Winterizing A Diesel Engine On The Hard

[Maine Sail]

I have installed a "T" fitting just above each of my inlet thru-hulls. Each "T" has valve attached to it. See my photo. This simplifies winterizing a great deal. I have an 18" piece of hose with a male threaded fitting on the end. I screw it into the "T'd" valve of the ciruit to be winterized and since all circuits are the same one piece of hose is all I need. This picture shows the back of the engine compartment and the upper portion of the thru-hull, "T'd" valve and strainer basket to the right To winterize I attach the hose to the "T'd" valve and dip the other end into a bucket of antifreeze. I open the main thru-hull (if boats in the water) and start the motor. Once it's warm I open the "T'd" valve and close the main thru-hull. The bucket drains and I kill the engine. No hoses to pull off each year. It's worked great for many many years. All the other systems aboard are approached the same way. I do make it a point to check these for signs of wear or cracking periodically.

Please keep in the back of your mind that you've added multiple below water connections, 4 additional, a brass valve not bronze that could become anodic, and at least two plastic fittings that could be PVC, which is advised against for below water connections. Also some of those connections only have one hose clamp.. Convenient yes, but adds a lot of potential for failure too.

 

[Gunni]

I have installed a "T" fitting just above each of my inlet thru-hulls. ...

These kinds of ill-advised owner modifications are more common than you think. I've refused to do an off shore because an owner rigged a similar "emergency bilge pump" contraption.

 

[All U Get]

Catching run-off

I saw a Fake-A-Lake Inboard Engine Flusher (Jamestown) and wondered if anyone had used one to catch the run-off while winterizing on the hard?
All U Get

 

[Jeff]

OK, OK so there's room for improvement. I do like the convenience but do see your points MS and Gunni. Thanks for your imput.

 

[Maine Sail]

OK, OK so there's room for improvement. I do like the convenience but do see your points MS and Gunni. Thanks for your imput.

A more robust method is to use a bronze tee and bronze nipple coming directly off the strainer (not the seacock). This is ONLY if you have a robust solid bronze strainer, which you do. If your strainer is plastic please don't use this method.

Off the tee will be another bronze nipple to a bronze ball valve. No additional hose clamps to fail and all hard piped with solid bronze. Groco sells BRONZE nipples and they are the ONLY source for real bronze nipples I know of. Don't fall prey to brass below the waterline it can be very dangerous... Red brass is better but is still not bronze.

Off the strainer Inlet = bronze close nipple, bronze tee, bronze sweep ell, J2006 hose, seacock (hose double clamped with AWAB style non-perforated clamps)

Off the tee = bronze close nipple, bronze ball valve (remove handle when not in use)

Or = Once per year simply loosen two hose clamps, pull the hose of strainer inlet and replace with hose from bucket, takes about 45 seconds....

 

[FastOlson]

Great Video!

I have winterized our diesel after it was hauled; it was fully warmed up before being lifted, and we restarted it briefly after it was blocked up, and ran the pink antifreeze thru.

Since part of this topic is the method of inducing the flushing (i.e. antifreeze) solution into the raw water part of the system...
I found a picture of our engine intake from a few years ago. Picture note: the short hose from from the thruhull goes under the Groco strainer, thru a couple of elbows, and into the top. This does not show well in the photo.

I just winterized ours a couple weeks ago. While our temps seldom drop to the low 20's for long, we can and have endured over a week of temps in the teens and a 30 kt wind along with it. That's when you don't want to rely on an AC heater to save your boat's plumbing.... since such weather 'events' often are accompanied by outages.

I have a clear piece of hose about 4' long that can be attached to the top of the two-way valve assembly with a standard "garden hose fitting."

The other end goes into a one gallon jug of pink stuff/ antifreeze .
My M25XP takes about three quarts before the first burp of pink appears at the transom and I shut 'er down.
Like Maine, always do this after fully warming up the diesel.

Thanks to all, BTW, for covering the basics so well!

Holiday greetings,
LB

 

[Jeff]

MS, thanks for the advice. I'll make the changes.

 

[Gunni]

LB, it looks like your hose fitting is also brass, not marine bronze.

 

[Mac14787]

Maine,
Thanks for the video, I appreciate all the info you pass on to us members.
One of the highlights of the video, was the bit of green corrosion on your raw water strainer. This is the first bit of corrosion, rust, dirt, or oil contamination we have seen on your engine. There is a bit of common man in you.

 

[Maine Sail]

Maine,
Thanks for the video, I appreciate all the info you pass on to us members.
One of the highlights of the video, was the bit of green corrosion on your raw water strainer. This is the first bit of corrosion, rust, dirt, or oil contamination we have seen on your engine. There is a bit of common man in you.

Yeah you need to empty the strainer basket every now and then and some salt water invariably gets on the outside and created verdigris. Don't worry I'll clean it up at some point.. The engine is on good shape for 3300 hours though...

 

[FastOlson]

Good Eye...

LB, it looks like your hose fitting is also brass, not marine bronze.

Probably is. However, No liquid ever sits in that "hose fitting" unless pink antifreeze is going thru it.
The little bronze plug I put into the top is really just for cosmetics.
On the whole, it's one of the cooler Marlon thru hull devices that Forespar makes, IMHO.

LB

 

[Gunni]

Probably is. However, No liquid ever sits in that "hose fitting" unless pink antifreeze is going thru it.
The little bronze plug I put into the top is really just for cosmetics.
On the whole, it's one of the cooler Marlon thru hull devices that Forespar makes, IMHO.LB

Aw, I see, it is a three-way valve. How long have you had that Marelon thru-hull, and how is working out for you? What is your maintenance schedule?

 

[Tom Metzger]

Seems like a sound engineering design to have a way to drain the system without taking it appart.

FWIW - Thirty years ago at Mack Boring's Care & Feeding course they strongly recommended running antifreeze though the engines instead of just draining as the owner's manual said. They didn't trust the draining procedure to remove all of the water. They were dealing with Yanmar raw water cooled engines.

 

[Maine Sail]

FWIW - Thirty years ago at Mack Boring's Care & Feeding course they strongly recommended running antifreeze though the engines instead of just draining as the owner's manual said. They didn't trust the draining procedure to remove all of the water. They were dealing with Yanmar raw water cooled engines.

Tom makes an excellent point. The AF also helps prevent slab rust but more importantly those drains were designed with a level engine in-mind. Almost all marine engines, with a shaft, sit at an angle which can trap water.

 

[Stu Jackson]

And, those petcocks on engines are notorious for getting clogged if you ever use them. I wouldn't ever touch the one on my engine, plus it's in such a bad location that I couldn't catch it if it did open up. I drain it from the hoses. Many boat engines were originally tractor engines. The access was a hell of a lot better!

 

[Witzend]

By using AF it helps keep the O2 out of the equation. I do mine right after she is pulled so the engine is already hot, then the oil change, less viscous, easier to suck out.

 

[shipwreck66]

Warren, believe it or not, I found this scene on my boat last February, in Texas. The temp had remained below 8 for over 7 days and there was a P trap in the bilge line near the aft manual pump. Apparently the water in the P froze first, then as the bilge pump would kick on and push more water into that ice, more ice formed, all the way back to the bilge. By the time I got out to the boat on Saturday morning ice had formed inside the bilge and the pump had burned out. Made me check the stuffing box a lot closer now as that slow drip does add up when the pump doesn't work.

 

[FastOlson]

Aw, I see, it is a three-way valve. How long have you had that Marelon thru-hull, and how is working out for you? What is your maintenance schedule?

We put in all "new design" Forespar thruhulls in '02. Only maintenance is to open/close the valves regularly.

No problems, but I should note that as of that year, Forespar had not yet solved the problem of the ball material being very slightly hydroscopic.... so they are still hard to operate, and I ascribe that to the ball material slightly swelling.
However, these new valves do allow you to back off the screws from the top of the split body and free them up.

Considering that we have no worries about electrolysis, I like these thruhulls.
After all, "Everything's a compromise" as someone once said...

 

[RobertLangdirect]

Winterizing on the hard isn't very hard. What is hard is un-winterizing....

Warren -- Get some better boots for your feet and you will be able to take them off without unlacing as you have to do with those shoes. Ans shoes really aren't very good when it is freezing cold.

Oh, you can tell its time to wear boots, btw, when your bildge is frozen solid.

Dang! What was the final bill on this? You didn't split the hull apart, did you?

 

[Warren Milberg]

I'm happy to report that the pic I posted above of the totally frozen Yanmar was not my boat. I understand that the owner of this boat actually thawed out his engine/bilge with a hair dryer, pumped the water out, and his engine started right up. Some people are just plain lucky....