www.iFourWinns.com

Got the boat all set up for winter. Put a little more gas in, put some more stabilizer in, put on the muffs and ran it for awhile, then fogged it (West marine has fogging oil for $2.99 a can and Antifreeze for $4.99 a gallon (before $1 rebate) this week - Just FYI) And went to drain the engine...

Interesting setup. I have two little blue T handled plugs. Unscrewed the lower and was met with a nice flow of warm water.
Unscrewed the top... Nothing. Took a mini screwdriver and poked around, a little dirt but no water... Thanks to reading up on it on this site I knew this was not right.... So I got out a socket and unscrewed the brass receiver for it. Still nothing. Back with the screwdriver and after some scraping dark sludge shot out the hole.... OH crap. Figured I broke something. Nope. Just a whole lot of dirt. Probably the first three cups were dark black and gritty, then clear. Then took the hose with the finest spray I could find and cleaned out the hole real good, then put the receiver for the plug back. Then pulled the hoses off the water pump and followed the routing, disconnecting and draining. Finally pulled all the carpet, sprayed and washed down the deck and let it dry. My outdrive oil was golden, not black and not milky. Oil - same, still golden. (I have only put about 6 hours on it this summer since I bought it. It has mostly just gone out to our beach spot and back.) So Oil changes will wait until Spring.

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2008 Four Winns h180 Bowrider
3.0 Volvo Penta

2013 Dodge Durango HEMI

Nice work! Did you backfill the cooling system with the antifreeze from the tstat housing?

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1988 215 Sundowner 5.7L OMC

No - Thought about it... But decided against it for the time being. May do so in the coming days as yesterday was a rush trying to do everything in 3 hours prior to a work meeting and getting my kids set up for the evening.

Started thru my list of stuff to do for the winter. Will start another thread with all the updates.

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2008 Four Winns h180 Bowrider
3.0 Volvo Penta

2013 Dodge Durango HEMI

I am winterized, but I am thinking I should probably go put another heater in the boat, down inside the cabin. My boat sits in the water, and although my slip neighbor does have a bubbler, I still added a BoatSafe bilge heater to the engine compartment. My worry though is that I may need a heater in the cabin as well since the generator and air conditioning pickups are in the forward bilge and I wouldn't want their seacocks to crack. I guess I should stop worrying about it and just put the heater in tomorrow to be safe.

Other than that, I think my winterizing is all good. I paid a pro to do the engines, generator and A/C systems and I did the freshwater/toilet myself.

This is my first winter with a boat sitting in the water though, and it does make me a little nervous.

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2005 Vista 288 - That's A Winner

I would defiantly consider doing this, it takes less than 5 minutes, and the peace of mind is well worth your time. I know with our cold temps here in MI I wouldnt take the chance of even the smallest bit of water being somewhere inside the engines.


just my .02

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Rob

Present: 1999 Formula 280SS
Past: 1989 180 Horizon

http://www.robcamerondesign.com

I have to agree. I know draining is probably good enough, but for about $10 and 10 minutes of work, it's cheap peace of mind. Personally I just pull all the hoses and flush each section with antifreeze until it drains.
Glad my boat is tucked away in the barn already, we're expecting 4-10" of lake effect in the next day here on the West side of the state

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-Andrew

1984 Four Winns 225 Sundowner
5.0L Mercruiser, Alpha 1

It was 29 last night....


But 53 in my garage that is buffeted by the wind and shares 2 walls with the main house. Talking with a neighbor - his garage has never gotten below 40, and that was when temps were hovering near zero.

Supposed to get 3" tonight followed by freezing rain. If it looks real bad I'll put the space heater on in the garage.

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2008 Four Winns h180 Bowrider
3.0 Volvo Penta

2013 Dodge Durango HEMI

If you have drained, even if there is a bit of water left, it will not cause damage because it has room to expand. I use AF because it reduces corrosion and in our salt water environment we need all the help we can get. From what I can see (inside of the intake manifold when changing the 'stat, and cooling passages visible when I changed the circ pump on the front of the engine) my engine does not have much flaking rust. If you take a look at this manifold pic you can see what salt water does to cast iron. The used one was filled with AF but the riser exit area is exposed to air.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/co8mqd4vi8qze ... w.jpg?dl=0

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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