Winterize Question

[Skierdad]

Hi all. Unfortunately the season is done here and it is time to put the boat away. I tried to do a few searches and didn't come up with the information I was hoping to find. I am guessing it is here somewhere though.

My AR195 is right at 48 hours. My thought was to run RV antifreeze through it, pour some RV fluid into the bottom of the boat and run the bilge, fog the plugs, Stabil in gasline, and seal the boat up and put into storage. When I pull it out in April, I would have dealership do the 50 hour service. Am I missing something here? There shouldn't be water anywhere else correct?

Thanks everyone for the help. Love this site!!!

 

[djetok]

Hi all. Unfortunately the season is done here and it is time to put the boat away. I tried to do a few searches and didn't come up with the information I was hoping to find. I am guessing it is here somewhere though.

My AR195 is right at 48 hours. My thought was to run RV antifreeze through it, pour some RV fluid into the bottom of the boat and run the bilge, fog the plugs, Stabil in gasline, and seal the boat up and put into storage. When I pull it out in April, I would have dealership do the 50 hour service. Am I missing something here? There shouldn't be water anywhere else correct?

Thanks everyone for the help. Love this site!!!

There will be water in the water boxes still.

Someone else can help with winterizing in a colder climate than oklahoma. I just burp the throttles while in the trailer to blow some water out.

 

[Gym]

Essentially you have it correct @Skierdad. We could all go on and on about our anal antics in winterizing but the main thing is clean and dry as possible.

The fuel additive should ideally be run through the fuel system by running the engines long enough to get some treated fuel into the fuel delivery system. Raise your trailer jack up high so when you burp the throttle you'll get as much water out of the water box as possible. A couple of damp rid containers will help prevent mildew.

 

[mwalker4]

When you say "fog the plugs" does that include fogging the intake while the engine is running? If not, I would do that.

 

[Scottintexas]

The bilge pump doesn't pump from the lowest point in the boat so you're going to have to put a lot of RV fluid in there to get it to kick on,
if you're worried about the pump/hose freezing I would just physically disconnect it,

I would just pull your gabbard/transom plug and maybe the manhole access cover to let some air circulate but personally I wouldn't use anti-freeze and we have a member in Kamloops that doesn't and never had a problem,

 

[djetok]

Essentially you have it correct @Skierdad. We could all go on and on about out anal antics in winterizing but the main thing is clean and dry as possible.

The fuel additive should ideally be run through the fuel system by running the engines long enough to get some treated fuel into the fuel delivery system. Raise your trailer jack up high so when you burp the throttle you'll get as much water out of the water box as possible. A couple of damp rid containers will help prevent mildew.

Ideally towards the end of the season we burp the throttles on the ramp when it gets pulled out of the water. If no other people are there to use the ramps. I will pull the truck on flat ground with the trailer still at a incline and pull the drain plug and then burp the throttle. We drain everything that we can at the lake on the incline. It doesn't take us long. We hardly ever have water in the boat. Probably less than 16 oz. Depends how many times people get in and out of the boat

 

[BrandonG]

Im new to jetboats as of this year but I'm curious what happens to the water that is actually in the engine block that is used for cooling?

 

[Beachbummer]

I think there is enough space everywhere with the self drain, that even when it freezes it doesn't hurt anything. I base this wild speculation on the zero reports I have seen on these engines having damage due to winter freeze on this board.

 

[Gym]

Im new to jetboats as of this year but I'm curious what happens to the water that is actually in the engine block that is used for cooling?

That water gravity drains out.

 

[BrandonG]

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[Skierdad]

Thank you everyone for the help.

 

[Shady28]

When you vets hook up to anti-freeze to blow out your engines, do you just use a bucket and gravity or do you need to force the anti-freeze in like when you use the hose to wash out salt?

Thinking of just using this product to keep it simple, clean and uses gravity. Amazon.com: Camco Do It Yourself Boat Winterizer- Quickly Winterize Marine Engines, Allows Flushing and Preparation of Boat Engine for Winter Storage (65501): Gateway

 

[VaMarine]

What do you all mean by Burping the throttles?

Right now after lifting it out of the water, I use clean water to flush, and after the water is shut off keep engine running another 30/40 seconds to try and get the rest of the water out.. is this "burping"

 

[Skierdad]

I have the Camco one that I was going to use. Was hoping that after I turn on the engine that I would turn on the flow and hopefully it goes through.

I believe "burping" the throttle must mean giving it a quick throttle increase and pulling it back.

 

[BrandonG]

@VaMarine , that is correct, except after I shut the water off I rev the engine a couple times during that 30 seconds

 

[Scottintexas]

When you vets hook up to anti-freeze to blow out your engines, do you just use a bucket and gravity or do you need to force the anti-freeze in like when you use the hose to wash out salt?

Thinking of just using this product to keep it simple, clean and uses gravity. Amazon.com: Camco Do It Yourself Boat Winterizer- Quickly Winterize Marine Engines, Allows Flushing and Preparation of Boat Engine for Winter Storage (65501): Gateway

If you haven't noticed, I don't believe in anti-freeze for our boats, being clear, it's your boat to do as you wish,

If I was going to anti-freeze I would be installing the tow valve cut-offs aft of the cooling water "Y" fitting so that it has no where to go but to the engine. I would expect without the shutoff valve with just gravity pressure a lot of the antifreeze would just back drain out the cooling water intake at the jet nozzle,

the members that have done this for salt water rinsing say the see a big difference and even get water out of their indicator lines,

if you haven't seen it yet we have a youtube video in the FAQ about "how the cooling water flows", it's very informative,


.

 

[AmesJainchill]

When you vets hook up to anti-freeze to blow out your engines, do you just use a bucket and gravity or do you need to force the anti-freeze in like when you use the hose to wash out salt?

Thinking of just using this product to keep it simple, clean and uses gravity. Amazon.com: Camco Do It Yourself Boat Winterizer- Quickly Winterize Marine Engines, Allows Flushing and Preparation of Boat Engine for Winter Storage (65501): Gateway

I thought this was a pretty good winterizing video from @JetBoatPilot . If I was doing the winterizing myself, I would have gone by that.

Far as anti freeze through the engines, my understanding is it's not needed since the passages gravity drain (dealer says they blow air through the flush ports and that they don't use antifreeze). But I've seen some videos around with folks using drill pumps or 12v electric pumps. One end of the hose in a bucket of antifreeze, pump in the middle, other end connected to the flush port. Essentially - Engine start, pump start, run some antifreeze through, pump off, engine off.

 

[Gym]

Antifreeze is more for the water trapped in the waterboxes as the engine water gravity drains out.

Any type of puddle pump with a garden hose connection would work to force antifreeze solution into the system. You want to have the pumps electrical connection onboard so you can shut the pump off easily.

Burping the engine just means giving the throttle lever a few quick bursts (only to about 5k) before shutting down the engine.

 

[Spooling]

I winterize my boat with propylene glycol fluid just to be safe at the end of the season.

I'm not sure of the coolant hose routing for my boat, however when I start it up in the spring, pink fluid comes out of the side pisser on my AR190.

Maybe that trapped fluid isn't in an area where it can freeze and break something, howeverdoing things this way just gives me piece of mind.

 

[djetok]

What do you all mean by Burping the throttles?

Right now after lifting it out of the water, I use clean water to flush, and after the water is shut off keep engine running another 30/40 seconds to try and get the rest of the water out.. is this "burping"

Burping is like @Gym says. Be very careful and deliberate. Without the engines in the water. The engine will spin up the rpms very quickly. You dont have to move the throttles far to hit 5k.