Winterizing

[Sailor-man]

With winter fast approaching, I'm getting ready to haul-out and need some help with winterizing the engine. I have a Volvo 2020 w/saildrive w/fresh water cooling. The boat will be stored and engine winterized on land. 2 questions .. (1) Do I need to drain seawater from the system before before starting the engine and drawing anti-freeze (pink stuff) through the sea water intake. Or can I just start the engine and run until I see pink stuff coming out the exhaust. If I need to drain, how do I do this?(2) When I've had the engine winterized in previous years, they have poured antifreeze into the water strainer as the engine is running until we see it coming out the exhaust vs. removing the hose from the sea water intake. I suspect removing the hose will be a struggle and don't want to run the risk of a leak here in future. What do you recommend?

 

[mjb]

I like the idea of using the strainer

I've been researching and compiling my list of tasks and I'm also considering winterizing on land in order to avoid removing all the hoses from the sea cocks. My thought was to use a bucket on deck with a hose to each through hull (2 heads, 1 A/C, 1 engine, 1 generator) to supply antifreeze. I could perhaps use this device: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/10001/-1/10001/45454/10001/8200/0/0.Some of my through hulls are hard to reach and I would have to extend the hose to reach a bucket of antifreeze which could be very awkward.Has anybody else used this technique?

 

[Sailor-man]

Not sure

Mine shouldn't be that complicated ... The manuual says to close the seacock, remove the hose from the seawater intake and put in a bucket of antifreeze then run the engine. Sounds easy, but I'm not that keen on removing the hose at the seacock. Not sure I can attach a hose from below and draw into the intake. I've seen the process done by pouring antifreeze into the water strainer while running the engine. Seems to be done without a probelm, but looking for some advice.

 

[bob G.]

Yes

Yes you can pour antifrezze directly into strainer without disconnecting any hoses, and yes antifreeze will displace any raw water in the loop, you do not have to drain it. Just let it run untill you get a STEADY steam of antifreeze out exhaust.

 

[Sherry]

other end of hose?

I understand how pouring anti-freeze into the strainer winterizes everything from that point through the engine and out the exhaust. But what about the other end of the system, from the strainer back to the intake/sea cock? Doesn't the actual valve need winterizing, too?

 

[Boat Babe]

flush from the thru hull

You should flush the line from the thru hull by disconnecting the hose and adding an extender with a coupler and a length of hose. Stick the hose into a bucket and suck up the pink stuff until it comes out the exhaust. Then reconnect the original hose to the closed thru hull. Otherwise, the hose from the strainer to the thru hull won't have antifreeze in it. It's actually quite simple to do. If the hose breaks or deteriorates from taking it off of the thru hull, it was probably weak to begin with and should be replaced. Steph

 

[Sailor-man]

Wouldn't the water drain out from the strainer

I think what happens is the hose from the strainer to the thru hull drains out if the thru hull is left open.

 

[higgs]

Bob G right on

This is not rocket science. Once on the hard you have to find a way to tap into your raw water system. A prefered spot is at the intake. Put a tee in the hose at this spot that allows you to close off the intake through hull. The idea is to introduce anti freeze into the system instead of fresh water. I use a large funnel that shoves into a hose that shoves into a larger hose etc. until I am into the system. I have someone standing below the exhaust outlet. I fill the funnel w/anti freeze and start the engine. As the funnel starts to run dry I pour in more anti freeze until the guy on the ground lets me know when the exhaust is pink or green or whatever color I am winterizing to. I find it takes 2 to 3 gallons. If you need to be sure, have the guy on the ground put a bucket up to the exhaust and then test what comes out.

 

[Boat Babe]

Sailor Man

Yes the water would drain out if that segment of the hose is really downhill. If not, or if there is any downward elbow curve, there would still be water in there. IMHO, it's just safer to remove the hose and antifreeze the whole thing.