizing" process takes only about another 10 minutes. Emptying

water from the block involves just removing the plugs on either side. Disconnect the

hoses coming into the raw water pump, into the transmission cooler, and from the engine's

water pump, plus disconnecting the coupler to drain the manifolds, and you're done.

As long as you've drained the water, I don't think it'd be critical to add antifreeze if

you're storing inside a climate-controlled environment. Plus, you don't have to worry

about your cover blowing off or becoming loaded down with snow or water. You probably

won't have to worry as much about critters/rodents using your boat as a winter home

either. Lots of pluses, if it's not cost-prohibitive, to storing indoors, but it doesn't eliminate

the need to do at least some basic winterizing procedures.

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For what it's worth, I emailed indmar and they said it's not necessary to use anti-freeze as long as there is no water in the system. Seems straight forward enough for me. By the way, I got an estimate to winterize the boat (fluid changes + winterization). They wanted $650cdn+tax. What a rip!

I live near Chicago and we have always winterized our boats, but talking to the dealer I can pay extra for indoor 'climate controlled' storage. If I do that do would I still need to winterize/dewinterize. The boat would be stored from approximately Oct/May. I imagine it depends on how low the 'climate controlled' temperature gets. So if he says the climate is controlled at 50 degrees, would I really need to winterize? How low is safe? or should I just winterize anyways?

P

If you're going to store it from October through May, you're still gonna want to add fuel

stabilizer and run the engine long enough to get the stabilized fuel through the lines and

out to the injectors. You're also still going to want to fog the cylinders. You're gonna

want to change the oil. You're still gonna want to disconnect the battery and put

it on a maintainer.

What's left of the "winterizing" process takes only about another 10 minutes. Emptying

water from the block involves just removing the plugs on either side. Disconnect the

hoses coming into the raw water pump, into the transmission cooler, and from the engine's

water pump, plus disconnecting the coupler to drain the manifolds, and you're done.

As long as you've drained the water, I don't think it'd be critical to add antifreeze if

you're storing inside a climate-controlled environment. Plus, you don't have to worry

about your cover blowing off or becoming loaded down with snow or water. You probably

won't have to worry as much about critters/rodents using your boat as a winter home

either. Lots of pluses, if it's not cost-prohibitive, to storing indoors, but it doesn't eliminate

the need to do at least some basic winterizing procedures.

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I'm going to be storing my boat in a "climate-controlled" environment this year. We have some of the largests networks of caves in the USA here in Kansas City. My boat will be sitting at 68F all winter long. No power outage to worry about either, b/c underground caves just stay that same temp all the time naturally.

With that said, I did everything in that PDF. Except the impeller bit. I'm just going to leave it, and have the dealer change it in the spring.

Its really tough to get to it on a vRide. not much room between that and the back of the boat and the exhaust manifolds....

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I'm just updating some of the info from the winterization guide with what I've seen on my 07 Monsoon. First, there seems to be two knock sensors, one on each side that are removed with a 1/2" wrench. They are held on by a nylock fastener. Then you can slip a 1" (yes 1") deep socket over the plugs on the engine block. I suppose a wrench would do, but I went and bought a one inch deep socket and it was much easier than trying to fiddle with a crescent wrench down there.

Also, I have some questions:

1. I have a K&N air filter with a hose clamp holding it in place. Attached to that hose clamp is a hose from the engine that just seems to hang there open into the engine compartment with oil? on the inside? Any insight into this mystery hose would be helpful as I didn't notice it until I removed the air filter and I don't see a place for it to go back into the engine. Please keep in mind that I am a nerd and only very moderately mechanically inclined.

2. I changed the Y-fitting this spring from the heater to the low rpm spot before the raw water pump so as I ran the drill pump like someone suggested to fill the heater core with antifreeze I started thinking it wouldn't continue to flush all the way through the engine rather it would just come out the raw water intake. The boat sits outside in a portable garage during the winter and I am in Idaho so I would like to err on the cautious side and have antifreeze throughout the system. I could then drain it if I want, but I am pretty chicken of water remaining in the shower and heater.

3. Also, can I still fog the cylinders by spraying into the air intake as suggested with the newer monsoon? The dealership up here sprays directly into the cylinders and I seem to remember someone commenting that the fogging oil has further to travel on the newer engines and can clog or somehow cause a problem between the air intake and the cylinders.

Man, now that I reread this, I don't know if my questions are even questions, rather, they are a bunch of vague collections of engine terms. Good luck deciphering!

Thanks

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