Antifreez test

67 ski nat wrote: Good to know. I have hose bib that freezes once every ten years I’ll watch then thx

Daryn,
You don't have frost proof hose bibs in California?

8122pbrainard wrote: 67 ski nat wrote: Hi peter. At what temps do you recommend winterizing. Unfortunately I’m in California near coast gets into low 30’s , if it rarely got into 20’s I would put heat lamp or heater in boat for the week. Your thoughts?? Thanks Daryn, It sounds like you have a technique that works. I have no fears of you having any issues or worries. Even when the temps get into the 20's, it takes several days for the engine to see the temps. The trans cooler would be the first to be susceptible. The light bulb trick you use is taking care of you.

SkiNat

I'm glad that Pete can figure out from the info given that you'll be fine doing nothing except throwing a light bulb or electric heater in the boat if it's getting into the twenties.

From a fairly recent post it seems like maybe you keep the boat in a 10 by 17 plastic enclosure.

There are a number of people on CCF that are from your general area that could tell you what they do or don't do.

I figure when you get that unexpected cold snap with a power outage and one of the variety of natural disasters you seem to have in California thrown in, then you can scramble around in the cold and dark with a flashlight trying to figure out how to drain the engine or you can do it ahead of time and not have to worry about the engine.
Then you'll only have to worry about the outside faucet.

Those corny sayings like

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure " "Better safe than Sorry" or the Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared" might be handy to think about.

Here's an old thread from Planet Nautique with people who do nothing and others who drain. Some of the names are/were familiar names on this site.

That heat lamp or heater may or may not be explosion proof in an enclosed area either.

old PN thread    

My power went out at home Wednesday at around 5am when it was in the minus twenties . Had to "winterize" the house. I did hold off on draining the hot water heater, luckily the power came back after only a few hours.

I’m like my toys to be clean and well maintained. So probably will drain and change oil just to get old dirty stuff out. Should be ok with actual cracked block but that cooler does look venerable. Pretty easy got a little screw at bottom. Thx daryn

oldskiboat wrote:    I do use RV palatable antifreeze in the raw water feed, Bar headers and exhaust system by running the boat and sucking in about 3 gallons of the stuff.

Very poor advise for people that live were it gets real cold. Have fun and it's good you live in a warm area.

oldskiboat wrote: Well I would hate to use the poisons automotive stuff and when using the RV type straight all I see coming out the exhaust is the antifreeze and in my case all that is being protected is the raw water intake, filter, raw water pump inside the heat exchanger, bar headers and exhaust.. What type of antifreeze would have to be used in colder areas of the 20 below temperatures?

What does the refractometer tell you about the antifreeze you get out of the exhaust?

DRAIN first and then add the antifreeze is the only way to properly winterize anything. The bottom line is the suck up method without draining is poor advice because of the potential dilution.

oldskiboat wrote: Excellent point, I'm not sure, but like I said in my area if it gets to freezing it is cold. I'm about an hour north of Orlando, FL.   So, in the case of a block with automotive antifreeze and a heat exchanger just be sure it is mixed to the correct formula for the area you live in , Correct? and then what would be done for the raw water end?

I don’t know why you bother winterizing. You can ski all year long!

Wouldn’t Quick drains on any raw water be a quicker fix and you could just do it after you ski?

tryathlete wrote: Wouldn’t Quick drains on any raw water be a quicker fix and you could just do it after you ski?

Even way up north in NC, that is all I do, as I do periodically go out for a winter ski. Takes about 3 minutes to:

Open 2 drain cocks
Pull hose off thermostat housing
Pull hose off raw water pump
Blow water out of transmission cooler via the two unhooked hoses
Done

Meanwhile here we are in the depths of winter and it’s 85 out. The down side is I’m going through impellers and gas. Think I’ll go winterize myself