Winterizing
 

What steps do you take to fully winterize your boat?

there will be a billion different opinions about how to winterize - but also in the mix is what engines and drive propulsion one has is just as important for the lay up. I do know this for a fact 1000 percent buying 2 dollar and 3 dollar RV pink anti freeze is NOT a proper way to winterize nor is going to offer any corrosion protection period. Actually they can induce corrosion because of the alcohol content they all contain,. Think about it for 2 or 3 dollars how much corrosion additives can be in that mix and be profitable for the store selling it.. Merc has done the study on alot of those cheaped priced pink anti freezes that many sell. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...b1511eec72.jpg
contain ethanol

After changing lubes the cooling system gets drained. Use low pressure air for the boat fresh water system, suck water out of bilges, pour a little pink RV in drains. Remove drive and boat goes to bed

Add fuel to achieve almost full tank and add marine fuel stabilizer. warm motor up on muffs then flush with 4 to 5 gallons of -50 non toxic marine RV PINK antifreeze . Shut off. No draining needed. It also has corrosion inhibitor in it. This procedure is perfect for new England. It protects freeze up to -50 f. Grease all the fittings....

Here is something interesting I found. When I bought my 30' Scarab this summer, the boat had been sitting for 8 years. When I pulled the water hoses off to replace the raw water pump impeller, I noticed that they winterized it with green automotive antifreeze. The rubber impeller came out looking new and still flexible. When I had winterized my other boat before with the red stuff, in the spring when I pulled the raw water pump off to change the impeller, the vanes always had small cracks in them. The only reason I think the PO used green automotive antifreeze was because they owned a tire repair shop and green antifreeze was plentiful and cheap back then. So I think the red stuff is harsh on rubber components.

Here is another question. During winterization it is common practice to fog the engine. The engines will sit for 6 months. What about all the hot rod guys that store their car for the winter, why don't they fog their engines???

If you have a recirculating pump on the front of the engine and do not drain all the water out of the block before running 5 gallons of pink in you will have partially diluted AF which will freeze and expand. All the water in the block will not be forced out. Some of it will be recirculated with the incoming AF and dilute it. I've done tests with 50/50 car AF and it only tested down to about -10 on one side and not even to 0 on the other. Make sure to drain the block and as much as you can on the inlet side (seawater pump, fuel coolers, etc.) before running in the pink RV stuff.

Or there is buy outboards and run it all winter.:bananalove: