www.iFourWinns.com

This is my first spring owning a boat (2008 H210) and the shop that winterized it in Seattle went out of business (so I can't call them) and now we live in Colorado. Do I need a shop to do this, or can I do it myself?

The boat is currently shrink-wrapped, so I'm sure there will be some easy things once I unwrap it; check bilge pump hoses, water pump hoses and install the drain plugs in the engine block. Anything else?

Thanks.

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2008 H210 - Volvo Penta 5.0 Gxi - 130 hrs on the clock
2011 Chevy Tahoe LX - 5.3L V8 w/tow package

welcome to the board, and as a fellow Coloradan welcome to the lovely state! start planning now to get to Lake Powell!!!! such an awesome lake.

well usually you can just throw the muffs on the out drive and fire her up. i'm not sure if anyone does a winterize that would require you to do much more than just fire it up and go. now take my advice with a grain of salt due to the fact that my BUDDY and i did not winterize correctly this last fall so i blew a freeze plug. lucked out and didn't crack my block tho.

just got my boat back yesterday and plan to get wet this weekend!!! come on summer.

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2006 Nissan Titan SE 6" Lift
2000 Four Winns 190 Horizon 5.0GL

It somewhat depends on how it was winterized. If the engine block was filled with ethylene glycol (green "automotive" antifreeze), then it really ought to be recovered and either recycled or disposed of properly (I'm not a tree hugger, but that stuff is nasty). Some shops use that and some don't. If it was winterized with pink antifreeze, it's safe to just flush out on the street while running on muffs but I don't recommend letting it flush into the lake. Some shops, on the other hand, just drain the block and don't put anything else into it - in which case you should be good to go, as long as everything else is.

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

+1 to determining if they used green antifreeze... although you could put it in and just take off, be nice and don't dump that out in the lake... I will say that many people (myself included) don't use antifreeze at all... If you follow the engine drain procedure in the Volvo drive manual included with your boat, there is very little chance for anything to go wrong... people that live up North have to drain multiple times during the start and end of season for fear of freezing the block, and putting antifreeze in every time is cumbersome and unnecessary... that being said, I know people that have paid marinas to winterize their boats and they have done so in a hurry and left hoses hanging and/or plugs not put back in... make sure and check that your drain plugs are properly installed and the raw water pump hoses are connected... If you look at the drain procedure (which is usually only 1 page), you will be able to check this yourself... you could also put a drain pan/bucket below your bilge drain plug in the back and pull the engine/manifold plugs if you don't know...

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2007 FW Horizon 200 5.0GXi/SX-A