Winterization question

[BrentB]

I was planning to try to winterize my 2018 RZX2 myself, but unfortunately due to an injury I’m not able to do much climbing in and around the boat right now. The nearest qualified service center is about 3 hours away. I have space rented in a climate controlled storage area for the winter. When storing your boat in a climate controlled unit (65 degrees, 65% humidity) what is the minimum that needs to be done to get the boat safely through about 7 months of storage?

[bsreid]

I would be cautious leaving the boat in storage without the water drained. If the power were to go out in a freeze, the inside temp may or may not stay above freezing. It's not hard to do, basically just a matter of pulling the plugs (six I believe). Round up a couple friends and some beers and I'm sure you guys can get the job done. Here is a super helpful link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtHaY4D2YHo

[BrentB]

It’s an inactive limestone mine so the temperature stays fairly constant year round. If power went out I believe the only thing that would change is the humidity.

[sandm]

if you are 100% confident in the temps ability to remain stable, I'd just treat the gas and call er a day. you can always change the oil in the spring.
not ideal but as mentioned by bsreid, draining water is really something I would try to do and as always oil and gas.

as far as qualified service centers, do you not have another boat dealer that can change oil and drain water? I had a local outboard dealer do it for me last year as no tige dealer and the 'bu dealer is stupid-expensive here due to a pretty much lock on the inboard market. one of his techs is i/o certified and it's basically the same concept. spending a buck20 on a boat and not finding a way to take care of er for the winter might not end well.
good luck whichever way you go.

[BrentB]

Thanks for the advice. I should be able to drain everything and even do the oil change. My neighbor does everything himself on his Moomba so I’m sure he’ll give me a hand.

[chpthril]

I was planning to try to winterize my 2018 RZX2 myself, but unfortunately due to an injury I’m not able to do much climbing in and around the boat right now. The nearest qualified service center is about 3 hours away. I have space rented in a climate controlled storage area for the winter. When storing your boat in a climate controlled unit (65 degrees, 65% humidity) what is the minimum that needs to be done to get the boat safely through about 7 months of storage?

Out side of draining the raw water portions of the engine, you've got engine, v-drive and trans oil to change, fuel treatment, , ballast drain.

[chpthril]

I should be able to drain everything

Just keep in mind, your engine is closed cooling, so the block does not need draining.

[Paul Middlemore]

Seems like a good time to ask of your opinions on this:

My dealer called me the other day after I dropped off the boat for winterization. Side note here; even though I am capable of doing my own maintenance, I prefer having the dealer do it, mainly for the piece of mind if something goes amiss, I have someone other than myself to complain (be responsible for). Plus with our 2017 RZX2, 7 year warranty, I would rather not mess that up.

He said that the new trend is that dealers are using the "fake a wake" system and running anti-freeze through the system thus allowing one not to pull all the plugs. My questions; how are winterizing the ballast system - they are running antifreeze through them. So it makes sense just to run antifreeze throughout the boat and then next year, we aren't messing with a "summarization", just turning the key and off we go. I also inquired that if something fails with the winterization, is Tige going to honor the process or are YOU (the dealer) going to own it - he said that is on us.

So I told them to do the modified winterization along with a complete service, so that next year all I have to do is pull it out of the shop (I use the on board battery tender along with a moisture control system under the cover) and drop it in the water.

Any concerns or disagreements? I can always revert back to the same process.

Thanks,

[chpthril]

My opinion has been and still is, that a winterized boat should be turn-key ready come spring, regardless of how the boat was winterized.

My hesitation with just inducing marine/rv antifreeze into a system thats still full of lake water is. Marine/rv antifreeze is designed to be used at 100%. Putting into the system thats full of water, you run some risk of diluted mixture = lower protection level, or pockets of missed water altogether, i.e heater core on an open cooled engine.

Now, on a 2017 with a closed cooled engine, how many plugs are there to remove, compared to getting everything setup to run the antifreeze, plus the cost of the antifreeze? Heat exchanger, transfer hose between manifolds and one in each manifold maybe?

Dealer owns dealer mistakes. Manufacturer would not warranty a dealer mistake.

As to ballast? Pour about a half gallon down each drain outlet. With aerator pumps, its going to be tough to use a fake a lake on each intake. But I suppose one could set the bucket full of A/F on the deck rail, so its well above the pump.

[Ruger761]

Paul
I always ran anti-freeze through mine on a fake-a-lake with a pump for added pressure. But I still pulled all my plugs. Just gave me an extra little bit of security in the event I missed something and made me feel better when I pulled the plugs and pink came out. But Chpthril is correct it will dilute it and some came out really pink some came out with only a tint of pink. Didn't matter for me since I pulled the plugs but something to keep in mind. Guess it all depends on the dealer and the dealers word on taking care of any issues in the event something didn't go 100% correct.

[Paul Middlemore]

Thanks guys, the dealer just called and said it is ready to go........... so I will ask some questions and ensure there is some documentation that details what they did.

I will compare the cost as to last year per Chpthri's notes -

My dealer has been outstanding in all matters; everything that has wiggled loose or failed, they jumped on it immediately; can't say enough good things compared to the horror stories I have read about here and fortunately the dealer is only about 6 miles from my house.

Thanks again.

[IDBoating]

I prefer having the dealer do it, mainly for the piece of mind...

Peace of mind is EXACTLY why I do my own winterization, summerization, and regular maintenance. Far too many horror stories out there about dealers forgetting to refill the engine oil, reinstall the raw water impeller, etc. They have rows of boats to work on, way too easy to miss something on one of them. I have just ONE boat to work on, so I can focus entirely on doing it properly. I'd much rather make certain it's correct than take comfort that I have someone else I can blame for damage.

WRT "someone else being responsible", most of the time they make you sign something before you can pick up a vehicle after servicing. Those forms generally have a nice standard disclaimer that says something similar to "You agree you have had the opportunity to inspect the work performed on your vehicle and agree the work was done to your satisfaction". Could you maybe get a good lawyer to unwind that, and force the dealer to be responsible? Maybe.

[Paul Middlemore]

Good Points ID, I guess I should have clarified my "someone else responsible"; not only is that one of my main concerns considering the cost of a replacement engine etc...but rarely do I have the time to accomplish service items. Plus it keeps a great record that the boat was serviced by the dealer in the event something fails within my 7 year warranty plan.

I picked it up and spent some time with the service manager and owner about the service; seems they did some serious homework on it, even garnished details on the anti-freeze (much more to it than just pink stuff). Something not recommended for back east boats or those states in which -30 is common. For my area and what weather we have, they are very confident that this service will be fine (remember they are the ones who are accepting the responsibility). I was pleasantly surprised that they laid out all the details on their research.

They also resolved my Wack a Mole ski pylon - which I reported on another thread.

Thanks to all,

[MikeB313]

I drain all the water, and then run it on RV-antifreeze until it comes out exhaust pink. Just need to charge and re-connect batteries and good to go in the spring.

[Bamer]

If you run antifreeze through the motor, you must get the motor hot enough for the thermostat to fully open and circulate antifreeze throughout the system. Best bet is to drain the raw water first, then run antifreeze through fake a lake.


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