I think I made a huge mistake!

moparlvr4406 said:
no room for a bilge heater in his old girl
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You know that boat better than me, but don't you think a small one can be dropped down to the bilge floor, under the engine? Maybe off to the side? Some of these heaters are pretty small and it wouldn't have to be a permanent install.
 
Just wondered if yhe op ran the boat on muffs or in the water before bringing it home and running it on muffs.Mine always sounded different on muffs than in the water.
 
Here are my thoughts:

1. You probably didn't do any damage from a few nights in the 20's. I have heard a general rule of thumb for freeze damage to engines, campers, pipes is 3 nights in a row below 25 with daytime highs below 45. At that point you have enough sustained cold with little thawing and enough time below freezing to cause damage.

2. I am thinking (like others) that the different in the engine sound you are noticing is the lack of / lower water flow through the exhaust - makes a big difference in how the engine sounds. Think of the water flow in the exhaust as a muffler, now imagine what a car engine without a muffler sounds like. No water flow = no muffler. Now, if your manifolds are getting too hot to lay your hand on you don't have enough flow and should be looking at why. Worn water pump impeller, problem with your muffs, hose etc. Really should not run an engine on a hose for long periods of time or at rpms much above idle.

3. Bilge heater - really if your boat is stored on a trailer or lift, you should not be relying solely on a heater to prevent freezing. When I kept my boat on the lift at my dock, I was suprised at how much that heater (BoatSafe 450w) ran on a cold day. After a couple of close calls with the power going out in cold weather, I started just draining the engine/manifolds during the coldest months. Boat in the water is a totally different story - my 290DA stayed in the water all year at Lake Norman - I never winterized it.

So bottom line, don't sweat it, I don't think you have any freeze damage. But learn how to drain your engine and do it going forward - it's quick and easy and you will sleep better.

The engine will not tell you it froze, will will start serving Lattes out of the dipstick!
 
I have used Xtreme heaters on several boats. They work well if you are able to keep the boat in the water. Out of the water is much colder and the heater can't keep up if it gets really cold. I still winterize everything as a power outage could be disastrous. One benefit to the xtreme heater is that is significantly reduces condensation in your engine compartment. This really helps to reduce corrosion.
 
I had a Sorrento with his engine package a few years ago while living in Las Vegas. It freezes there in the winter so I swapped the drain plugs for petcocks. It took less than 5 minutes to get them open and everything drained.
 
My 76 merc has pet cocks on either side of the engine and on the manifolds and risers. My engine pet cocks are one in the front on starboard and one one the rear on port side of the block, one one each manifold log in the center and one on each elbow.

I did not catch the starboard side one year only to find the freeze plugs in the bilge the next spring. Easy fix for my boat but with an enclosed bilge it could be very hard to replace them. They did their job and kept the block from cracking.

Folks forget or do not know to check the lower drive for water before winter and crack the drive housing. Remove the lower plug and let it drain just a bit. If no water comes out you win. If water does come out then let it drain and plan on resealing the lower drive in the spring.
 
Lazy Daze said:
You know that boat better than me, but don't you think a small one can be dropped down to the bilge floor, under the engine? Maybe off to the side? Some of these heaters are pretty small and it wouldn't have to be a permanent install.
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its possible there might be room on top of the port stringer ... but not for permenant install
 
Lazy Daze said:
Leaving the drive down will only drain the drive, not the exhaust manifolds or the block. Like Wish mentioned, a little dip below freezing for a few hours overnight won't do anything. But, repeated, questionable temps, and then maybe not warming up much during the day... hard to tell. There is absolutely no way to say when or how fast the water will freeze inside the manifolds or block. There's just too many variables. Obviously temperature, but also how long at a given temp, sun or shade during the day, in a windy area, near a house, cover on the boat... and more.

Check the oil for milkiness. IF everything looks OK, start it up and run it again. Take a real good look around the engine while it's running for leaks. And make sure you use water - running it without water is a good way to ruin your impeller. You won't overheat an engine in 20 seconds, but if the impeller was questionable to start with, it will damage faster and you may end up with pieces breaking off and clogging up the water passages.

Post back after doing that and we can take it from there. And as mentioned above, altitude could explain a running/idling problem.
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Dennis - sent PM.
 
Thank you all for the really helpful responses! Unfortunately I have been swamped since I ran the boat a week ago and haven't had time to do any trouble shooting yet. I'll post here when I find something out.

Robert
 
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