Winterizing "ah-ha's"

[murphini]

Had a friend help winterize our 2007 24ve with Marine Power 5.7. He's done it a lot and I got some real 'ah-ha' moments in helping-- mostly it's the right tools for the job.

Before taking it out of water I added STA-BIL as the gas was low and ran it for a while until time to take out. Then dded more gas and fresh STA-BIL once on Land so the fuel is conditioned.

1. To get hoses off heater pump etc, he used a tool like an ice pick with a curled, 90degree hook to gently loosen the grip of the hose so it'd come off easy.
2. Powered liquid extractor worked really well for both changing OIL and Trans fluid. I didn't realize there was an Oil Drain hose off the engine. Previously I had used my hand pump that screws onto the cap where you add oil. Slick. Sucking out Trans fluid with a different size hose also worked well as it's hard to get down there.
3. Putting a quart ziploc bag over the oil filter to catch oil drippings as unscrewing. Stick finger in and spin filter rather than trying to spin with bag. Previously just had rags/towels down below to catch the overflowing oil from filter.
4. Used a big syringe to add 30w oil to the VDrive which was a little bit low. Could reach down the blind hole and add oil without a huge mess. A turkey baster would also work well if you needed to add a lot.
5. Used my wet vac to suck water out the heater hose/core, and after unscrewing the knock sensor below, had one hand cupped beneath the water and other hand holding the wet-vac to suck up water as it came out of the block. Much easier than trying to fish a bucket down there as I used to do.
6. Used a 5gal bucket full of pink antifreeze with a hose off to the fake a lake to suck in the anti freeze into engine. He started engine, I lifted up to assist the gravity. Pink fluid was coming out of tailpipe right around the 4.5 gallon mark so it was easy to tell him when to shut down. Probably took less than 2 minutes.
7. Am storing all my cushions in my house over this winter, also storing my enzo bags in my house.

Boat is in a 58 degree cave so it won't freeze, but glad to know how to do it so if I do store in a cold place it'll be ok.

2010 Totals: 61 hours on engine, 27 days used. A very good year.

Totals since Summer 2008: 211 hours, 84 days used, 135 different people/guests on the boat.

[jbort]

nice update - u keeping a logbook?

[chpthril]

Just a couple things to caution about the use of Marine/RV antifreeze. 1) It's most effective when used full strength, so running it into the engine when it's still full of water will dilute it and reduce it's effectiveness. 2) if the engine has cooled and the thermostat has closed, the antifreeze you are running vie the impeller with the engine running will be diverted to the exhaust manifolds and then dumped right out the exhaust and never make it into the block. This can lead t a false sense or security as the block is still full of water with maybe some antifreeze mixed in.

[Timmy!]

2) if the engine has cooled and the thermostat has closed, the antifreeze you are running vie the impeller with the engine running will be diverted to the exhaust manifolds and then dumped right out the exhaust and never make it into the block. This can lead t a false sense or security as the block is still full of water with maybe some antifreeze mixed in.

Only if the block wasn't drained first. If you drain the block, the antifreeze will go in there.

[b/w05]

The log book is something I wished we had done from the beginning. It would be fun over the winter to read back over it and enjoy the good times again; where you went, how the weather was, things we forgot, ect...

[chpthril]

Only if the block wasn't drained first. If you drain the block, the antifreeze will go in there.

if the block was drained of water and the antifreeze doesn't fill the block, it's still all good

[Timmy!]

if the block was drained of water and the antifreeze doesn't fill the block, it's still all good

LOL! Well...if it doesn't, you might have some other problems!

[Nobody]

Had a friend help winterize our 2007 24ve with Marine Power 5.7. He's done it a lot and I got some real 'ah-ha' moments in helping-- mostly it's the right tools for the job.

Before taking it out of water I added STA-BIL as the gas was low and ran it for a while until time to take out. Then dded more gas and fresh STA-BIL once on Land so the fuel is conditioned.

1. To get hoses off heater pump etc, he used a tool like an ice pick with a curled, 90degree hook to gently loosen the grip of the hose so it'd come off easy.
2. Powered liquid extractor worked really well for both changing OIL and Trans fluid. I didn't realize there was an Oil Drain hose off the engine. Previously I had used my hand pump that screws onto the cap where you add oil. Slick. Sucking out Trans fluid with a different size hose also worked well as it's hard to get down there.
3. Putting a quart ziploc bag over the oil filter to catch oil drippings as unscrewing. Stick finger in and spin filter rather than trying to spin with bag. Previously just had rags/towels down below to catch the overflowing oil from filter.
4. Used a big syringe to add 30w oil to the VDrive which was a little bit low. Could reach down the blind hole and add oil without a huge mess. A turkey baster would also work well if you needed to add a lot.
5. Used my wet vac to suck water out the heater hose/core, and after unscrewing the knock sensor below, had one hand cupped beneath the water and other hand holding the wet-vac to suck up water as it came out of the block. Much easier than trying to fish a bucket down there as I used to do.
6. Used a 5gal bucket full of pink antifreeze with a hose off to the fake a lake to suck in the anti freeze into engine. He started engine, I lifted up to assist the gravity. Pink fluid was coming out of tailpipe right around the 4.5 gallon mark so it was easy to tell him when to shut down. Probably took less than 2 minutes.
7. Am storing all my cushions in my house over this winter, also storing my enzo bags in my house.

Boat is in a 58 degree cave so it won't freeze, but glad to know how to do it so if I do store in a cold place it'll be ok.

2010 Totals: 61 hours on engine, 27 days used. A very good year.

Totals since Summer 2008: 211 hours, 84 days used, 135 different people/guests on the boat.

Nice article but why so little hours yet so many days. We average 6.5 hours of run time in a single day.

[Timmy!]

Nice article but why so little hours yet so many days. We average 6.5 hours of run time in a single day.

Wow! We usually average about 3 to 4 engine hours for a day. We used to average 5 maybe 6 when we weren't on a private lake and had to drive 20 minutes out to a good riding spot but now we can start riding right off of the trailer practically.

[majestic]

All good stuff! Any idea what Winterize your self costs? After a visit to my dealer to set up my appointment I am determined that this will be the last year I will not do it my self. In my opinion for $225 for the winterizing and $145 for an oil change I can learn how to do all this myself (with some Tige owners help) it would be nice if someone could finish the quick winterizing sticky in the how to section to a full winterizing how to. As far as the oil change is it really as simple as sucking out the old changing the filter and adding new oil? If so how is that worth $145 dollars? I would be willing to do the pictures to finish a full winterizing how to if someone wants to walk me through the steps.

[geomaster]

Majestic, some boats have an oil drain hose that you can use instead of pumping it by hand. This hose connects to the bottom of the oil pan and I would just run the hose through the center drain hole. Real easy to do on the direct drive version

[embo]

The log book is something I wished we had done from the beginning. It would be fun over the winter to read back over it and enjoy the good times again; where you went, how the weather was, things we forgot, ect...

Maybe you long after the written word but I think taking lots of pics and movies does the job quite nicely. I keep a folder on the computer desktop with nothing but boating pics and movies.

[murphini]

On the large # of days and low engine hours per day...

We keep our boat on a lift about 30 minutes from our house on a relatively small reservoir and do a lot of weeknight after work boating where we get to water by 6, out by 9.

With small lake, there isn't much drive time as the ski/tubing/wakeboarding area is right near the slips, and the usable pool is probably 1.5miles by 2 miles. The lake is bigger, but they kept trees in 2/3rds of lake for fish habitat...which keeps most boaters away because they think its ALL treed. It's a well kept secret and some nights there will be maybe 2 other boats on the lake and it's awesome.

Almost every time we go out, we have some dedicated chill/swimming time which lowers the hour/meter usage.

We go less on weekends, and we do more lounging/sunning with engine off since often the water is all chopped up. We spend more time on the boat, but less time running the engine.

The week we spend in Okoboji, I average almost 5.5 hours a day in engine time. Its my happy week. When we go to Tablerock, much more lake to explore and much more hours/day.

The simple boat log/notebook is a very good habit to remember conditions, what maintenance you did, gas consumption, or to help you spot/notice any problems that crop up. And yes, I augment it with my BOAT PICTURE folder on your laptop. But it's great to go back and read/reminisce to our first days of boating and how much we didn't know and how much we've learned. Or how much the kids have progressed.

[whitlock87]

[QUOTE=murphini;451125]Before taking it out of water I added STA-BIL as the gas was low and ran it for a while until time to take out. Then dded more gas and fresh STA-BIL once on Land so the fuel is conditioned.

QUOTE]

Did you fill the tank up?
If so, be careful as the tank might over flow in the spring. What happens is the gas will expand as the temp warms up. This will cause gas to drip out of the vent. In most cases, it will eat you decals.

[murphini]

I have the tank about 3/4 full. After running on the lake near empty with some STA-BIL, I filled up on land, and then put in more fresh STABIL in. It didn't fill all the way because the pump stopped at $100 worth of gas--about 36 gals.

On the winterizations costs: I think my bill at NAPA auto parts was $65 and some change which covered:
5qt of Rotella 15-40 $18 (bought the "brand" dino-wine)
2 Napa gold 1060 filters $12 (bought a spare)
2 qts of NAPA DexIII trans fluid $7
6 gallons of Pink RV AntiFreeze-- $25 cheaper by the case
1 STA-BIL Big Bottle $4.50

Used my Exquisite Vinyl cleaner bought from SBFAN last year, and the waxing was easy due to the Babes Boat Bright Spot remover I used after each cruise this year.

I miss her already.