Jump to content

Low night time temps.


Recommended Posts

Courious to see what some of you guys are doin with Your boats with these couple days of cold temps. Last night it hit 29 at my house And my boat still has water in the system. Its gonna get a little colder yet tonight/tomarrow. I really dont want to do a full winterization for two nights of just below freezing but also dont want a catastrophic failure next time I take it. Im thinkin probly  safe if I drain the block and maybe run a gallon of Marine antifreeze trou the raw water pump. When I winterized it before this winter I was a few days late and pulled the lines of the pump and there was ice. Tried to start to flush system with antifreeze and snapped the shaft in raw water pump. Stupid $300 mistake. Luckily that was the only damage. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Courious to see what some of you guys are doin with Your boats with these couple days of cold temps. Last night it hit 29 at my house And my boat still has water in the system. Its gonna get a little colder yet tonight/tomarrow. I really dont want to do a full winterization for two nights of just below freezing but also dont want a catastrophic failure next time I take it. Im thinkin probly  safe if I drain the block and maybe run a gallon of Marine antifreeze trou the raw water pump. When I winterized it before this winter I was a few days late and pulled the lines of the pump and there was ice. Tried to start to flush system with antifreeze and snapped the shaft in raw water pump. Stupid $300 mistake. Luckily that was the only damage. 

I don’t worry about my mercruiser sterndrive / engine until it gets below 20 The engine is covered and that provides insulation never had a problem in 30 years. Knock wood. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had 14 degrees last night. Luckily I haven't run the I/O yet even though closed cooling system.

Wow. We got down to 28 in Watertown. I’d be concerned at 14


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didnt like the look of the ice so i ran two gallons of marine/rv coolant trou it. Better safe then sorry. My luck i would wait it out till virus cools down, get up to launch to have freeze damage. 
14• I would defined be consernded.  

DEB70958-5DE1-42E5-A697-60528559BEDB.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our USCG boats in Alaska had engine antifreeze heaters also. This kept our engines warmed up to prevent freezing, easy starting, lessens cylinder and ring damage and emergency response operation. The sea water which was salty did not crack the pumps, heat exchanger, exhaust manifold cracking and piping. Our larger vessels water sections were filled with oil  but that was outlawed. Today an air compressor pushes the water out of the systems with vent fittings showing a lack of water and closing them up to keep them with air. When the sea chest showed air bubbling out, then things were accepted as ice free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...