2 Nights at 32 F

[Drrockter]

My 1985 Mercruiser I/O is due for winterizing tomorrow. Will the recent 32 - 30 overnight temps damage anything? Now I'm all concerned and stuff. :'(

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: 2 Nights at 32 F

Depends a lot on day time temps and how warm your iron got before it cooled down. Thirty to 32 deg. is not a hard freeze, presuming the temp was only there for a few hours during the night.

 

[bjcsc]

Re: 2 Nights at 32 F

Doubtful, but it depends on how long it stayed at that temp.. If that was the low you're probably OK. The waiting game can be high stress...

 

[Drrockter]

Re: 2 Nights at 32 F

And it's not a raw water setup, I don't think. It has a heat exchanger and a Antifreeze tank. Don't know it that matters.
It dropped down yesterday into the 30's then up to around 40, and back to 30-29 last night. Todays high is 45.

UGH.

 

[ziggy]

Re: 2 Nights at 32 F

if yer concerned about it freezing. drain it. i'm not real up on fwc. but i believe you would need to drain the heat exchanger, manifold and riser. check out yer service manual. it will tell you the facts as to what needs draining and where the drains are at on yer setup. it's been about the same temps here. i got rwc and i drained it... block, manifold, riser(no water in there for me, fwc may have some) lower waterpump hose removed. just a little bit of effort may save me, or you from a expensive lesson.....
i was also concerend about whether my lower gear lub was still lub only. so just took the lower drain plug out to make sure i didn't have a milkshake in there, as i suppose that could freeze too if i had water and lub mixed in my drive.....my boat is a used boat, new to me so i don't trust anything about it.......it was lub only, but gave me peace of mind knowing that.....an ounce of prevention as they say......

 

[Boomyal]

Re: 2 Nights at 32 F

The raw water side of your heat exchanger might be at risk but mine seams to self drain. Each time I pull raw water feed line off of the HE, there is never any water in it. I guess it could depend on how your feed line is routed. Don't take my word for it.

The other, of course, are your exhaust mani's. It would have to stay at 30-32 for quite a while to suck all the heat out of the block. That also depends on how your boat is stored. Even if it is cool during the day, if it is outside in the sunshine and you have a colored cover on it, you'd be surprised at how warm it gets inside the boat.

However, as has been said, you are best off getting it done sooner than later. You could have one rogue freeze and it'd be all over.

 

[Drrockter]

Re: 2 Nights at 32 F

Yeah, took it in today. That's what freaked me out. Two days before winterizing, and we get a freeze. Meh. >o

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: 2 Nights at 32 F

What are you guys doing out in Buffalo NY. ?

Got 2 feet of SNOW !!

DHP

 

[mikeneal]

Re: 2 Nights at 32 F

I live in very moderate climate (Florida but for the cold snaps under freezing I have sometimes put a drop light in the engine compartment. I put a thermometer in there once and was surprised how much just a 60W added.