Anybody in the south NOT winterize?

Petcocks...Two of my boats are equipted that way and it only take a minute to open them all!
One has the elbows as 79 mentions and does drain to the bilge...over the long run , it's worth the extra cash...both ways will work...one is better! At least have the block ones with elbows...they will squire out on the carpet...the others usually drain down.

88,
When I lived in Idaho we used drysuits. Maybe I had a cheap one, but I always felt claustrophobic and restricted in it. Since I'm a northerner, the water never feels too cold to me here. My feet and hands are what gets cold, and the drysuit doesn't help that. However, since you are a Senior Member, you live in Kemah, you have a 2001, and put your girl's pic on your boat page, I may reconsider and start looking to stay dry.
Bought my boat in Dallas from a Buxton Marine (SN dealer) which I had a wonderful experience with as opposed to my experience with the SN guys closer to me.
My friend's lake is very small--just big enough for a course--near the Field of Dreams sports plex. Not Lago, though I've been there and loved it.
I'm not much of a rider...getting too old. Mostly into slalom and have never even been that great at that...Just skiied my personal best: 2 at 32' off.

p.s. the best thing about your girl's pic is the glassy water behind her!

Dudes,
I'm sorry I missed this discussion. I'm on the south side of Houston and never winterize. Boat's in the garage. I pull the impeller if I think it's going to be a month till I fire her up again. Since my buddy's boat is on a lift on his private lake, I'm not running mine as much during the winter. Skiied last week and will try again on the 20th if it will warm a bit. You don't need drysuits here. Drysuits are for the north! My buddy skiied in a shorty on the 13th!

Don't forget to drain the transmission cooler as well.

they are 1/8" pipe thread and you'll need 5 total, one for each exhaust manifold a 90 degree bend vesrion for PCM manifolds, two for the block 45 degree bend and one for the elbow which is straight. The style Skidim sells are a lot different than what jameski uses and only require a quarter turn to open or close and are a ball valve style fitting. If you use a petcock style valve you'll make a mess draining the block because with the exception of the one on the elbow they all will drain onto the carpet and not the bilge area thus the need for 90 and 45 degree elbows.

$55! OUCH! ...Those are some really nice valves. ...The ones I used are the same poor little petcocks you'd find on any 1950-1990 American-made radiator. Here's the only pic I could find:

jamesski;Great idea! Can you post a pic?....john

jameski wrote: I installed brass petcocks on all of my drain holes, so I can drain my block and manifolds without tools.

That really seems the way to go.

Where did you get the petcocks?

Do they let enough of the water out? Seems like they could leave 1/8 to 1/4 inch of water in the jacket/manifold depending on the diameter of the opening in the block and the size of the opening in the petcock.

Any trouble with them getting blocked with scale, etc?

Do you get sub-freezing temps for extended periods where you live?

Thanks.

I installed brass petcocks on all of my drain holes, so I can drain my block and manifolds without tools.

Even in south Alabama we always drained the block and manifold. Somewhere I saw a statistic that reflected a large percentage of boats down south cracked blocks in the winter. The reasoning was nobody thought it would get cold enough to crack it until it did. We had a trip to Lousianna one April and we decided against taking heaters and deice materiels. That trip we got iced in on the airfeild for three days. Lesson Learned. I recommend draining the block/manifold, water stainer, and trans cooler unless you are running the boat every few days. Only a few minutes of work for some piece of mind.

Also you can get magnetic heater blocks to slap on the side of the block. I just drain mine after every use in the winter. Be sure to drain the block and the manifolds.

I had an I/O 2 winters ago, and I always drained the block, never drained the exhaust manifolds. Well, a night of 20 degree weather cracked both manifolds. Sometimes we learn the hard way.

Well...I got it to fit in the 'ol garage.

Drop light trick, small heater, blanket.....We don't need that junk....

I've got a freakin' 220V, heater coil, digitaly controlled furnace to keep my baby warm. Actually its just to get the temp up in the garage for awhile at night. This baby heated my geeraage up from 35F to 70F in about 30mins.

Cheers!!!

Hollywood....so where are you located?

did you end up pulling any plugs?

I am atleast gonna put the boat in the garage tonight. I just went out there any my trailer lock was pretty much frozen shut. It usually doesn't get this cold until about february.

Maybe tomorrow I will pull the plugs since it will be inside where I can see.

I'm debating this too. I live about 100miles north of houston. This morning I woke up to 25F cold weather with ice everywhere. I heard that it needs to me below freezing for a couple of days straight for it to crack a block.

Am I crazy in thinking that I should be okay or should I just pull all the plugs?

BTW, I have a '83 2001.

Leave it to BKH to come up with a better mix than the old 50/50 of water and antifreeze. Alto I do prefer Beam and Diet Coke with lime. I try to keep it around 50/50 tho....john