Winterization - Need to do anything with the water cooled shaft seal or hose going to it?

[2h20fn]

Hello,

Just wondering if there is anything that needs to be done to the water cooled shaft seal and hose leading to it? Since this is my first year with my Malibu I am curious. I was just planning to drain everything including the heater and shower and not use RV antifreeze. Is that a good plan or is it smarter to pump in antifreeze?

Thanks for your input.

[TallRedRider]

Don't trust my answer...but I am betting that the hose drains itself down through the shaft seal and out of the bottom of the boat. When you first pull the boat out of the water, you will see a steady stream come out and that is your shaft seal hose draining right there.

[Dexter]

The hose tends to hold a bit of water (on mine anyway) because of the slack in it. I found the hose clamp loose on the seal end, but a pita to take the hose out from there. I just pulled the other end from the tranny cooler and blew some air through it. No problems so far. Like tallredrider said, it drains out the seal.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Dexter

[2h20fn]

Thanks for your answers. That helps alot. Now on to my next question.

[Chaabo]

When winterizing a Bu with the watercooled shaft you have to diconnect the hose from the tranny cooler anyway.

(Otherwise the coolant will escape through the shaft seal when running the engine with antifreeze.)

In previous Years I disconnected the little hose and put on a small piece of hose to the tranny cooler which I blocked with a SS screw.

It can't hurt to blow some air through the hose to get all the remaining water out of your shaft seal.

Recently I installed a little ball-valve into the hose to the shaft seal to simplify my winterization.

Now I just close that valve, hook on a bucket with antifreeze to the flushPro and do the winterization in less than 30 Minutes.

HTH!

Cheers,

David

[Slayer]

Crap....I never took this hose off when I winterized my boat. I typically don't run antifreeze through it, so I never thought about the water cooled shaft seal. I assumed it would just drain. Did I screw this up?

[Cory]

In six years I have never done anything to my water cooled shaft seal and never had a problem. I doubt it's necessary.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Cory

[Slayer]

Thanks, Cory! I assumed that the remaining water would simply drain it's way out of the seal over the course of a few days.

[Nordicron]

I don't thing would ever be a problem. Worse case that section of hose splits but not likely with such a small amount of water in it.

As for losing losing antifreeze I just use a vice grip to squeeze it off when winterizing. Works great.