De-winterizing-gctid369170

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I need some help in understanding exactly what is involved in "de-winterizing" a boat (I have a 175 BR 2004). I live in central New Jersey, and we've had a really mild winter. The forecast for the next 10 days is daytime temps in the 60's and nighttime temps in the 40's. So, I am thinking about de-winterizing the boat this week or next week and starting the boating season a bit early. The traditional "frost date" for planting gardens around here is around May 10 or 15. This will be my second season with the boat, and I've had in winterized by a local mechanic and will have him dewinterize it as well. So here are my "newbie" questions.

1. So, what exactly do they do when a boat is "dewinterized"? I know he will change the fluids, but what is done that could allow the boat to be damaged by freezing temperatures?

2. So would dewinterizing before the traditional "frost" date be asking for trouble? If we suddenly had a cold spell in the last weeks of April, what is the potential damage to the boat and what could I do to prevent it? The boat will be on a trailer in my driveway and won't fit in my garage, unfortunately.

Thanks in advance for helping me understand what exactly is involved in winterizing and dewinterizing.

Kent

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kent83 wrote:
1. So, what exactly do they do when a boat is "dewinterized"? I know he will change the fluids, but what is done that could allow the boat to be damaged by freezing temperatures?

2. So would dewinterizing before the traditional "frost" date be asking for trouble? If we suddenly had a cold spell in the last weeks of April, what is the potential damage to the boat and what could I do to prevent it? The boat will be on a trailer in my driveway and won't fit in my garage, unfortunately.

Kent, it's actually called re-commissioning or commissioning.

Your fluids should have been changed during the winterization process.

This eliminates the acidic contaminates from the engine oil, allows them to see if the drive has taken on any water, etc.

Some install a new sea water pump impeller during winterization. I suggest that during winterizing, we NOT install new sea water pump impellers.

IMO, best to begin the season with the brand new impeller, rather than allowing it to sit all winter in the pump housing.

Fuel filter examination would have also been done. Some add a stabalizer enriched fuel directly into the filter cartridge, then the engine is run to distribute this.

Some fog the engine directly.... depends on your fuel dilivery system (carbureted -vs- FI).

No extra measures need to be taken...... just fire the engine up when all else is ready.

It may produce some smoke at first.

You do not mention whether your engine is raw water cooled, or equipped with a Closed Cooling system.

If raw water cooled engine, no mention whether or not it was prepped with winterizing anti-freeze, or left open with air only.

In your location, let's hope that he did not use the "Let's suck anti-freeze up through the out drive" method, and then choose to leave the anti-freeze installed in the block/heads/exhaust. :thumb

Typically (raw water cooled engine) all engine/exhaust manifold drain plugs would have been removed during winterizing......., and are then re-installed during re-commissioning.

If you plan to do this yourself each season in the future, you may want to ask your mechanic which procedure he used during winterizing.

.

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Thanks, Rick. It is raw water cooled, and frankly I have no idea what method the mechanic used and did not know enough at the time to ask. I'd like to do this myself at some point, and from what you say it should not be all that difficult. So two more questions....

I had a new impeller installed before last season, and it has been in the outdrive all winter. Does the impeller need replacing annually?

And, if I get the boat re-commissioned, and we end up getting some nights with below freezing temps, and the boat is sitting in my driveway, it sounds like I would have to know how to drain the block (which I don't right now), so maybe I should wait to be safe?

Thanks!

Kent

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If it gets cold just put your boat in a garage, Ive been out a few times already, and have put it in the garage,normally we get snow in april and early may, mothers day is our good day but this is a strange year, we've already had record highs in the 80's, never seen that here in april usually we get a few heavy wet storms that produce feet of snow, Usually when you get it winterized they stick a hose or clamps on your steering wheel so you don't forget to put it on, all your fluids should be new, just buy some muffs like I did hook up your upper radiator hose and then you should have 3 small hoses disconnected under the manifold 1 for the block and 2 on the manifold,, Start the water have your drive down then crank the engine without pushing the throttle for 10 seconds or so to get the oil circulating, stop wait 30 seconds push the throttle 3 times and crank it, It should start, make sure the drive is disengaged Very easy and it saves you 125 dollars, muffs are around 25 bucks got mine on amazon they are the dual feed. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i03_details

The best part about muffs is you can flush your engine anytime to get all the lake water out, I think it keeps the rust down

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yes we had special anti-freeze in each head and the lines, the engine and sea strainers also.. the water tank was emptied and put special stuff in it too to prevent lines freezing and bursting in below zero temps.. we had a 3wk period of well below zero.. our boat is way too big for a trailer, so it stayed in the harbor and we monitored everything closely. had ice in our harbor creeping toward our boat, we poked and smashed it away keeping it at bay from our swimstep area... even broke a pole grabber hook.. oopsie..lol. we de-winterized it a few days ago.. drained out all the hoses of the anti-freeze stuff, and changed things.. tonight we moved the boat into its perm stall, cleaned the bow off, washed windows and put on the new bumpers.. we had to get a new power plug, when we went to hook to the new power meter, we noticed a plug prong was scorched.. so we ran and got a brandy new one... we are gonna change out the entire power outlet on the boat itself... spring project ALREADY.. ((oyiva)). But she is ready to go right now with everything thats been done.. we were itching today to head out with the weather being awesome this week.. hit 57 today.. oh yaaa heatwave...

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kent83 wrote:
Thanks, Rick.

1... It is raw water cooled, and frankly I have no idea what method the mechanic used and did not know enough at the time to ask. I'd like to do this myself at some point, and from what you say it should not be all that difficult. So two more questions....

2... I had a new impeller installed before last season, and it has been in the outdrive all winter. Does the impeller need replacing annually?

3.... And, if I get the boat re-commissioned, and we end up getting some nights with below freezing temps, and the boat is sitting in my driveway, it sounds like I would have to know how to drain the block (which I don't right now), so maybe I should wait to be safe

Kent,

1... You may want to find out just how he is prepping this.

I'm not one who promotes the use of drawing anti-freeze in and up through the out drive, and calling it good. We have dilution to be concerned with, and I don't ever want to see anyone roll the dice on that.

Do a BOC search on the engine flush systems, and look for those who use these flush systems for winterizing.

If I've chimed in on any of these threads, I've done my best to explain why and how this is risky if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

Like Doug always says: Air won't freeze and cause expansion damage. Fact... not speculation!

2... I believe that the Merc guys suggest every two years.

You'll need to understand that continued usage is not what kills an impeller.... baring no sand or silt damage.

It's sitting at rest within the pump body that takes the greater tole on them.

The Merc A drive impeller has rather short/stubby vanes.



In my experience, these do not fair as well when they are subject to remaining in the pump body for the winter layup.

Here's an example of an impeller in the pump body. This is a cam type impeller pump. We can see this impeller because the front cover is removable.

The Merc A pump does not use a cam. Instead, the impeller center is eccentrically positioned to acheive the same results.

I'm not able to show you an A drive impeller while in the pump body, since when these are in the pump body, you can't see them.



If you could see the A drive impeller, this will show you approximately how severely three/four blades/vanes are folded over against the cam while at rest.

This is what kills any impeller, when left this way for any long duration.

When in more constant use, there are usually no issues.

This is a Merc pump..... new impeller vs used impeller. How long in use???? can't say!

When these vanes/blades loose their resiliency, the pumping action is dimenished.... therefor cooling is dimenished.

Not just Merc..... this would be with any impeller pump.



3.... Yes, learn where the low point drains are, and pull these plugs.

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Thanks very much, everyone. This is very, very helpful. And, now I understand the issues with impellers -- thanks for the pics, Rick -- those made it crystal clear.

Kent

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Kent,We get nowhere near the cold temps you do up there but we can go down to -5 DegC over night.What I normally do is drain all the water out of the engine, on the V6 4.3 there are blue drain plugs. One on each side under the exhust manifolds, one on each side of the egine (Just below the Manifold ones) and one on the front under the water pump.

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/673306=26282-Starboardsidedrains.jpg[/img]

[img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/673306=26283-portsidedrains.jpg[/img]Once you take all these outmost of the water will drain out of your engine.I'm not sure about your battery water? the acid might stop that from freezing (not sure on this) I leave mine in place.I normally run the engine every month during the winter to keep everything moving and the battery charged.If your are getting really cold then don't take the risk.

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i bought my 2007 175BR last summer and had looked into impeller info but haven't done anything with it yet. I'd have to look through the service records from the PO to see if it was changed (i'm guessing it has, he had no boat knowledge and took it to the Bayliner dealer in his town every year).

As far as the re-commissioning, if you have a Bayliner dealer/mechanic in your area, that would probably be the best place to start, wouldn't it? The authorized dealer/mechanic in my town is where i took mine last fall. They were priced better than the big marina in town and did all the fluid changes, so all i have to do (per their instruction) is replace the drain plugs and connect the battery (store it year-round in my garage). hoping to run it with the muffs this weekend to be sure all is well.

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Tony and all, make sure that your drain petcocks are not this style with the hat shaped tapered seat.

These cannot be adequately wire probed for debris.



You'll want the Marine version where the stop valve is completely removable.



.

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2850Bounty wrote:
Tony and all, make sure that your drain petcocks are not this style with the hat shaped tapered seat.

These cannot be adequately wire probed for debris.

Good Point, I have Blue hard plastic/Nylon removable ones.

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You will get many answers I'm sure...you do need to understand how your mechanic is winterizing your boat though. Personally I swap oil in engine and low unit at end of year along with oil and fuel separator filter and impellor..I then run her on muffs and fog before draining. The fuel tank is stored full with stabil pink for the winter already...I understand its best to change impellor after winter but I have a Volvo so change mine every year so figure I'm OK.

Before spring launch I charge batteries...pull the emergency cut off lanyard and hook the muffs up with drive lowered....then I spin the engine a few secs a couple times....may do nothing but I figure it helps send some oil up top and gets some water up to the impellor at least...then replace the lanyard switch and fire her up..

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CapriSS2050 wrote:
I understand its best to change impellor after winter but I have a Volvo so change mine every year so figure I'm OK.

If you have the crankshaft pump, it is easy enough to pull it and leave it out for the winter.

Same with the OHC 4 engines.

It's a bit more difficult if you have one of the older belt driven sea water pumps (Sherwood for example), or one of the later model Volvo Penta belt driven pumps, but Bayliner did not receive any of these models.

.

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Actually its a pain to get at due to not being able to access the screws holding the cover plate on...its still a get in there and get done job on my model boat......for me anyway