www.iFourWinns.com

Hello All,
I’ve got a question about winterizing my H230 that will stay in the water over the winter. I’ve always trailered my boat so the winterization process was pretty straight forward. Fog, Sta-bil, flush with antifreeze, and put it back in dry storage. However, this year, I’m considering leaving it in the water. This leaves me with two questions:

A. How does one properly flush antifreeze through the system with the outdrive in the water? I’m used to using ear muffs and a water hose but since the drive is in the water…
B. Do you have an opinion about the outdrive in the water during freezing conditions? Am I risking freeze damage?
One thing I should mention is this boat is in Georgia and the lake will rarely freeze so I’m in that zone where “yes you can leave it in the water but…”

Any help would be appreciated.

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2000 Horizon 230

B. I wouldn't want my drive or hull encased in ice. Does the marina have aerators for use during freezing conditions?

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Oddly enough I received a news letter from my Marina when I got home today. They will allow wetslip customers park their boat in the secure yard during the winter months at no additional cost. Problem solved. That was easy.

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2000 Horizon 230

Much better solution, leaving an IO in the water in the winter when the water can freeze is a bad idea. If the ice cuts the driveshaft bellows you could sink. Here we are in salt water and the water temp has to be in the 20s for it to freeze, the only boats left in the water are OBs and straight inboards. It's still a risk unless you have a way to keep ice from forming.
As far as winterizing, don't use the suck the af up the drive method. It's too risky, in that if the thermostat doesn't open the engine will have mostly water and not AF in it. Instead just drain as the manufacturer advises and you can back fill through the cooling hoses with AF if you want to use it for corrosion protection. That's what I do.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II