Winterizing A Boat Yourself

[Ministik Man]

Several people have ask how to winterize a boat yourself.

It is not hard at all... and uses simple tools.

Go to Walmart or a boat shop and buy the following

1 - Motor Leg water boot (you connect the water hose to it and feeds water into the boat motor cooling system.
2 - A 5' peice of garden hose (it will be connected to #1 the Motor cooling boot later)
3 - 8 litres of Non-Toxic RV antifreeze
4 - Clean 5 gallon pail (to pour the RV antifreeze into)
5 - Maguires Rubber and Vinyl Cleaner - (to clean all vinyls with)
6 - Lower leg gear oil pump

Click on the Winterize you Boat.PDF below the pictures to Print out the attached paper check list to work from

This is what I do and in no way is it the best or only way - it worked great for me, so use a guide and use at your own risk.

Obviously you will modify it as needed for your boat.

The first time takes a while but gets much faster over the years.

Here is a picture of my boat 7 years old.

 

[Scuba]

I have been winterizing my boat for the last 3 yrs it is really simple to do once you do it a couple times, make sure that you have all the orifices in the motor drained and don't forget the exhaust manifolds, father in law forgot about those once and they cracked good thing we know some good welders and got them fixed up.

 

[seaslush]

check out the new way to winterize a marine engine
thewinterizer.com
fast and easy

 

[JoHNI_T]

fuuugggg I put my boat in for a dip last weekend and its -3 tonight,,,,, should I winterize it tonight after work in the dark and cold??? I am thinking it would take -5 or -6 to freeze it up....?????

I put a water bottle on the platform this a.m. if it goes solid ice I guess I am fugged....

fingers crossed


but on topic its a very easy process,,, dont forget to get all that water out of the heater core blow hard they crack easy.... learned that the hard way when I look down last year first day out and my feet have 2 inch of water,,,,

 

[OVERKILL 19]

check out the new way to winterize a marine engine
thewinterizer.com
fast and easy

I used to do the same thing but with a suction cup clamp on the leg with a 5 gallon pail of antifreeze and a PA bilage pump hooked up to a garden hose. I ran the motor with water first and got it up to temp first then switched as you want the thermostat to open while pumping antifreeze. I tried it on my XP seadoo did not work so well, she red lined and ran on after shutting it down, never figured out why. The 2 stroke did not like it though.

 

[OVERKILL 19]

fuuugggg I put my boat in for a dip last weekend and its -3 tonight,,,,, should I winterize it tonight after work in the dark and cold??? I am thinking it would take -5 or -6 to freeze it up....?????

I put a water bottle on the platform this a.m. if it goes solid ice I guess I am fugged....

fingers crossed


but on topic its a very easy process,,, dont forget to get all that water out of the heater core blow hard they crack easy.... learned that the hard way when I look down last year first day out and my feet have 2 inch of water,,,,

If you have a suction cup clamp, hook up the garden hose and run it before you go to bed she will hold heat for 12 hours I'm sure, by then it will be warm again.

 

[OVERKILL 19]

fuuugggg I put my boat in for a dip last weekend and its -3 tonight,,,,, should I winterize it tonight after work in the dark and cold??? I am thinking it would take -5 or -6 to freeze it up....?????

I put a water bottle on the platform this a.m. if it goes solid ice I guess I am fugged....

fingers crossed


but on topic its a very easy process,,, dont forget to get all that water out of the heater core blow hard they crack easy.... learned that the hard way when I look down last year first day out and my feet have 2 inch of water,,,,

Just thought you dont have a leg!

 

[Showtime]

I'm sure its too late as you've either winterized or gone to bed but i heard guys throwing a 100 watt light bulb in the motor compartment and closing the hatches. I personally wouldn't trust this overnight...fire hazards have always scared me. Plan B would be to pop the plugs in the block and drain it like you've already mentioned. Sjould be okay at -3 buuuuuut you never know. A block can be around 10K to replace.

 

[Bogger]

I've been told by numerous sources and many nights thru experience that anything above -10 is alright....

Plio and I never pull our boats before thanksgiving and we've had many cold unwinterized nights...takes a deep freeze to crack chit..... so I'm told....

I had to break the ice around mud-duck to pull it out of the lake in October....

 

[JoHNI_T]

I'm sure its too late as you've either winterized or gone to bed but i heard guys throwing a 100 watt light bulb in the motor compartment and closing the hatches. I personally wouldn't trust this overnight...fire hazards have always scared me. Plan B would be to pop the plugs in the block and drain it like you've already mentioned. Sjould be okay at -3 buuuuuut you never know. A block can be around 10K to replace.

thx man,,, thats what my dealer sugested too, I went with 2 lights and 1 mini heater lol,,, she's like 30 in there,, the lights have covers and the heater has enough room and shut off if over heats,,, hope none of my ballast fitting crack....


I also put a bottle of water on swim platform as my measuring stick,,,, still not frozen lol

 

[JoHNI_T]

I've been told by numerous sources and many nights thru experience that anything above -10 is alright....

Plio and I never pull our boats before thanksgiving and we've had many cold unwinterized nights...takes a deep freeze to crack chit..... so I'm told....

I had to break the ice around mud-duck to pull it out of the lake in October....

thx Bogg,, I agree but if it was -5 for 3 days straight I would think maybe something would start to freeze,, but one night it would be tuff,,,

 

[JDM]

I just bought a product called SeaFlush this weekend and used it on my Sea Ray. It was awesome and so easy to use I'm not paying a mechanic to do it anymore, that's for sure. It did help that I've seen them do it before so I had some background knowledge but the instructions that came with the product made it easy to understand. It works with cannister style sea strainers and with just a Shop vac and antifreeze I knocked it out quickly.