Winterizing Ballast System

[gammapark]

I know many of you are in warmer climates and winterizing is not even on your radar yet but here in New England the leaves are already turning, so.... Does anyone have some pointers on winterizing the rear ballast system on my 08 Outback? Never done it before and don't want to f it up (or pay the dealer the $150.00 to do it). Guidance would be helpful!

[Razzman]

If your referring to your bags then just undo the red quick disconnect, pull the bags out and make sure there is no water in them and store them in the garage.

As far as the plumbing itself i think you could flip the levers down on each pump and back blow through each hose after disconnecting from the bags. As these pumps are still the Orbits i think that would work but i'm not sure.

Anyone else know?

[04OUTBACK]

empty the strainer...

[yearround]

this is such a depressing topic, how could you bring up winterizing in august? however, we have noticed that our lake temps are starting to drop. the water is down to 68. the heater is getting used already! of course i don't tell anyone that i am glad to turn it on, most do not know about the heat vent under my feet!

so for winterizing, if you have heater, you need to blow out the heater lines as well.

i have heard of some people pumping a bit of antifreeze into the system.

[jester]

Your lake temp is only 68* and your using the heater. My like temp has not been above 68* this summer because of having a good snow pack. And htis is a very sad subject. We should be out on the water as long as there is water in the lakes.

Ok so on the subject i have heard of the heater and the filters need to be unscrewed and drained.

[spyder]

a crappy summer here has lead to cold water temps all summer... leaves are changing early here too.

[Razzman]

Air 105 , water 86 yesterday :p

[04OUTBACK]

I am with ya Razz..
Mid 90's today with water temps in the 80s.
HATE to even HEAR the word winterization now.
After this weekend, the best riding comes around here..!!!

[yearround]

Your lake temp is only 68* and your using the heater.

yeah, we were out at sunrise for some butter, the air was 61* so it was cooler out of the water. i will gladly admit to and use the heater if i can get on the water more than 4 months a year and not have to put up with any 100+ days in the summer.

[KurtL]

Gammapark,

Feel your pain as well. Yesterday we were out at 8am to ski on glass. Air temp 45 water temp 64. Never got above 60 degrees. We want to keep the boat out for another 3 weeks but over night temps might force early winterization or a heated garage. Considering putting a closed cooling system on the boat, but would still need to address ballast system, shower, heater etc. This is an important topic for us in the North, lets keep the info coming!!!

[kaneboats]

I feel for you guys. I really do. I started shivering just thinking about your water.

[501]

Waaa Waaa, up in Canada (Alberta) temps the other night were air 45 water 57. I plan to keep using my boat till the end of october, so this winterizing thing is depressing. My plan was to put a small work light in the engine compartment of my XLV to keep the motor and everything a little warmer then the air temps. The compartments seem to hold the heat in well, and this is what we used to do with our old i/o. Thank god for dry suits.

[jester]

I love my dry suit. Just makes early riding go that much easer. That is a good idea about a work light. I was thinking of getting a heating pad and putting it over the engine. How hard is it to blow out the heater lines or keep them from getting too cold?

[bamaspiveys]

make sure you get the lines blown out, i left water in the lines last year and popped the water pump housing

[gammapark]

How do you blow the lines out? Once you remove the bag do you just hook up a shop vac or such??

[bradenb12]

air compressor