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Dont think Im going to Winterize this year
I have a 1500sqft shop in a commercial building that I share with a buddy of mine. This is where I keep my boat 95% of the time. With the mild winter we got last year (a total of 3 nights that got below freezing) and what looks to be a mild winter this year (80* plus in November) I dont think I want to get my boat winterized. Unfortunately I only made it to the lake a couple of times over the summer and put maybe 5 hours on it so I figure all the fluids are good. I had my impeller changed out this summer so its good to go another year or so. My shop isn't climate controlled but it's still much warmer inside than it is out and just the opposite in the summer.:D
I felt I wasted money last year getting my boat winterized when I probably didn't need to. |
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My feeling is better safe than sorry.
Every spring you see hundreds of boats for sale from people who thought they'd be OK too. A couple hundred now is a lot cheaper than thousands later! JMO |
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As long as you are absolutely certain there is absolutely no chance of anything freezing within the shop then i'd say go for it. But the one person you cannot trust 100% is the weatherman......or woman.
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+1 Better safe than sorry...
One word of advice, pull your block drain plugs and let all the water drain. This MAY help, but nothing is a sure-fire bet except winterizing. It'll put a real damper on your season if you find a cracked block in the spring. The average engine replacement repair will run you anywhere from $2k - $7k, and you'll be kicking yourself for not winterizing. Just my $.02 |
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I like to keep anti freeze in the block and exhaust manifolds. I think it prevents them from rusting from the inside out. When you fog the engine you get vital lubrication into parts of the carb and cyl head that is normally without lube. These precautions will help the engine live a long life. Don't forget, even though your boat is in a nice warm place, the temperature changes that occur in the 5-6 months that the engine is not being run will create moisture. I'd say do a thorough winterizing just to be safe. Treat the fuel with a stabilizer, the fuel nowadays is not stable over long periods of time.
And oh, by the way--has the weather man ever been right?? |
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What part of the country is your boat stored at?
I used to live in the Carolinas and went for years with my garage never coming close to getting below freezing. Then, I think it was about two years ago, maybe three, we had the coldest winter since sometime in the 19th century. It got down in the single digits for over a week straight and it froze everything I had stored in my garage. Just saying you never know. On a side note, do boat engines have freeze out plugs? Just wondering. I had a buddy who blew a head gasket in a Jeep and filled his block with water and drove it home and parked it for the winter. When we fixed it, we were expecting a cracked block, but the plugs saved it, thank god. |
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Did you just come on here to brag!? :p
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I live in TX.
Jeez now you guys got me all scared even though Im still not convinced. I might just take it in and get the engine fogged and the block drained. |
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do you have anything like this over there?
Tube Heater 3ft 915mm Tubular Greenhouse Frost Protection Foot GO NEXTDAY £3.99 | eBay stick one in the bilge and it'll keep jack frost away :wink_thumbup: |
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Last year I was late in doing my winterizing. One night the temps went down to 25 degrees. I rigged up a trouble light with a 100 watt bulb in it. I placed the light under the oil pan in the bilge. I left it on for all day and night-no problem. I laid two long bolts in the bilge so that the light would be held away from the fiberglass. A 100 watt bulb is more efficient at heating than giving off light. After 2 days with the light on you could feel the heat on the bottom of the oil pan. It was a lazy mans solution to prevent the engine from freezing. This year I winterized the boat before November 1st!!
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Better to be safe than sorry. What if you get an ice storm and you loose power. It only takes an hour to save alot of money. just one hour to save THOUSANDS .
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Yeah, it's not like it's hard to suck some antifreeze up real quick. But, the general rule of thumb that I always hear is that 24 degrees for 24 hours is the tipping point.
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I was thinking block heater would be easy and painless. Then Murphy told me I'd either have a power failure, or component failure. Few bucks for antifreeze and an hour of time won out. The risk is just too high. Be different if a new block and manifolds were cheap and easy to install lol. But, on the other hand, I've never built up a 4.3......;) maybe after next yr I'll have to have an "accident". Put some bumpy pistons in and call my buddy Steve Slavik at Lunati.........:beer:
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2 |
Re: Dont think Im going to Winterize this year
We're having a blast of cold air come through this weekend and the low is supposed to be 30* so I'm not going to sweat it. I like the light idea in the bilge. I've heard of folks using that before but I didn't even think about it till it was brought up here. The building where my shop is has a backup generator for power failures so that doesn't worry me.
Maybe next week when work isn't so crazy I'll get it up to get drained and fogged. |
What happens when the light bulb burns out lol?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2 |
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looks like a change of plan may be in order!
i'm glad i drained down at the weekend now ;) |
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What happens when the light bulb burns out lol?
The room gets dark! |
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I finally did mine this past Sunday. Forecast was for lows in the upper 20's the first of the week (didn't get that cold), and with my long honey-do list getting longer... didn't figure I was going to get to the lake again before a hard freeze. Mine sets in a carport with one end open and I've done the lightbulb thing before, but it doesn't take long to winterize her properly and not have to worry about it. I will be replacing the block plugs with petcocks to make it even easier next year.
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The engine compartment comes completely out in about 5 minutes giving you full access to both sides of the motor. Took me about 15 minutes to drain down my engine. Nice one Mariah, the more I get to know this boat the more I love it :wink_thumbup: |
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I think it hit 26* here the beginning of the week. I went to my shop to see what the temps were inside and it was 42*. I figure it would have to be in the teens for days for anything in my shop to freeze. But a friend of mine is coming over to the shop on Saturday to show me how to winterize it so I'm going to go ahead and do it. It's supposed to be a brisk 76* on Saturday :rolling_laugh: We're gonna run it on the muffs to get all the nasty raw water out and get some fresh gas and Stabil in the tank. Then suck some antifreeze into it and then fog it. Should be good to go after that. |
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Finally did mine today.... Seems weird to be winterizing one a week before X-mas! BTW, anyone have any idea how to stretch this stupid cover another 4-5 inches?
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I bought some Snap Extenders, they've come in handy, and you can get them in many sizes.
Boat Cover Snap Extenders |
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OK, Own up......
which one of you guys in the US of A has knicked the gulf stream??? :mad: |
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BRRRR that looks cold. That's how our Mariah would look if we didn't put it in a nice warm barn. Going to be 0 here tonight!
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Trust me mikey, The UK grinds to a holt at the first sight of any snow! :confused:
we've had about 6'' of snow over the last 4 days and the schools are shut, panic buying in the shops! roads and airports closed............ just google it if you want a giggle at our expence :rolling_laugh: and as for the brittish stiff upper lip see picture 2....lol |
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do you know who did this ? |
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