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When to winterize?


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Being that I am North of the 49th (in Calgary) we will start to get some nights that go below freezing starting mid to late September. I hope to still get on the water until the end of September into early October, but just wanted to see what would happen if the boat experienced a night or two below freezing without being winterized?

Boat is a 2001 Sunsetter lxi with the 320 Monsoon. 

Any thoughts?

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Bigger issue is the heater core if you have one of those.  It sits all alone up in its box and is thing material designed to transfer heat out of the fluid inside it.  Block, it depends on the temp forecast and how long it's supposed to stay cold.  Some get by sticking a drop light inside the doghouse to keep temps up a few degrees.

If it's looking like it's going to be around or below freezing, we usually just drain things down.  Blow out the heater, pull the block drains, and disconnect the manifold drain hoses.  Takes less than 5 mins and is cheap insurance.  For winter layup, do the same but also pull raw water hoses from impeller housing and blow RV anti-freeze through heater core.

  • Like 2
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Winterize when you are tired of skiing.  :) Seriously...How far below freezing?  I am in BC and my boat and its heater have survived well below freezing at night.  That assumes  daytime highs are decent.

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The boat is parked on the trailer at a marina at Ghost lake, about 35-40 mins from my house.

Night time we can get below freezing and then the next day have 20+ degrees out.  

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FWIW the coldest I've had mine was to -9C (when I actually gave a crap) but daytime highs were 15C.  There is a lot of thermal mass there.  If it is in the water you are fine to -10C I'd say.  But then you won't be skiing.  That lake is COLD!!!

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well it snowed last night, lows of ~ -1 to -2. Its supposed to heat up again here and not see much below freezing anymore. I have the winterizing scheduled for Sept 25, should I be concerned at all that its was in below freezing temps for a day or so?

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Yes, you should be concerned.  I did a test a few years ago and found that the engine bay temp (on a lift) lagged the outdoor temp by about 2 or 3 hours.  Block temp is probably another 3 hours after that but if it's below freezing for more than 6 hours I would be worried!  Get a bilge heater.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MEMRGZE/

Edited by minnmarker
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Oh great, well I hope the boat is ok. We just had the night of temps below freezing. Its warming up a bit now and I'm out of town so I can't get over to the boat to check it out for the next few days.  Hopefully it survived. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/14/2018 at 10:50 AM, minnmarker said:

Yes, you should be concerned.  I did a test a few years ago and found that the engine bay temp (on a lift) lagged the outdoor temp by about 2 or 3 hours.  Block temp is probably another 3 hours after that but if it's below freezing for more than 6 hours I would be worried!  Get a bilge heater.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MEMRGZE/

These heaters say they are designed for use while your boat is in the water.  I assume there is no reason why they would not be effective in my garage on the trailer?  I'd guess it would be actually quite easier as there is no need to install it - just put it down and plug it in?  We board all the way until the lake freezes here and I'm just looking for piece of mind.  I monitor the temperature in the garage, but would like to feel more comfortable.

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Has anyone winterized by just blowing out all the lines, etc. I’ve winterized my toyhauler  by just hooking up the air compressor and blowing out all the lines. Can the same technique be used on the boat? 

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31 minutes ago, Skymedic said:

Has anyone winterized by just blowing out all the lines, etc. I’ve winterized my toyhauler  by just hooking up the air compressor and blowing out all the lines. Can the same technique be used on the boat? 

You have to drain the block and manifolds and anything post thermostat , blowing out lines will still leave them full.

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Has anyone winterized by just blowing out all the lines, etc. I’ve winterized my toyhauler  by just hooking up the air compressor and blowing out all the lines. Can the same technique be used on the boat? 

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You will not blow out the water in the engine block/heads in an open cooling system with air.  Will not happen. Way too much water below the point where you are injecting the air.  The air will just blow over the top of the water and the water will just sit in the bottom of water jackets.  If it was a nice straight hose, then yeah maybe you would get lucky, but an engine block water cooling passage is nothing like a single straight hose where you can 'push' the water out.  The drain plugs are strategically placed at a very low point in the water jacket, which when removed allows the water to flow out by gravity.

Edited by D_Turner
  • Like 3
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1 hour ago, Skymedic said:

Thanks for the great info. Makes sense. I’ll circulate the antifreeze. 

You don't need to use antifreeze OR blow anything out.  Just drain it down.  Gravity is all you need.  Only thing to blow out is the heater core, but if you're using compressed air for that, you'll be buying a new core in the spring since they're not designed to take that sort of pressure.  I blow ours out the old fashion way.  Just be sure you have a spot to sit down if it makes you dizzy.  :)

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