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Winterizing in warm weather states


itsonlywater

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Living in Texas, we get to use the boat year round but there are a couple of days here & there where the weather drops below freezing. With the old D/D I would drain the block and throw a shop light in the engine compartment when it looked like the temp was going to drop below freezing. Can I follow the same procedure and still be covered in most cases, or are there additional steps I should take? By most cases I'm talking about the temperature dropping below 32 for maybe 12 hours max.

I'm looking for answers from others who are in similar climates who use their boat in a similar fashion. In other words, a 5 minute winterization to cover 99% of the Texas "winter".

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I live in NH and we use the lightbulb in the engine compartment for an overnight freeze. I can use this method when the temps get anywhere from 32-25 and haven't had any problems, because the temp goes back over 32 during the day. Really helps extend the season and makes it so I can put in, in the spring without worrying about another overnight freeze.

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Living in Texas, we get to use the boat year round but there are a couple of days here & there where the weather drops below freezing. With the old D/D I would drain the block and throw a shop light in the engine compartment when it looked like the temp was going to drop below freezing. Can I follow the same procedure and still be covered in most cases, or are there additional steps I should take? By most cases I'm talking about the temperature dropping below 32 for maybe 12 hours max.

I'm looking for answers from others who are in similar climates who use their boat in a similar fashion. In other words, a 5 minute winterization to cover 99% of the Texas "winter".

I keep my boat at Lake LBJ. I've just been draining the block and exhaust manifolds, while blowing any residual water out

of the transmission pass-through and the shaft seal hose. Takes me maybe 10 minutes. Then again, I don't have a heater,

shower, or ballast tanks/hoses to worry about.

I don't bother with a light bulb because any weather front capable of dropping the temperature below freezing stands a good

chance of knocking out power to my marina anyway. But, if I kept my boat at home, I probably would use a bulb for some extra assurance.

But, with my boat sitting on a lift at a marina, if I somehow dropped the ball and neglected to winterize, I'm pretty sure I could

just call, assuming I know a cold front is going to blow through ahead of time, and have them drop my boat into the water until

either the weather warms up or I have a chance to get up there and drain the block.

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With the correct light bulb wattage you can get the engine compartment temp way up there so nothing will freeze, the hard part is keeping the shower warm, because it is much further to the rear of the boat.

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I've used one of these 200W heaters in Dallas for 20 years. While I don't worry about a long term power outage, I would worry about the bulb burning out. I use my boat year round, so I never winterize.

I did have the handle of my shower crack one shear in a particularly deep freeze.

3400017_3-4top.jpg

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I think that if I was relying on a light bulb to keep my block or part of my cooling systme from freezing I would put 4x25 watt bulbs instead of one 75 or 100w bulb in there.

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