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:

^^^^^^ A$$!

Gen 4 502's..Bravo X's. Oil and filters changed, drive fluids changed. all water fittings been disconected and has been drained. Frost plugs removed and been drained. It was said no need to run anti-freeze through the system. This is where I pause to question.

Thanks for the responses.

im not afraid ,, I open up my sea strainer , no t stats fire the engines of course one at a time . pour gallon of 100 percent automotive through it , follow up with another 50 /50 mix . fog engine till it dies , same for other motor ,, of couse making sure exaust is pure green on my tarp ive placed on the ground . drain headers , fuel boals . add stable . , pour some in the drain n toulet .even though don't use it , tender the batteries once a month , easy chit

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...4be60ac49a.jpg
Never an issue.

all rv antifreeze is not created equally,bup is correct on some brands and incorrect on others.in the marina i,m in if you get cought using automotive antifreeze you are booted.the owner is a stickler.

you guys are funny - Never want ethanol in your fuel but its ok in your anti freeze. Ethanol Its hard on seals and rubber and metal. - all raw water sides has rust in there regardless before one even winterizes.

. here is the ZECOL RV plus - one of the main additives is ETHANOL.


https://www.northwinds.us/msds/RV%20...EZE%20MSDS.pdf

Yup I have used this for 20 years now on all my 4 different boats and for the last 13 years on 5 different boats of my buddies on the dock. Never an issue. My buddies don't drain it after running it in. I drain all the water, then run in 5 gallons of this in, then drain again. Ethanol may be bad but in this formulation it does not do any obvious damage to any engine components. Some of these engines have been torn down and rebuilt due to other issues and again, nothing was found internally to indicate a problem using good ol' cheap Zecol..

There is a guy in Canada that early this year had a cracked intake, and near as he can tell is because of using the -50 stuff (on other forum). Says he did it the same way he has done for many years on the same boat. Only difference is it got much colder then normal. Probably should have used -100 stuff, or left it empty. Now did he winterize the exact same way, was something missed, don't know for sure, only he does

All I know is air don't freeze (as Bondo puts it), so nothing inside, so no chance of anything going to break

That is why I always drain the pink out after running it in. I don't trust it. However, we've never seen an issue in any of the boats that don't drain the pink and we've seen temps in the -20's around here.

can you guys give the tech benys and positives of frozen solid pink anti freeze for all internals of your engines and systems. It still freezes solid how does a block of ice provide positive results for all internal components. How does freezing solid a block of ice for the impeller - any seals and soft metals and the water circ pump beny from this ?

I know all are going to say corrosion protection and it does not expand - the raw water side is already corroded within 3 months being brand new from lake water and worst from ocean waters. This stuff does not reverse any corrosion period.

It freezes solid whether you think so or not. the 50 pink stuff. With that said list 3 positives it provides when frozen inside your engine ?? Its a block of ice that does not expand ? wonderful so a block of non expandable ice is good for the internal components of your engine months on end -- really since when ?? Watch the video. You guys are wasting your money and time with this cheap crap. I do not care it does not expand. Its still a block of ice from 7 degrees and below.

I've tested the pink in a freezer which was at -1 degree. If there is no water added, it actually was not frozen solid. The best way to characterize it is the consistency of a snow cone. I could still manipulate the sides of the plastic cup it was in. With that said, as the video suggests, you better make sure there was no water diluting it. I have OBs now, so glad I don't have this issue anymore. But I too was one of those that always drained the engine, ran pink through it, then drained the pink back out. Never had an issue with that method over 30 years.

Same here.
I have head some in the garage over winter and seen it slush up over winter.
I was told that it just gets slushy, doesn't freeze solid and expand to do any damage.
I have to worry about an outboard and jet ski engines is all now.
Always used green auto AF since seeing pink stuff do that.
Realized cheap windshield washer fluid gets over rated too...

Mercruiser has -100 non-tox Antifreeze for a couple bucks more /gallon. CHEAP insurance compared to time lost spent buying an Engine replacement and RE/RE. At worst, under most winters it gets syrupy (light oil) but never solid like in the video.

We drain cooling system completely and fill them with the -100 non-tox and forget about what winter is going to throw at us regardless if the boats in heated storage or not... cuts down on corrosion too over winter with the system filled.

In spring hook up batteries and fire!

Sort of funny comments, but don't need to get 100% out, just enough so what ever is left can expand it large voids so no pressure is exerted with enough force to damage anything

As for bear metal, inside a block, head other water channels and comparing to combustion sealing surfaces. The water jacket areas have no surfaces which are used by other moving metal parts for contact sealing surfaces.

If I was to leave antifreeze in my raw water side all winter I would definitely step up to the -100 good stuff. I use the cheap pink crap to make sure after purging all the water out that I remove any little bit of water that remained in the system. I then drain the pink out. Never an issue.

just a fyi,a few years ago i filled a glass jar with the -50 antifreeze from menards and left it outside in a place where i could easily observe it.it got slushy but it never froze solid.i will also add that a open system is going to see corrosion due to the impurities in the water and nothing will prevent this from happening nor will any antifreeze reverse this.living in the midwest it is not uncommon to see the temp go down to -15 in the winter time.take from this information what you want as i am not telling anyone how to winterize,i am just providing information.

I verify my ports are open and drain mine. Don't add any antifreeze. Our family has been doing this for 53 years & 15 boats later no issues.

Isobar brand pink RV/marine antifreeze is propylene glycol (spelling) based for $2.99/gallon at fleet farm....no ethanol on the label

FWIW

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I always abide by staying away from the ethyl alcohol based products and use only those that are propylene glycol based. Yes, it typically costs a little more. The alcohol versions will dry out rubber hoses and components.

all the propylene glycol rv antifreeze in my area has some alcohol in it.what brand has no alcohol?

What Merc has is ZERO ethanol and NO Alcohol. Very few has NONE. ALL have water in the mix. some as much as 75 percent water. You do not want that.

What Merc has is water, corrosion additive and pure poly propylene not recycled and no glycerin -- many have glycerin.

https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/...-winterization

Some basic info from Merc read away.