A not so uncommon woe....
Got caught in Upstate NY by the cold weather before I could winterize boat.
In a panic, I tried to do it a few weeks ago when I was in town, but the bilge was frozen solid (I still cannot figure out where the water is coming from!!!!)
I have a tee that allows me to pull antifreeze from a bucket and has worked great for the past 8 years. I got the motor to start, but it wouldn't stay running. I finally gave up and when I went back down below, I could hear bubbling and hissing.
I popped the aft freeze plug of the Atomic 5 gas engine near the distributor.
I ordered new plugs from Moyer and today I went down and ran a propane heater for 3 or 4 hours to melt all the ice. I was able to remove most of the water from the bilge and I cleaned out the opening for the freeze plug...installed some silicone and was able to put the plug into place, no problems.
Once I started the engine, the freeze plug immediately popped out and the engine just squirted antifreeze all over the place. I stopped the engine and cut down a wooden plug and hammered in into the hole so that I could at lease get some liquid in there for the rest of the winter.
Obviously, I didn't install plug correctly. As I was driving home, it occurred to me that the plug/cap is concave in shape. Do I need to place the plug into the hole and then somehow bang the dome shaped cap 'down'?
I tried looking on this site and Moyer's and didn't quite see anything....or I missed it.
Thanks guys.
Chris
...as an aside. I noticed in the bilge that water froze around the keel bolts in a clear dome pattern...I thought this was weird and kinda cool from a freak of nature point of view. Is this normal?
Got caught in Upstate NY by the cold weather before I could winterize boat.
In a panic, I tried to do it a few weeks ago when I was in town, but the bilge was frozen solid (I still cannot figure out where the water is coming from!!!!)
I have a tee that allows me to pull antifreeze from a bucket and has worked great for the past 8 years. I got the motor to start, but it wouldn't stay running. I finally gave up and when I went back down below, I could hear bubbling and hissing.
I popped the aft freeze plug of the Atomic 5 gas engine near the distributor.
I ordered new plugs from Moyer and today I went down and ran a propane heater for 3 or 4 hours to melt all the ice. I was able to remove most of the water from the bilge and I cleaned out the opening for the freeze plug...installed some silicone and was able to put the plug into place, no problems.
Once I started the engine, the freeze plug immediately popped out and the engine just squirted antifreeze all over the place. I stopped the engine and cut down a wooden plug and hammered in into the hole so that I could at lease get some liquid in there for the rest of the winter.
Obviously, I didn't install plug correctly. As I was driving home, it occurred to me that the plug/cap is concave in shape. Do I need to place the plug into the hole and then somehow bang the dome shaped cap 'down'?
I tried looking on this site and Moyer's and didn't quite see anything....or I missed it.
Thanks guys.
Chris
...as an aside. I noticed in the bilge that water froze around the keel bolts in a clear dome pattern...I thought this was weird and kinda cool from a freak of nature point of view. Is this normal?