Need quick help on winterizing my new purchase.

Sounds like you’re winterizing too early?

Is Canadian grass known to be fragile?

Gary S wrote: Like either of you two could find any grass when it's 100 below out....

Riley wrote: It's been a mild, warm winter. Grass will be sprouting in a few weeks...

Bruce,
Not here! I had -23 on the lezmobile thermometer on the way to work this morning. And, we still have about 18" of snow on the flat.

BTW, I don't have any grass to test the AF on come spring. I'll go to a neighbors and dump a gal to see what happens!

Like either of you two could find any grass when it's 100 below out....

MrMcD wrote: For those that install anti freeze in the blocks, where does that product go when the boat is launched next year. Anti Freeze is pretty toxic stuff to put in our waterways. It think a system drain is safe and not toxic.

"Propylene Glycol based. Glycol based antifreeze is safe on your lawn, septic tank, and storm sewers. As it is a mineral oil it also will lubricate the seals as opposed to dry them out. But the most amusing fact about it is that there is nothing that suggests it is harmful to ingest. I wanted to back this fact up so I checked the MSDS and the only reference to health effects is it may cause diarrhea if ingested in large quantities. Many studies on rodents have shown no long term effect on them as well."

For those that install anti freeze in the blocks, where does that product go when the boat is launched next year.
Anti Freeze is pretty toxic stuff to put in our waterways.
It think a system drain is safe and not toxic.

Those don’t look like pipe threads

TRBenj wrote: FYI the mcmaster version comes all the way out so you can probe. Even if they flow well, it doesn’t take much to block the opening. Even the block drains with fully removed plugs seem to stop up pretty regularly .

Yes, probing with a wire is always recommended.

Here's the removable stem drain cock so you can probe.



I wouldn't bother with the non removable stem type since you will end up having to removed them anyway to get a wire through.

The McMaster removable type are available up to a 3/8" NPT so bushings are needed on some manifolds.

I was losing my mind when I seen the three small plugs in the picture above. I was trying to think of where the third plug in the block went. Phew..... took my a couple minutes to realize it’s the water pump drain plug hahaha

I hear ya tim, had the same concerns. Especially since you cant probe them (the inlets on the stem are on the sides, not the end of the stem) The tique had heftier drains in the block that you could probe or even pull the stem all the way out. I went for these for now, either to upgrade later or just remove once a year to clean out behind. So far they flow nicely when opened, so, so far so good.

As greg said, the set I used came from hardware store (or auto parts store). If you like to spend, the catalogue cut is from SKIDIM.

http://www.skidim.com/searchprods.asp Search "drains"

Where in NC are you?

75 Tique wrote: Riley wrote: If it's going to go below freezing, why not just drain the block? It takes 5 minutes. Especially here in NC, where we dont have long, hard freeze, 6 month layups and a chance to use our boats all year when conditions cooperate. I probably have it comfortably under 5 minutes with these additions, tho I still have one hose to take off, on the bottom end of the tranny cooler. I suppose I could have gone to skidim and paid $135 for these, but I think I accomplished the same thing for $15-$20. (HW, I did that so I could save money to buy some new equipment)

Good stuff is that on nautique parts?

Beacuse boating

I have the 200 watt kats magnetic heater. It works great. I tested it on a junk short block (on the block not oil pan) in my driveway (no motor box) and it kept all areas of the block in the mid 30s while the ambient temp was in the low teens. It did burn the paint locally.

I have 2 now so I’m going to try to use a cloth or something in between to actually lower the local temp and use one on each side next time.

If I am done for the season it is drain and the RV antifreeze. If not done and skiing throughout the cold months it is two drop lights lying in the bilge.