I'm looking for some good info on the possibilities of using a bilge heater this winter as opposed to the standard winterizing procedures. My boat live on a lift out of the water at the marina. I'm guessing that may have a bit of a negative effect on using a bilge heater. I have a simple means to wrap the drives with heat tape to keep them from freezing.

Any ideas, information or suggestions would be appreciated. I'm sure many others do this. I'm just looking for some good suggestions/advice based on personal experience. I'd also appreciate any technical support on the effects of not fogging. Or, should I still fog and use bilge heaters ?

deboatmon

The whole ***** about a bilge heater is what happens when the power goes out. If the power is out, it is most likely an ice or snow storm when you need the heater most. And trust me, it sucks last minute winterizing when its snowing, almost impossible to get the thermostats to open when running on a hose with no load.


LC

that is exactly what I was thinking!

Guys, I totally appreciate where that philosophy is coming from. However, we're less that 1200 ft from Ft Loudon Dam and haven't been w/o power in over 40 years. Of course there's always a first for everything and I did give that possibility consideration. There are are over 1500 boats at the marina and according to marina staff around 400 use bilge heat every year. The real question I have is doing it "up in the air". Of the boats that use bilge heat at my marina none are on lifts. There are plenty of lifts but most are either gone for the winter or winterized. This according to marina staff. Although it certainly does get plenty cold here we're not in a frigid zone like just up I-75 into Kentucky or a little farther north.

I'm looking for some feedback on heating one in the air.

Thanks for the input.

For the fact that it is so very simple to just plain drain all the water from your engine why not do it?

I would just winterize them. I have never fogged my engines and never had any issues.

A few gallons of antifreeze are real cheap compared to 2 new engines . But that's just my thought .

Check out Xtreme Heaters myself and two others use this brand and like them.

time you spend running heaters and extension cords you could pull hoses and drain plugs. pull l/u plug check for water/milky condition, change for either. how much time and money to pull and rework engine block, instead of pulling hoses and leaving them off. simple insurance for just that one time.

I'll assume you do not want to winterize with antifreeze because with the boat on a lift, it's difficult to deal with getting muffs on the outdrives, and antifreeze to them. Correct?

IF I am correct, I strongly suggest adding flesh water flush fittings to your boat, by putting a T in the hose heading to the SWP. This makes winterizing very easy as it ingests antifreeze right in front of the impeller and through the motor.

With a full cabin Cigarette which I assuming you have, do you have a fresh water system in the cabin? Head? If so, you will still need to winterize these systems.