Winterization of a ballast bag system

[devito718]

Went by my local dealership and thought a hundred and $160 was a lot of money to have the ballast bags winterized what is actually involved to do so?
In theory can I just pour a gallon of a/f into each bag and then empty the bag is that enough antifreeze to hold the pumps and the lines?
Or am I completely missing something about winterization of a ballast bag my dealer wants a total of $700 to winterize my boat trying to save somewhere!

[smorris7]

Take the bags out of the boat and run some marine or rv antifreeze through the lines. Not much to it!


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[Kidder522]

You can also just disconnect all the lines and run some air through them. Push the water into the bilge area for the fill lines, and push the water in reverse through the hull outlets into a pail.

[mattsask]

Mine wants $400 cdn to winterize engine and ballast. That does not include an oil change.

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[5:00]

For my Wake Makers system I do the following:
I remove my bags for the winter and put them in the garage after emptying them well and they never freeze and they don't go through crazy temperature cycles. I loosen all of the fittings on the bags also. I pick up and lift hoses to make the water run down hill and out which takes care of most of it. This drains the hoses out of the intakes and vents.
I remove the impellers, put the lids back on where the impellers were, which you should do anyway then I put a shop vac on the hoses and pull out anything in there. To do the shop vac I close the seac0cks almost all of the way so it really pulls air and water. I am always amazed how much water comes out.

[trayson]

I don't mess with antifreeze. I don't bother removing the impeller on the reversible pump either. Disconnect and remove the bags, blow the water out of the lines with an air compressor. Done.

Engine and heater are a bit more involved, but likewise straight forward and very DIY friendly.

I can easily winterize my boat at home quicker than I could tow my boat to/from the dealer.