Winterizing Boat While On Water

[Pepper2482]

I have a 30' 1987 Sea Ray Sundancer that I have recently purchased. Its equipped with Twin Mercruiser Alpha One 260/V8's Thunderbolt Ignition with Alpha One Gen One Drives.. Have always done my own winterizing with previous boats but the boat is to wide and big to trailer. The boat has Recently been completely redone and in great shape. Has always been on the water and never trailered. So is anyone Familiar with winterizing while on the water our marina has a bubble system so the water around the boats do not freeze. I know I have to of course pull all the drain plugs and I believe I have 1 on each side of the block and 1 on each manifold. The only thing that the previous owner disconnected was the water inlet hose from stern drive and zip tied them up to the risers after he has drained and poured his A/F off the T housing so A/F gets to the drives. I doesn't make sense to me because basically I ask my self where is the A/F going to end up? Back in the lake of course... I Know that I am going to have to fill the block up as well as the manifolds. Also curious what to do with the AC Unit blow it out run a gallon of A/F threw the outlet and when i think its gone threw shut the seacocks off. Im not real familiar with these ancient engines but they run like a top any advice would be great. Im a strong believer in A/F and I know that air does not freeze but Im always on the water and like to keep as much corrosion away as possible. Sad to say another great season has come to an end Happy boaters to all may next year come sooner.

Jon

 

[speakrdude]

The tough part, with leaving one in the water with Alpha's, is the fact that the water tubes from the drive will always want to put water into the lower hose.

Last year, I installed 1" brass ball valves behind both engines on my Sundancer, so I could shut off the water from the drive and drain the lower tube, oil coiler.

Sure nuff, One of the ball's in the ball valve, froze and busted open the side of the valve. Luckily, it was the no water side of the valve. The valve's they sell at the big box stores, hold water in the ball when you shut them. The manufactuer offers a model with a drain valve on the side of the ball. That will be the wall to go, I think.
What do you other guys do about this?

 

[Pepper2482]

I Zip Tie my Water Inlet hose from stern drive up to my risers keeping above water line after winterization has been completed and when spring comes I put back on.

 

[Fordiesel69]

Dumb question, but cant the marina lift the boat and place on dry land?

 

[JVM225]

I have the same boat, winterize it myself every year, but take it out of the water. I usually change the oil in the motors and the fuel filters before it comes out of the water.
If you are leaving it in the water you will have to disconnect the water inlet hoses and tie them up higher than the water line. It would be much better if you could take the boat out of the water. You are asking for trouble by leaving it in because of the water in the exhaust and the drives themselves. The winter is a great time to pull and service the drives and inspect everything back there.
For the raw water cooled motors I drain the blocks by way of the plugs on each side of the motor. You might need to get in there with a nail or something to clear the crud away and open up the drains so the water flows out nicely.
Then I take the big hose off of the thermostat housing and pour non toxic anti feeze in to that hose until it comes out of the thermostat housing. Re-attach the hose and your done with the motors.
I'm in the middle of a re-power now and I'm going with the half system FWC kits on the new motors so I won't have to do that part anymore.
I drain all of the water out of the fresh water system through the faucets, then I blow the system out using my portable compressor and a fitting at the dockside water inlet on the starboard side of the cockpit. Use about 50 psi and open each faucet until you get all the water out.
If you don't have a compressor you can just dump non toxic AF in to the fresh water tank after you drain it and turn on each faucet until the AF starts to flow. I by pass anad drain the hot water heater before I do this so that I am not wasting six gallons of AF in it. Bypassing the HW heater will enable you to get away with using a gallon or two of AF.
I actually do both the blow out and the AF in my fresh water system. I don't need to do it, but it only takes me an extra few minutes so I don't mind.
Don't forget to do the fresh water washdown faucet in the starboard side locker in the cockpit.
Next is the AC system. I close the seacock, take the hose off of the inlet side if the pump and then I connect my own hose to it that is attached to a container of AF. I let the AF flow to the pump, take the hose off of the outlet side of the pump for a second until the AF reaches that side and then I put it back on. This primes the pump with the AF. I turn the AC on for a very short time until the AF comes out the side discharge, shut it down, reconnect the proper hose to the inlet side, and I'm done with the AC. Before I leave that section of the boat I vacuum out the water from the strainer basket and lowest part of that bilge area.
Then I move on to the head. I have a manual pump head which I have pumped out before I haul the boat. I close the seacock for the head, pour some AF in to the commode, pump it through to the holding tank, and I'm done.
I then take my shop vac and get the water out of the bilge area outside the head where the shower drains to.
The last thing I do is pour a little AF in to each area of the bilge around the bilge pumps and raise the float switches so that the AF runs through the bilge pump.

 

[Iprof]

Dumb question, but cant the marina lift the boat and place on dry land?

+1 get it out of the water. You have no way to service the outdrives, even though you might have resoviors for the outdrives, your can have water in the outdrive. I found this out last year, my lower unit had some water in it. It was a seal that needed to be changed, real cheap to fix with the boat out of the water but could have been a fortune if not caught. You can clean the bottom, wax the boat and not have to worry about power failures or a sudden drop to 30 below for a week or so that could cause real problem.

Ken

It is impossible to get the water out of the "Y" pipe while in the water.