Running engine during winter and winterizing?

[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.

[Cheechako]

Yes you would have to winterize every time you run the engine.

If you have reliable power and someone to check it now and then you can use a Davis Air Dryer/heater, it takes only the power of a 100 watt bulb and doesn't get hot enough to start a fire. Put it near the engine or in the engine compartment.

This engine has anti freeze in the cooling system and raw salt water in the other side of the cooling? Or just only salt water cooling?

Davis:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083JQYNKQ...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[Pandor]

Currently, once I winterize my boat (same process you described), I don’t run the engine until the temperatures are consistently above freezing. But I remember as a kid I crewed with my father during winter frostbite racing. Rather than winterizing by closing the seacock and filling the strainer with antifreeze, he disconnected the hose from the seacock and ran it into a jug of antifreeze. Then he also ran the return at the engine exhaust line into the same jug.

This allowed minimal use of the engine and works until the jug heats up sufficiently that it will no longer cool. It only works for short bursts- but if you are going sailing that might be good enough.

Edit: I guess you would also need to worry about running with a dry exhaust. Now I’m not sure I remember correctly. Maybe there was a y-valve that allowed it to be switched between sea water and the jug.

[mjh410]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yes you would have to winterize every time you run the engine.

If you have reliable power and someone to check it now and then you can use a Davis Air Dryer/heater, it takes only the power of a 100 watt bulb and doesn't get hot enough to start a fire. Put it near the engine or in the engine compartment.

This engine has anti freeze in the cooling system and raw salt water in the other side of the cooling? Or just only salt water cooling?

Davis:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083JQYNKQ...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

This system has a two part cooling. I don't exactly understand it all yet, but it has a heat exchanger that had antifreeze/coolant in it's system which is a closed system.

Then there is a system that pulls in sea water which the heat exchanger can cool more if needed.

That sea water system is what I have filled with antifreeze for the winter and will get expelled when I turn the engine on.

[Jebtrois]

Welcome to the forum and to boating. The winterizing that you did is intended for a longer term storage solution. If you intend to use the boat regularly there are alternative solutions depending on your circumstances. For example if you have shore power then a heater such as an Xtreme heater in your engine bay would keep your system from freezing up. Most people don't run antifreeze after every use unless there are extended times between use and/or likelihood of losing power to run a small heater.
JEB

[mjh410]

Originally Posted by Jebtrois

Welcome to the forum and to boating. The winterizing that you did is intended for a longer term storage solution. If you intend to use the boat regularly there are alternative solutions depending on your circumstances. For example if you have shore power then a heater such as an Xtreme heater in your engine bay would keep your system from freezing up. Most people don't run antifreeze after every use unless there are extended times between use and/or likelihood of losing power to run a small heater.
JEB

Thank you, I'll look into the heater option. I do have shore power and wasn't using it initially because I have solar. However, with the reduced amount of sunlight and lots of cloudy overcast days, I don't get enough sun to keep the batteries charged up so I just put it on power a couple weeks ago.

I'll look into heater options that would kick on at a set temperature to avoid wasting power and running up an electric bill when it's not needed. Maybe another idea would be to run a temperature probe that records the temperature that I can check and see what the daily temperature is in the engine bay over a period of time to see if it's even necessary.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by mjh410

This system has a two part cooling. I don't exactly understand it all yet, but it has a heat exchanger that had antifreeze/coolant in it's system which is a closed system.

Then there is a system that pulls in sea water which the heat exchanger can cool more if needed.

That sea water system is what I have filled with antifreeze for the winter and will get expelled when I turn the engine on.

Yes, that's a standard system. So your only risk is the seawater side, sea strainer and the heat exchanger that has that in it. Exhaust muffler possibly.
I have a little Davis dryer in my home pump house and it works fine for a week in the 15-25 degree range. It costs no more electricity than a light bulb.

[Jebtrois]

Please be sure to use a heating device purpose designed for the task such as the Xtreme or the Davis as have been mentioned. The guy 3 slips down from me lost his boat to fire 3 years ago when a space heater tipped over while he was at work.
JEB

[mjh410]

Thanks everyone, for now I ordered one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TK22DQQ...lig_dp_it&th=1

This will allow me to monitor the temperature for the rest of winter and compare the temp in my cabin/engine compartment with the air temperature locally here and see if it ever gets to a freezing temperature inside the engine compartment.

I live locally here so it's a quick trip to the dock every couple weeks to check on things and get the data from my batteries and/or solar charging and now this temperature monitor all on my phone as soon as I get into bluetooth range of the boat.

From there we'll see whether I need to worry about freezing or not and I'll consider a heater for next year if it looks needed based on the data I get for the rest of this winter season.

Thanks for everyone's help, great responses and fast too. Thanks!

[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

[mjh410]

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

Yes, the intention is to use my boat during the winter time. Most fishing around here is year round and I wanted to go out and use the boat in the off season when the tourists aren't around. This town has less than 3000 people that live here year round and in the summer it gets many thousands from tourism and the fishing and scenic tours keep the bay very busy and congested. I was wanting to get out and learn some with less people, but mainly wanted to get out and do some fishing.

[alctel]

I would suggest doing anything that doesn't discharge a bunch of antifreeze into the water!

[deblen]

Originally Posted by alctel

I would suggest doing anything that doesn't discharge a bunch of antifreeze into the water!

Each winterization of his Beta would dump approx. 2 ltr of prop. glycol in harbor.
https://www.thervgeeks.com/is-rv-antifreeze-toxic/
Cheers/Len

[stormalong]

If the sea water in your area does not freeze you are probably safe to not winterize the raw water cooling system. The boat draws heat from the water.

Here in the Pacific Northwest the water stays around 50 degrees Fahrenheit year round. This will keep an unheated boat above freezing. In AK waters this is undoubtedly different. How cold does the water get? Does it freeze?

Also, if you have an electric and engine FWC source water heater and it is close to the engine it will keep the block warm. The hoses from the heater to the engine in my installation are less than two feet long and the engine block gets warm to the touch just by coolant convection. I heat my boat electrically in the winter but the only heat source for the engine space is the water heater (in a separate compartment) and the engine space is sufficiently warm.

[mjh410]

Originally Posted by stormalong

If the sea water in your area does not freeze you are probably safe to not winterize the raw water cooling system. The boat draws heat from the water.

Here in the Pacific Northwest the water stays around 50 degrees Fahrenheit year round. This will keep an unheated boat above freezing. In AK waters this is undoubtedly different. How cold does the water get? Does it freeze?

Also, if you have an electric and engine FWC source water heater and it is close to the engine it will keep the block warm. The hoses from the heater to the engine in my installation are less than two feet long and the engine block gets warm to the touch just by coolant convection. I heat my boat electrically in the winter but the only heat source for the engine space is the water heater (in a separate compartment) and the engine space is sufficiently warm.

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.