Winterizing

DO A SEARCH!!! There are tons of posts with this info already.

Thanks alot. This will help tremendously.

I think he meant you better pull that plug too!

I don't go through that monkey motion of filling the block with antifreeze through the thermostat, thats too much work.

I modified my boat. I cut the fresh water inlet line about 12" from the strainer (between the strainer and water pump) and installed a pvc nipple with 2 stainless steel clamps. I also puchased 3 additional feet of water hose that fits onto the nipple.

What I do is run the boat in the water, get it good and warmed up, and then put it on the trailer. Drain all the water through the drain plugs, then reinstall the plugs. I mix up a 5 gallon bucket of antifreeze and set it in the boat. I Seperate the hose at the nipple and attach the 3 foot section to the engine side of the rubber hose, and stick it into the bucket of antifreeze. I remove the flame arrestor and have 2 cans (yes 2 cans!!!!) of fogging oil standing by. I start the engine and stand clear of the belts. The engine is warm and immediately sucks the antifreeze into the block and exhaust. As the engine is sucking the antifreeze down I grab the 2 cans of fogging oil. When the bucket is 1/2 empty I start spraying both cans into the carburator. As the bucket gets empty I turn the key off.
Reinstall the flame arrestor with a plastic bag over the carburator after spraying with wd-40.
reconnect the water inlet hose at the nipple, removing the 3' section, store for next years use.
Drain oil, change filter, service with fresh oil.
remove battery. Done
For my boat, I need 2 cans of fogging oil because 1 just doesn't cut it. When they are both sprayed at the same time it's just enough so that the engine just barely runs, but not too much to liquid lock the cylinders. I've been using this method for about 10 yrs with no problems. Takes me about 90 minutes from start to finish.

Not sure, but I doubt an engine that runs at 160 degrees is suseptible to damaging thermal shock from a bucket of water (I might be a bit worried if I had a Chevy engine with 2.02 heads, but that is another story). But, it would seem that draining the block first is an unnecessary step as the "anti-freeze" mix from the bucket will displace/replace the water (only) from the block.

The only thing to be worried about is introducing cold/cool water to a warm and now EMPTY block. When the engine starts cold, the termostate is closed until the engine warms the water already in the block. Then, the cold/cool water is mixed with warm water to maintain engine temperatures. If you drain the block of the warm water and the thermostat is open, then the cold/cool water from the bucket hits the warm block all at onces and will impart a bit of thermal shock. Again, I doubt it would be enough to cause damage, but I THINK this is where 79N... is coming from.

I suggest pulling the T-stat housing and pouring water in. I did it this way when I first bought my boat without any trouble. And like stated earlier, the engine doesn't really get hot enough to experience any damage that would normally result from dumping cold water into an overheated engine. I no longer do this part of the procedure because I installed a heat exchanger and converted to a closed cooling system. I just left this out because I know the majority of the people reading this don't have closed cooling systems. If pouring water into a warm engine is a concern for anyone, you can always wait a while until the engine cools and then pour in your mix of anti-freeze/water.

I normally throw in fuel stab in the fuel tank when I go out for the last run of the season. After the sets, I fill the tank almost full of fuel ( full enough for condensation consideration but not completely full to compensate for full expansion) and more fuel stabil. Then I am sure the carb has treated fuel. Once home, I'll pull the oil drain plug and engine drain plugs. Then I can come back later and finish the things that don't require starting the engine.

Noone mentioned it yet but don't overlook the trailer. I normally try to pull the wheels, check the brakes and bearings. Also flush the brakes lines with new brake fluid in case water has gotten in. (my atwood system has a bad design flaw and water has gotten in the master cylinder before) Frozen water in the block is bad, but so is an accident due to a neglected trailer while on the way to the lake.

That's simular to what I do but I do worry about the engine block corrosion so that's why I pull the t-stat and fill the block only with RV/antifreeze, which I'm using the purple stuff (med) from west marine this year. They sell three different grades (temp ratings) pink, purple and blue I think is what I recall. I don't believe running the engine for a short period of time gets the oil hot enough to drain thoroughly so I do that ahead of time after a good long run.