Pacemaker Boats

[merwin10]

I am sure all of us have things we do every year to winterize our boats - How about sharing what you do with the group maybe we can all learn a few new tricks from each other -

Mike -
_________________
"Best part of Boating -- is the people you meet"

[changeofpace]

OK, Since my engines are full closed cooling, winterizing is easy. I have a 5 gallon bucket with a hose mounted on the bottom. I hook this to the inlet side of the raw water pump and then fill it with marine anti-freeze and start the engine. When the antifreeze starts coming out the exhaust, I pour marvel mystery oil down the carb until the engine stalls. The oil coats the valves and keeps them form pitting during the winter. The toilet get a big drink of antifreeeze also. The fresh water system is not hooked up on my boat yet, but if it was I'd put some anti-freeze in also.
Oil change, water seperator changes, fuel filter changes are next. Last things are a good scrubbing and then the cover goes on for the winter.
Oh, yeah I forgot, when the boat first comes out of the water, I run the engines on a fresh water hookup for about 20 minutes flushing all of the salt water out of the raw water side before the anti-freeze goes in
Terry

[gemini]

Terry, what type of fitting did you use in the bottom of the bucket? Something that clamps a rubber seal? Something with PVC and cement of some kind? Or was it store-bought that way? I've been doing this with the hose-in-a-bucket method but unless I prime the hose correctly, sometimes the pump won't draw up the antifreeze. I think there's less or no chance of frying the impeller your way and I had been thinking of modifying a bucket to do that. So it'd help to know what you used. Thanks.
_________________
Ron

[changeofpace]

I went and got a 5 gallon plastic buclet and then went to the local home depot and got a pvc type shut off valve with threaded body. I then got the adapters which threaded into the body for the same size hose as my raw water pump. To attached it to the bucket, I used a threaded pipe inserted through the bucket with a nut on each side. I sealed the whole thing with epoxy so it wont leak. I've seen other guys do the same thing by just drilling small holes through the bucket and into the valve body, then screwing the 2 together. It still has to be sealed with epoxy, but easier to put together.
If you use a shutoff valve, you can close the valve when switching engines without losing any of the anti-freeze except whats in the hose.
Next year, I'm thinking of adding a T and shutoff valve into each pickup connected to a hose and valve so that I can hook the bucket into the T, close the seacocks and run the anti-freeze from the bucket through the engines without having to unhook the pickup hose

[stew]

I do the bucket idea also,...except I don't get fancy with the fittings, just shut the seacock remove the hose and stick it into the bucket, fill the bucket and get someone to start the engine and it sucks it down pretty fast while I'm spraying preservative down the carb.

[gemini]

Terry, thanks for the info. I'll give that a shot this year.
_________________
Ron

[rebait]

A tip that I picked up from a friend of mine is: the last step in winterizing the engine, is to take oily rags, place one in each exhaust pipe and another over the top of the carb, then place the flame arrestor over it. He has been doing this for years and his father did it before him. He said that it seems to keep the moisture out. He rarely has any troubles with his boats.

John

[rebait]

It is that time of the year again. Figured that I would bring it up again to see if there are any new tips. Don't forget to add stabilizer, STARTRON and E-Zorb to the fuel. Ethanol loves to break down and collect moisture.

John