winterizing made easy

After putting it off and hoping to get one more ride in before it was that time for the snow to fall and stay below freezing, i waited till the last minute to winterize the 79 S.N.

    But amongst my thinking while the ski boat was warming up with the hose in the drive way. I found an old anti freeze jug (or windshield washer fluid jug will work)

1)cut the top of the jug off just big enough where the raw water hose will fit.
2) cut a corner off the bottom of the jug
3) cut a hole in the bottom (this is where the water hose will go)


    Disconnect the water hose from the fitting on the hull, then slide the jug over the hose that runs to the water impeller. Prop up the jug at a angle, then stick the water hose through the hole in the bottom of the jug. Turn the hose on, start the engine and let it run to operating temperature.

    Once the engine was at running temperatures i took a gallon of concentrate anti freeze and slowly poured it through the cut out corner of the jug and let the water mix with the anti freeze until the anti freeze jug was emptied.

Excuse the blood, my exact o blade slipped when cutting the hole then kinda knifed my finger.

only 1 gallon? seems pretty skimpy. i know in previous years i used 4 gallons of the green. this year i used 8 gallons of the red rv/boat stuff. id be afraid of just 1 gallon myself. i get the boat to operating temps. drain all water. start it up and suck in the antifreeze until it comes out the back.fog.shut down. all happens real quickly.

79- did you change your oil as well. if not its a good idea as well

i didnt get very many hrs this time around on my oil change i think it was along the lines of 20hrs but i always change at the beginning of every season, but some time this winter im gonna pull the engine and refresh the engine, it has 2060hrs.

this was the first year ive winterized my boat.. previous years ive kept it in the garage and never needed to winterize it, which in a month or 2 it will be back in the garage. which now im seriously thinking about changing it again to be safe.

thatdude596 wrote: well i use the pickup hose from the hull. wouldnt that make it through the entire system?

No. Like I said before, liquid entering the engine can either go into the block or right out the exhaust.

If you open a drain and capture what escapes, you can then test its concentration (water vs. antifreeze) with a refractometer. There is no way to tell if this concentration is consistent throughout the motor though. Besides, it seems like a lot of work to verify what is supposed to be an "easy" method.

Long story short, you MUST drain the water out first if you want to be 100% sure of what the concentration is inside.

As far as changing the oil goes, 20 hrs is enough to warrant a change at the end of the season. Always change it at the end, so the corrosive acids (byproducts from combustion) dont sit on the internals all winter. No need to change it again in the spring- oil doesnt break down unless its used in a (running) engine.

thatdude596 wrote: only 1 gallon? seems pretty skimpy. i know in previous years i used 4 gallons of the green. this year i used 8 gallons of the red rv/boat stuff. id be afraid of just 1 gallon myself. i get the boat to operating temps. drain all water. start it up and suck in the antifreeze until it comes out the back.fog.shut down. all happens real quickly.

trb- reread the above post. water is drained, then 8 gallons of rv antifreeze is sucked through......again, i know its through the motor by opening the petcocks. with 4-8 gallon im pretty confident its cycled through the motor.

TRBenj wrote: 79SNbrady wrote: Excuse the blood, my exact o blade slipped when cutting the hole then kinda knifed my finger. And this is the "easy way"?

At least there is a DNA trail if it ends up freezing we can identifiy the culprit. CCF/CSI

I will confess. I was forced to do the suck through method because I cannot get the plugs out of the manifolds. I really put a lot of force on them too. Doubt if mine have ever been pulled off the manis. The block has the plugs that drain without taking them out and work fine but I was afraid of breaking the exhaust manifolds trying to get the plugs out. I set out with full intentions of draining and pouring, but ended up sucking through after all. Now that it is 25 outside Tim has got me worried! What should I do?

I always have used the suck thru method,the manual for my engine is not very clear and in my case it's just easier.I do drain the block and manifolds first and again when I'm done.It seems most HM's are down south where you can just use the drain method anyway

8122pbrainard wrote: thatdude596 wrote: thatdude596 wrote: only 1 gallon? seems pretty skimpy. i know in previous years i used 4 gallons of the green. this year i used 8 gallons of the red rv/boat stuff. id be afraid of just 1 gallon myself. i get the boat to operating temps. drain all water. start it up and suck in the antifreeze until it comes out the back.fog.shut down. all happens real quickly. trb- reread the above post. water is drained, then 8 gallons of rv antifreeze is sucked through......again, i know its through the motor by opening the petcocks. with 4-8 gallon im pretty confident its cycled through the motor. Not given, You may also want to take a look at the lay up instructions in the manual. You'd save on antifreeze!!! I too, like Tim always wonder about the attraction to the suck through method.????

antifreeze was 2 a gallon. i paid 16.00 for 8 gallons. i would bet anything with that much antifreeze its good to go. suck up method works for me. i wouldnt want to waste time by pouring in 8 gallons.

yeah for 16.00 its a cheap piece of mind, and a little reassuring knowing its 110% safe until springtime.i have a routine .start boat. drain oil. while oil is draining, drain block and flush manifolds. then restart suck up anitfreeze.fog.it goes rather quickly that way.