Winterization Questions

[Hayden]

I am getting ready to winterize my boat as the season is quickly ending for us (Canada). This is the first year with the boat and the first year I’ll be doing DIY winterization. My engine/mechanical knowledge is limited. I was going over the steps Al listed here:

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread....ith-pics-by-Al

I have several initial questions after reading through the instructions but don’t actually plan to do the winterization until the weekend. I have a 2005 LSV and the 310HP Carb engine.:

1) He mentions draining the oil at the start. He doesn’t mention refilling the oil immediately afterwards. Is the intention to leave the engine empty of oil throughout the winter and then refill next spring?

2) The very last item listed is the following: Remove each spark plug and spray fogging oil into each cylinder for about 2 – 3 seconds. Spray a little fogging oil on the spark plug hole threads. With all the spark plugs still out, bump the starter for 1 second to evenly coat the cylinder walls with the fogging oil. Reinstall the spark plugs.

Bumping the starter is just quickly turning the ignition on/off for 1 second, correct? If this is done with the spark plugs and oil removed, would you be worried at all about engine damage or flame?

3) He mentions putting a cap of bleach in the ballast bags to prevent mold. Should you keep the bags capped over the winter? Or cap them, mix the bleach around in the bag, then uncap over the winter?

4) I see a lot of discussion on whether you should run antifreeze in addition to draining the boat. The guide written seems to be for draining only. If you were to go with the antifreeze method, would you instead keep all of the hoses connected, and just connect a hose to a large bucket with antifreeze and then circulate it through until it had displaced / pushed out all the water? If you didn’t have to unbolt/unscrew all the hose fittings this method seems like it would be easier? How much antifreeze would you need, (assuming I’ve made the right assumptions)?


Appreciate the help!

Hayden

[jelmhorst]

1. Refill the oil, make sure when you replace the oil filter you fill the filter up with the new oil to the top as well. The suggestion is you should run the engine for a few minutes to circulate the new oil prior to putting it up. I'll typically replace the oil and add stabil at the dock to a full tank and then motor over to the launch to cycle everything, then you are good for the winter.
2. Bumping the starter is easiest if you remove the kill switch and then turn the ignition for a second to cycle it.
3. Seems to me that its a personal preference. I never do the bleach but once drained I hook everything back up so as not to lose anything, forget where I stored it, etc. I don't go around huffing ballast bags to worry about breathing in mold spores.
4. Where you're at I'd prob say yes to the anti-freeze but is the boat stored in a heated garage or outdoors unprotected from the elements?

[Hayden]

It will be stored outside, -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) will likely be the lowest we'd see.

[jelmhorst]

These threads seem to hit most of it, may need someone who's actually gone through the adding anti-freeze chime in with what they used.
https://forum.moomba.com/showthread....ht=anti-freeze
https://forum.moomba.com/showthread....ht=anti-freeze

[Hayden]

Very useful threads. Thank you sir.

[Darter]

With the sparkplugs out and wires off, just turn the key a second or so. The starter will roll the engine over, but nothing else will happen.

I do the antifreeze. You must drain the water first... the engine/hoses/manifolds hold somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 gallons of water. You need to get all of that out first so that you're not diluting the antifreeze. I just picked up some at walmart that's probably -50F rated when not diluted. 5 gallons is the bare minimum... I think I used 7 last year, including 1 gallon poured into my ballast to them run through the drain pump. To get it into the engine, I just bought a 1-1/4" hose, clamped it in where the thru-hull hose connects to the water pump, and put the other end into a 5 gallon bucket. By the time the bucket is empty, you should be seeing antifreeze start to come out of the exhaust. if not, just add a little more, but don't let the waterpump run without drawing fluid in (a clear hose is helpful for this). The whole 5 gallons will get drawn in within 30-60 seconds or so.

[deerfield]

I do the antifreeze.

Agreed.

Hayden - Take a look at my winterization photo album. Pictured are some of the product I use for winterization, including antifreeze for sub zero climate when we lived in the Midwest. - Deerfield

[Hayden]

Appreciate it gents, thank you for the advice.

[DOCDRS]

If you hAve a v drive you may want to drain the muffler first.....if your anal

[Hayden]

So we did most of this today and it seemed somewhat straightforward. I have a few follow up questions:

1) We unbolted both port/starboard side block cooling plugs. We unbolted the Vdrive forward/aft block plugs. We unfastened the hoses on either side of the raw water cooling pump and drained those along with the hose from raw water intake and all the ballast hoses. I think we have drained all the bits that can be drained. Are there any that I've missed?

2) Where is the strainer for the raw cooling water? I know we have one for the ballast water intake but I can't find the main one for the engine water. The ballast strainer had all kinds of twigs/leaves in it and I figured that raw water one would be in similar condition.

3) In the other winterization threads DOCDRS talks about needing the engine to be hot in order for the thermostat to open the valve and allow new cold water into the engine block. When you come off the outlet of the raw water pump, the hose loops around to the starboard aft side of the engine and climbs up through a tube that has some sort of fabric or porous material inside it. What is this device doing? Is it a strainer? Seems odd to have it downstream of the raw water pump as you could get stuff stuck in the raw water impeller, no?

4) After making it's way up the tube described in (#3) the water enters what I think is the thermostat valve/switch? So if it needs the cold water, it gets diverted into the engine and if not, it shoots it straight into the exhaust headers. Is that correct?

5) So if it does need cooling water as described in (#4) then the valve sends it into the J tube on the port aft side and from there it enters the engine block, correct? Where does it exit the engine block? I've looked at a few diagrams of this but couldn't find one from Indmar for our type of engine.

6) If I disconnect the J tube, attach a hose to the block inlet and send 5 gallons of antifreeze in there, where will it come out? Will it be in the exhaust manifold when I finally run it? If I use this method I don't need the engine to be at temp because I'm bypassing the thermostat completely. Do I just put my two block plugs back in, pour the 5 gallons of antifreeze in and then let it sit for the winter?

Again, appreciate any time taken to shed some light on these.

H.