Running engine during winter and winterizing?

[Drunkonwatch]

Originally Posted by deblen

There is no technical reason to run your engine occasionally during winter lay-up-unless you want to use the boat.
If you want to run the engine during lay-up,you must replace the pink anti freeze after each use.
I suggest you install a bronze tee just before the raw seawater filter.
Install a bronze ball valve with bronze nipple in the side of tee.
Install a bronze insert hose adapter in the ball valve & a length of suction rated hose on this adapter.
To add pink antifreeze to system,close the seacock,open the tee valve,insert hose in jug of antifreeze, start engine & run for a minute or so until solid pink comes out the exhaust.
You are now winterized.


Suggest you do the same with the small hose on your head.
Cheers/Len

This is gold here. we are in homer on and off. Set up anything marine grade to catch the glycol before it exits the exhaust. If it’s doubtful about temp salt the bilge better to clean it up later. If you live in town an oil electric ain’t bad until a heater comes up and you can check it. I used a portable China heater with leads on fuse for heat pretty budget build in an old metal box. Make a catch from a plunger pole or boat hook so the harbor master don’t complain nothing like pumping glycol on to the frozen ice lol and welcome.

[NorthCoastJoe]

Close the seacock, drain everything by removing a hose end, or the drain plug, for example on the muffler, and heat exchanger there should be raw water drains

[Drunkonwatch]

Originally Posted by NorthCoastJoe

Close the seacock, drain everything by removing a hose end, or the drain plug, for example on the muffler, and heat exchanger there should be raw water drains

I’m not sure….if it’s cold cold this could bite you in the ass. Just pockets of water can cause big issues especially in the kobota I’m not sure just draining is a good idea. I’ve seen diesel freeze into slushies and tiny amounts air locked water cause issues I would flush it. Each to there own

[CaptTom]

It sounds like your plan to monitor for the rest of this winter and re-assess is sound. You might find you don't need to do much at all.

One thing which you might consider is an engine block heater. These are typically small electric heating elements with a magnet you can "stick" onto your oil pan (if you can reach it.) I've heard of dipstick engine heaters too, but those seem harder to find. The old trick of a 100W incandescent bulb can work, but something designed for the task is more reliable. Even a small breeze through your engine room vents on a windy day can whisk away whatever heat a light bulb is trying to add.

Consider the possibility of a power failure during a winter storm. Not all that uncommon around here.

On a small motor with a simple cooling system and good access to all the components, draining the raw water side after each run is a good idea, although water always seems to find a way to pool in some unexpected place where it can cause damage. If a particularly cold night is forecast, or you won't be running the motor for a while, run a little (non toxic) anti-freeze through the (drained and opened) system just to be sure.

[Goodxcharly]

I use to randomly start the engine through the winter thinking it was good for it.
Then as my knowledge grew about diesels I changed my mind.
Startup is when most of wear shows up on a engine, dry engine till the lube shows up.
Do it 6 times through the winter, 6 dry starts, lots of wear. Dry bearings, lifters, rings, etc.
Some boats have a electric prelude pump which would help with the dry start.

[nofacey]

Suggest you talk to the local fishermen…..you’ll find a friendly one or two very willing to tell you what they do…doubt they winterize & disable their boat.

I’m not in Alaska, but coastal BC….have owned boats of many sorts over too many decades….never winterized as you described unless boat was out of the water. Lightbulb in an inverted tin can beside engine does the job….need to ensure you monitor shore power.

Any electric heater you use aboard should turn itself off if tipped over (pretty common safety feature)

[rpackard]

Resist the urge to start the engine during the winter. It will start just fine in the spring. There is little point in starting an engine that has already been winterized as you have described.

This little Davis heaters don't put out much power, only 100W. This will cost you $17/mo to run at Seward's present electricity cost. Using a more powerful heater (usually they are 1200 watts) and a thermostat to keep the engine room above freezing, will permit you to start the engine during the winter without replacing the coolant. But if there is a power failure in the harbor and the engine temp drops well below seawater freezing, you may lose the engine.

So as I said, resist the urge to hear that nice rumble until springtime and leave well enough alone. I stored my boat for 30 years in SE Alaska and never had problem restarting in June.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by mjh410

I'm a new boat owner, never owned a boat before and I don't yet have any time on the boat. I just bought it a few weeks after arriving to Alaska in October and the previous owner helped me winterize it. I have a 30' sailboat with a Universal Diesel engine and it has a heat exchanger in it's cooling system.

Forgive me lack of proper terms, I'm still learning. When we winterized it we changed the oil and he opened up the pump that pulls in the sea water into the engine's cooling system and I poured in pink antifreeze while he operated the motor and watched for antifreeze coming from the system into the harbor, at which point he turned off the motor and I stopped pouring. We closed up the pump and when I start it up in the Spring it will expel the antifreeze into the harbor and pull sea water into the system and work as expected.

My question is how can I run the boat in the winter time without winterizing it after every trip out? I haven't ran it yet, and it can certainly be ran in the winter. I can bundle up and it's not that cold, low - mid 30's where I am currently. If I run it though the antifreeze would be expelled and when I was done I would end up with sea water in the system. If I wanted to use the boat in the winter would I have to go through the above process every time to re-winterize it and fill it with antifreeze?

Is there a better way to "winterize" it so it can be used during cold weather or am I better off just not using it until Spring?

I'm also not sure exactly how much of the engine and cooling system sits below the water line. I'm not sure exactly where the interior of my boat lines up with the water line outside. The harbor here does get a little frozen on the top surface, despite being salt water, but never frozen completely solid and so far doesn't seem to last long before melting.

For reference I live in Seward, AK and the temperatures haven't yet gotten much below 10-15F for more than a couple 2-3 days at a time. For the past several weeks we've been in the low-mid 30's during the day and mid-high 20's at night. Windchill is colder, but that shouldn't affect water temperature.

Thanks for your help.

The winterization you did is good if you are not going to use the boat until spring.

I assume the boat is kept at a marina with AC electrical power hookup.
For use through the winter you would need to keep the engine, head, and fresh water systems from freezing. I would think other boaters in your marina would have some tips on what they do. Keeping an electric heater, perhaps something like what Alaskans use for their vehicle engines, would be appropriate. I have read that in some water freezing areas across the northern US they use bubblers under their boats that stops the water from freezing.

Best to hope for the best and prepare for the worst weather.

Good Luck.

[Drunkonwatch]

Originally Posted by nofacey

Suggest you talk to the local fishermen…..you’ll find a friendly one or two very willing to tell you what they do…doubt they winterize & disable their boat.

I’m not in Alaska, but coastal BC….have owned boats of many sorts over too many decades….never winterized as you described unless boat was out of the water. Lightbulb in an inverted tin can beside engine does the job….need to ensure you monitor shore power.

Any electric heater you use aboard should turn itself off if tipped over (pretty common safety feature)

He did lol….but a person needs to be a able to use a boat in the winter so the pickle it ideas leaves a person with out much of season here have to deal with the issue as a system.

[castin]

I winterize my cat with two Yanmar with saildrive 4 winters ashore. I never used antifreeze, the valve to the sea was left open. Removing the impeller of the sea water pump created an opening so the system self drainned. Whit no risk of dammaging the impeller, i was able to run the engines dry. Therefore keeping the starting batterys charged during the winter

[Sea Crawler]

My boats (Albin 36 trawler and C&C 30 sailboat) are on the hard during the winter months, at the intersection of the St Lawrence River and the East end of Lake Ontario where the water freezes hard. Needless to say, we protect our sea water cooling systems with -50C plumbers antifreeze (never the automotive type) following the directions you were given by the PO of your boat.

To simplify the winterizing task, you might want to consider installing a Quick Flush Valve from Marine Technologies Group LLC (or a similar arrangement). It is permanently installed on your sea water input hose after the input seacock (or strainer).

About - Quick Flush Valve System - boat engine flushing, winterizing and emergency bilge pump kit, Gas, Diesel, Out Drive Marine Engines, Generators, AC units


I have installed them for my Trawler's Leyman Diesel engine, Westerbeke Marine Diesel Generator and CruisAir DX systems.

TIP: I use a shop vac to suck the water from the engine inlet water strainer before winterizing, to minimize antifreeze dilution.

[Captain Graham]

Originally Posted by mjh410

Thanks for the info. According to a quick google search, the water temperature now is 40F and the historical data for the past 7 years says it ranges from 32 - 44 degrees F from Dec - Apr. The averages are 38 - 44 Nov - Apr.

The harbor will get a thin layer of ice, on the top surface, but it doesn't stick around for long. It's not very thick, not walkable, and is easily breakable by sea otters.

I did order a small bluetooth temperature and humidity sensor that will store 40 days of readings every minute and transfer the data to my phone when within bluetooth range. I will get that in a couple of weeks and use that data for the rest of the winter to see what my temperatures are inside my cabin and engine compartment and go from there.

Please understand that it is the air temperature inside your boat that is most important.
Large bodies of water have lots of energy storied in the water and even if the outside air temperature is 0 Deg F for days the large body of water will not freeze.
I live in Cleveland OH and lake Erie (fresh water) will not freeze over every year BUT small amounts of water in unheated pipes will burst all around the area.
A small amount of water will freeze in your pipes inside your boat even when the harbor water does not have ice.

Being in Alaska I would not take the risk of damaging my boat.

PS I hope you also winterized the head and fresh waster system.

[mjh410]

Originally Posted by Captain Graham

Please understand that it is the air temperature inside your boat that is most important.
Large bodies of water have lots of energy storied in the water and even if the outside air temperature is 0 Deg F for days the large body of water will not freeze.
I live in Cleveland OH and lake Erie (fresh water) will not freeze over every year BUT small amounts of water in unheated pipes will burst all around the area.
A small amount of water will freeze in your pipes inside your boat even when the harbor water does not have ice.

Being in Alaska I would not take the risk of damaging my boat.

PS I hope you also winterized the head and fresh waster system.

Yep, the head is a compost toilet, no water involved, and the fresh water system was drained, but not filled with antifreeze.

As I mentioned earlier, I have ordered a temperature and humidity sensor that will store minute to minute readings for 40 days and automatically upload the data to my phone when in bluetooth range. I am connected to power, so depending on the readings I get for the rest of this winter season I will consider buying a heater made for this purpose with all appropriate safeties.

I also live locally where my boat is in the harbor at and it's a 10 minute drive from home and a 2 minute drive from work to the harbor so I can pop in and check on it as often as needed.

[Captain Graham]

Originally Posted by mjh410

Yep, the head is a compost toilet, no water involved, and the fresh water system was drained, but not filled with antifreeze.

As I mentioned earlier, I have ordered a temperature and humidity sensor that will store minute to minute readings for 40 days and automatically upload the data to my phone when in bluetooth range. I am connected to power, so depending on the readings I get for the rest of this winter season I will consider buying a heater made for this purpose with all appropriate safeties.

I also live locally where my boat is in the harbor at and it's a 10 minute drive from home and a 2 minute drive from work to the harbor so I can pop in and check on it as often as needed.

Well I think you understand the risks and will make a good decision.

This message board is good for asking questions just to make sure you have not missed something and then you make your own decisions.

Good luck with your new boat.

[rbk]

If you’re in south east it’ll really only be a few more weeks before the possibility of real cold weather will be over and it won’t matter much anymore. You can always watch the forecast and throw a heater on if the temps do threaten to dip down. 20’s aren’t too much to be concerned about especially if the daytime highs are above freezing. If they call for colder than that then think about a heater, but usually by mid March the sun has enough heat to bring the daytime highs up and we’ve really had a mild winter so far. If you’re along the north coast or higher add another month or more location depending.