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Should I drain the block tonight?
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Author:  Misterfu02 [ Thu Oct 18, 2018 10:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
I placed a shotglass of water outside last night with about 1/2" of water in it. It was snowing when I went to bed and 28 when I left for work. It wasn't frozen at all.

I'll see if I can get any water out of the front hoses later tonight. West Marine shipment isn't supposed to be here until Tuesday now and we have some cold nights coming up. I still think the water evaporated though - I got home probably 20 minutes after running the boat and put the drive down, which would drain the water up until the risers would be my guess. The residual heat from the motor and exhaust might have evaporated what little was left in the manifold? Who knows.

I did probe both ports pretty good though. I used a piece of ground wire and was able to get it in a good 6-8".
Author:  Misterfu02 [ Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
In the interest of being able to sleep at night, I went out and pulled both the drain plug at the back of the manifold and the hose at the thermo housing. Zero water in either, and I was able to blow through the hose and feel air coming out of the drain plug.

Image

I think the combination of the exhaust draining by putting the drive down after use, putting the boat away hot, and letting it sit for a week before draining allowed most of the water in there to evaporate. Also that little shotglass I put outside is almost empty, still didn't freeze though.

Thoroughly convinced that it must take a hard freeze (24 or lower for 24 hours) to do any serious damage. The boat was as cold as the air when I climbed into it, but the motor under the hatch was still pretty warm - noticeably warmer than the fiberglass.

Now if only my shipment from West Marine would arrive so I can winterize for good. Had a dusting of snow on the ground this morning - can't believe I was out on the boat in 80 degree temps just one week ago.
Author:  kmack [ Fri Oct 19, 2018 4:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
We had a pair of Seadoos years ago before the boat, and had a week where the temps were planned to dip below 30*F for most of the week. They were stored outside, but under a carport at our launch access. Since I had no experience (at the time) with water craft and cold temps, I was worried about cracking the blocks on both of them and no clue how to get all the water out of the engines. I bought two incandescent bulb shop lights and put them inside the engine compartments (under the seats).

With the small enough space inside and the heat generated from the bulbs (old school), it was enough to keep everything warm and not freeze.

Not saying this is what you guys should do up North (y'all know better than I do), but I guess it could be something to put in there as a redundancy factor.
Author:  skidaddytn [ Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
an overnight low of 26 at night is probably not enough to crack your block i agree, but for me this is the PROACTIVE stage. There are others that would have freaked out and winterized over a low of 32, not knowing how long it takes to make ice cubes at that temp, let alone enough solid ice mass to freeze inside a block cavity which still holds warmth from daytime highs... first dip into the mid to high twenties at night I usually drain it... but we usually get (over here) several frost warnings that are much higher lows than that since people are worried about protecting their expensive plants, flowers, and such... those I ignore. I've done it so many times now that it really does only take 30 mins... but Usually once I do it I call it quits for the year, so its a sad moment...
Author:  Misterfu02 [ Sun Oct 21, 2018 3:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
This was a strange year up here. We had a stretch of warm weather and the lake was about 5 feet higher than normal. Usually after labor day the lake is so low you really have to be careful about where you're going.

Not a fan of the light bulb in the bilge. Rather just drain the block per Volvo's instructions for operating in freezing weather.
Author:  TX H210SS [ Tue Oct 23, 2018 10:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
Not sure what product you ordered from West Marine to winterize....but locally, Walmart sells the pink RV/Marine antifreeze and it's cheap. I think your boat should take a little over 3 gallons if i recall right. It doesn't get that cold here most winters, but i always put it in at end of season so i don't have to worry about it.

Should be warm here this weekend, so may get it done. Nothing like doing this when it's already freezing out and you can't feel the fingers.
Author:  Misterfu02 [ Tue Oct 23, 2018 10:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
It gets too cold up here to use the pink stuff. Don't forget the temp rating is burst temp, not freeze. That pink stuff turns to slush around 20 degrees or so.

I ordered -100 from west marine, five gallons so I know I have enough. Of course they screwed up the order and only sent four, so I'm stuck waiting for that extra gallon still.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mar ... ecordNum=1
Author:  LouC [ Wed Oct 24, 2018 8:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
https://peakauto.com/wp-content/uploads ... t_2017.pdf
if you mix this 60% AF/40% water, its as good or better than the WM -100 stuff I used to use, because this is an actual engine coolant, vs a storage antifreeze. Cheaper too. Available at ACE Hardware.

https://www.tooltopia.com/thexton-107.a ... tid=THE107

You use a PG tester for this type of antifreeze, the normal ones for EG antifreeze don't work on PG. If you winterize your boat yourself every year, using this stuff saves money although it takes a bit of time to mix up a batch.
Author:  LouC [ Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
PS I tested my mix of Sierra 50/50 in the feeezer as cold as it gets (-8*F) it’s 100% liquid, should be good down to -26*F.
Author:  Misterfu02 [ Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
Nice!

I'll probably use that stuff next year. I was on a very tight schedule with travel this year and since it got so cold so quick I wanted to have all of my supplies ready to go when I got back home. I actually ordered all of the winterization stuff from the airport this year, lol.
Author:  TX H210SS [ Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
Never noted the extreme temp limits of the rv/marine. Doesn't matter here as we don't get that cold....we may touch the 19 degree mark for an hour or two.

If it's 30...then schools close if chance of rain. We prefer the 103 temps here normally.
Author:  LouC [ Fri Oct 26, 2018 10:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
An interesting fact comes from Boat US insurance....
Fresh water expands in volume by about nine percent when it freezes and can push outwards with a force of tens of thousands of pounds per square inch. That expansion can crack an engine block, damage fiberglass, split hoses, or destroy a refrigeration system overnight. An analysis of ten years of freeze claims from the BoatUS Marine Insurance claim files found that more than three-quarters involved cracks in the engine block or the exhaust manifolds that occurred because water remained in the engine or cooling system during a hard freeze.
Those claims come from all over the country, not just from the states that get snow every year. Boaters in the frozen North know they need to winterize, so their freeze claims almost always involve a problem with how the boat was winterized. (insert here....they used that foolish suck the AF up the drive kit on a raw water cooled engine) In the temperate South, the claim files include many more claims where the boat wasn't winterized at all, or where the boater was depending upon a heater to keep the engine from freezing and the electricity went out.

So even if you are in the South, or South West....when in doubt....drain it!
There was one year not long ago where the Southeast got more ice storms that we have gotten, in years, so you never know.
Author:  TX H210SS [ Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
Well...i just winterized today. Draining this thing is getting harder each year it seems. Damn plugs are barely within reach.

Anyway, it's all drained and filled with the antifreeze mainly to prevent corrosion.

I did it inside this year. Found the plastic pipe for yard irrigation fits the bilge plug perfect...used a 1 foot section to lead to drain tub.
Author:  LouC [ Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
This is why any inboard that I will own in the future has to have closed cooling. Much easier to winterize and you can use the AF in the winterizing tank method, (because all you are doing, is flushing out the raw water side, not the engine) as long as you use a pump to pressurize the flow. Hook up the tank, turn on the pump, start the engine, fog it (either thru the carb or via a winterizing mix if an EFI engine) and when the tank gets low shut it off. Done, no stretching, removing seats, getting beat up, etc. Run 5 gallons of -100 AF and done. Closed cooling and a remote oil filter are musts as if you maintain your own I/O boat, especially when you are getting older and less flexible....
Author:  TX H210SS [ Mon Nov 12, 2018 11:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Should I drain the block tonight?
I agree but if there's another boat it will be a fishing rig with outboard rated for ethanol.

If there is another boat... lack of use has me pondering selling next spring.
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