Ice on the River this Morning and No Anti-Freeze in My Engine Cooling !

[midiaxbill]

I have a steel Eventide 26, I live in the UK and normally it does not freeze up this morning there was ice on the river. My engine an old Yanmar SB12 has not been winterized, I was promised a manual by a family member [you can not buy the manual in the UK, you have to have contacts in the US], sadly no manual.
I have read a post that said take off the 'in' hose and run the engine to suck up a bucket of anti-freeze. I will give this ago if the coolant is not frozen.
The boat has a coal stove 6 feet from the engine maybe this would warm the engine so I could get the anti-freeze in.

What will happen to the engine if it does freeze?
midiaxbill

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, midiaxbill.

Is your boat stored in the water or on the hard?

See the User Manual ➥ http://www.ekstrom.fi/index.php?doc_...SION=84d8c1db4 bf296269ed51373c48e83a3

And some general advice ➥ http://www.yanmarhelp.com/s_wint.htm

[nigel1]

If a filter is fitted to the water inlet and easily accessible, you can close the inlet valve and pour the anti freeze into the filter with the engine running.
Some owners also block the exhaust with a rag, just remember to remove rag before starting engine

[midiaxbill]

Hi, She stays afloat on her mooring.

[cburger]

The normal outcome of a frozen motor is a cracked block. If it is as cold where you are as it has been on the Hudson River in NY I wold get a good heat source going near that motor as soon as possible before attempting to start the motor. Your coal stove should do the trick. I would burn the stove for a couple of hours before trying to turn the motor over. The usual method is a 50/50 mix of antifreeze with water in a pail, start motor and suck the solution into the motor with the raw water hose and when the anti freeze is is shooting out the exhaust port you have done the job.

[Philsboat]

If your boat is still in the water it is unlikely the engine froze.Our club workboat was winterized then pulled with 2" of ice all around it and it was fine.

Phil

[anjou]

Usually the core plugs push out first if the engine block freezes and this prevents further cracking.

[Chief Engineer]

Freeze plugs are a misnomer.....as they are actually plugs for holes that are cast into the engine to release foundry sand.....Sometimes they do pop, sometimes they don't.

A couple hours with a heat source 6 feet away probably won't warm the engine.

I did three boats this week that had to be unfrozen with a ceramic heater and hot air gun.

One customer went ballistic when I sent him a bill for two hours labour.
That was the entire boat........I told him fine.....no charge.....Don't plan on having anyone else work on your boat....When I mentioned his name (in conversation) to two other mechanics during morning coffee they told me of their experiences with this guy.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

Freeze plugs are a misnomer.....as they are actually plugs for holes that are cast into the engine to release foundry sand.....Sometimes they do pop, sometimes they don't.

A couple hours with a heat source 6 feet away probably won't warm the engine.

I did three boats this week that had to be unfrozen with a ceramic heater and hot air gun.

One customer went ballistic when I sent him a bill for two hours labour.
That was the entire boat........I told him fine.....no charge.....Don't plan on having anyone else work on your boat....When I mentioned his name (in conversation) to two other mechanics during morning coffee they told me of their experiences with this guy.

What some us need is a BBB for customers, or a rating like on ebay.

Freeze plugs in Alaska and Canada is where they put the block heaters.

[ShaunJ]

Today I went down to the boat, to put a snow tarp on Wild Hare. There was Ice covering the Sassafras River, About 1 inch so far.
My Yanmar 4Jh3BE was almost frozen solid. The intake hose had ice in it and the block was at 32 degrees, so I put two heaters on it and waited for about two hour, till the block heated up to 42 degrees. I started it up and let it run, very little water came out at first, but after about 20 min it was pumping like it should.
I think I got very lucky today, The raw water pump has a slight crack and is dripping but other than that all seems fine. I took the liberty of winterizing the engine after she was nice and warmed up.
It really would have sucked to have much worse damage than what I had.
This is a Yanmar with only 230hrs on it......

[Chief Engineer]

It seems to me that the Ice on the "Chesterpeake" is a tad early this year.....

[ShaunJ]

As you can see it caught me by surprise, I was going to sail today but with all the ice I felt it better to stay at the dock and warm the engine up......

[zeehag]

winter is early everywhere this year.. and is supposed tobe a harder winter than usual. stay warm

[ShaunJ]

Global cooling I guess.....

[Flybridge 31]

I know this doesn't help, but we don't get that problem here in Australia.

I guess you guys shouldn't have given away the wrong country 200 odd years ago.

Good Luck