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Simplify the winterizing process


Bill_AirJunky

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I've tried to modify or add a couple of things to simplify the winterizing process on my boat. By making it easier I am more inclined to take the boat out in the off season to enjoy the uncrowded water & ultimately justify the boat payment for the bulk of the year.

Check this out: http://www.minutedrain.com/

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On my old Prostar 205, I used a brass T at the engine block, and installed a petcock in one end & the knock sensor in the other. I'm about 1/2 tempted to do something like this on this boat too. Instead of a petcock, I've thought about using a hose & plug similar to the one on the crankcase. I assume they would do something similar with the Minutedrain system.

The ones I'm wondering about are how they handle the v-drive hoses. And is it really necessary to do the two hoses up by the thermostat (if I do those two last, I never get any water out of them).

Not sure why the link doesn't work for you Squag. Are you on a work system? Maybe their proxy isn't allowing it.

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In the past I worked with them, knock sensor. It was six years ago now but if you isolate them like on a brass tee you could make them far less responsive.

I would guess they are screwed into the block for a reason. Dontknow.gif

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I've tried to modify or add a couple of things to simplify the winterizing process on my boat. By making it easier I am more inclined to take the boat out in the off season to enjoy the uncrowded water & ultimately justify the boat payment for the bulk of the year.

Check this out: http://www.minutedrain.com/

Has anyone used this? :unsure: Looks like it would make prolong/short storage easy, thus allow you to take your boat out in the "off season" as Bill has said???? I could see it working well down here in Texas as our season somewhat never ends!

SR

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This seems to be a good idea but it leaves out two very important components that I worry about. First is the shower and second is the heater core. I have to take out the shower hoses from the control valves to drain them properly and I use a compressor to blow the water out of the core completely. Living in Montana it can freeze here any time of year so it would be nice to have a good drain system. I can't help but wonder what kind of warranty this would come with and whether it would cover any block damage and labor.

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My answer was to build a new garage for the boat that is insulated and can be heated. No more winterization needed and the boat is always ready to go if there is a break in the weather.

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Seems to be that both the shower & the heater could easily be plumbed thru these valves & drained Awest. Plus it would allow you to easily shoot air inside any of the valves to help it drain. But as long as your shower & heater or oriented correctly, inlet & outlet down, gravity should do it.

Also seems like you could hook up a hose to the valve on one end of the system, close the others & suck antifreeze thru the entire system, engine, heater, shower & manifolds in a matter of seconds.

I wouldn't expect it to be usable on everything, ie; the ballast, but pretty close.

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Everytime I pull my drain plugs, I need to stick a nail or some object in the hole to get the water to start flowing. If I just opened the valves, the water might not flow out, and you know what happens then. Conversely, I only pull the plugs once or twice a year, so if you a doing it more frequently, the debris may not be a problem.

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I've tried to modify or add a couple of things to simplify the winterizing process on my boat. By making it easier I am more inclined to take the boat out in the off season to enjoy the uncrowded water & ultimately justify the boat payment for the bulk of the year.

Check this out: http://www.minutedrain.com/

Has anyone used this? :unsure: Looks like it would make prolong/short storage easy, thus allow you to take your boat out in the "off season" as Bill has said???? I could see it working well down here in Texas as our season somewhat never ends!

SR

SR - I haven't even winterized my boat in 3 yrs, except for stabil in the gas and fogging the cylinders. I haven't needed to drain the block since it rarely gets below freezing and I keep the boat in the garage. I love living in south Texas!!

Just to rub it in, a bunch of us are going surfing tomorrow in 78 degree water with 85 deg air temp and 6 mph winds. Sorry people in the cold weather states!!

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I did something similiar on my old I/O. Although I had a valve for each hose so I could verify water was coming out.

With my 2007 VLX, I've tried to do something like this, but here's the problem... how do you get the drain lower than the hose from the tranny? I've got closed cooling for the engine/heater core - so I don't have to worry about those, but I still have to drain the exhaust manifolds/tranny cooler. I'm still pulling the hose off the tranny to make sure it's drained, which is a pain in the butt.

Any ideas for the V-Drive guys?

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  • 2 weeks later...
I've tried to modify or add a couple of things to simplify the winterizing process on my boat. By making it easier I am more inclined to take the boat out in the off season to enjoy the uncrowded water & ultimately justify the boat payment for the bulk of the year.

Check this out: http://www.minutedrain.com/

Has anyone used this? :unsure: Looks like it would make prolong/short storage easy, thus allow you to take your boat out in the "off season" as Bill has said???? I could see it working well down here in Texas as our season somewhat never ends!

SR

SR - I haven't even winterized my boat in 3 yrs, except for stabil in the gas and fogging the cylinders. I haven't needed to drain the block since it rarely gets below freezing and I keep the boat in the garage. I love living in south Texas!!

Just to rub it in, a bunch of us are going surfing tomorrow in 78 degree water with 85 deg air temp and 6 mph winds. Sorry people in the cold weather states!!

DITTO! Just did the same to mine...let me know when you hit the water again so we can meet at the lake.

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