First time winterizing my boat myself.

[HeavyD0884]

Hi all,
I decided to go through the process on my own this year to save some money and I feel it's something I should do, or learn how to do on my own.
I just wanted to list what I've done (and didn't do) to winterize my 2004 Volvo Penta 3.0 in my Glastron 175 SX. Please poke holes in my process haha.
- Added 2 1/2 ounces of stabilizer, topped with fuel.
- Ran with muffs for a few minutes then fogged the carb til it stalled.
- Drained water from 2 brass plugs for block and manifold, made sure to poke a small screwdriver up both holes to loosen whatever may be there. Put plugs back in.
- Pulled hoses for block and manifold and filled both with boat/RV anti-freeze. Pulled plugs again and drained.
- Lowered the outdrive to let water run out then dumped some more anti-freeze down the flush port til pink ran out the bottom for good measure.
- Vacuumed all the loose fluid in bilge.
I pulled the dipstick for the lower unit and the gear oil looked clean with no milkiness whatsoever. Probably only ran the boat for 20-30 hours this year so am thinking it's ok to leave it. The engine oil is also clean and was thinking of leaving it.
I think I'm ok to cover it up and throw it in the barn but I still have this... uneasy feeling. Any criticism and advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Donald0039]

That sounds about right. I would leave my Mercruiser filled with antifreeze for the winter.

 

[QBhoy]

Just on the gear oil check you did. If the boat hasn’t been ran very recently before you checked it at the dipstick for condition. It might not give a true reflection of its health. I always crack open the bottom drain plug to check for any sign of settled water at the bottom. More than likely you’d get an indication of any serious water ingress, by doing what you did…but just being fussy perhaps.
I also usually coat the whole engine and surrounding items down there with a spray inhibitor product too. Do the same to the back of the dash and all it’s wiring to gauges etc etc.

 

[HeavyD0884]

That sounds about right. I would leave my Mercruiser filled with antifreeze for the winter.

Thank you.

 

[HeavyD0884]

That sounds about right. I would leave my Mercruiser filled with antifreeze for the winter.

Thank y

Just on the gear oil check you did. If the boat hasn’t been ran very recently before you checked it at the dipstick for condition. It might not give a true reflection of its health. I always crack open the bottom drain plug to check for any sign of settled water at the bottom. More than likely you’d get an indication of any serious water ingress, by doing what you did…but just being fussy perhaps.
I also usually coat the whole engine and surrounding items down there with a spray inhibitor product too. Do the same to the back of the dash and all it’s wiring to gauges etc etc.

Thanks for the response.
It never hurts to be fussy. I will crack the bottom plug for a peek and look into the spray inhibitor. Hadn't heard that one yet so thanks!

 

[havoc_squad]

Hi all,
I decided to go through the process on my own this year to save some money and I feel it's something I should do, or learn how to do on my own.
I just wanted to list what I've done (and didn't do) to winterize my 2004 Volvo Penta 3.0 in my Glastron 175 SX. Please poke holes in my process haha.
- Added 2 1/2 ounces of stabilizer, topped with fuel.
- Ran with muffs for a few minutes then fogged the carb til it stalled.
- Drained water from 2 brass plugs for block and manifold, made sure to poke a small screwdriver up both holes to loosen whatever may be there. Put plugs back in.
- Pulled hoses for block and manifold and filled both with boat/RV anti-freeze. Pulled plugs again and drained.
- Lowered the outdrive to let water run out then dumped some more anti-freeze down the flush port til pink ran out the bottom for good measure.
- Vacuumed all the loose fluid in bilge.
I pulled the dipstick for the lower unit and the gear oil looked clean with no milkiness whatsoever. Probably only ran the boat for 20-30 hours this year so am thinking it's ok to leave it. The engine oil is also clean and was thinking of leaving it.
I think I'm ok to cover it up and throw it in the barn but I still have this... uneasy feeling. Any criticism and advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

It very likely has power steering cooler in line on the intake raw water cooling hose. Make 100% sure the water hose with the lowest point on the cooler is disconnected and drained the water.

Make a paper checklist and check each item off so you don't miss a step on the draining process.

 

[Scott06]

Not much of a savings skipping engine oil and gear lube savings … two of the easiest preventative maint items

 

[HeavyD0884]

Not much of a savings skipping engine oil and gear lube savings … two of the easiest preventative maint items

Fair enough.
I did invest in the pumps for the gear oil and pumping out old oil and was leaning towards doing both. But also thought I could probably get away with leaving for another season. I'll just change the oils. (It's the inner cheapskate in me)
Thanks for your input.

 

[Scott06]

Fair enough.
I did invest in the pumps for the gear oil and pumping out old oil and was leaning towards doing both. But also thought I could probably get away with leaving for another season. I'll just change the oils. (It's the inner cheapskate in me)
Thanks for your input.

You can be frugal (doing the work yourself) and still take good care of it. A lot of guys run conventional Rotella 15w30 which is about $15 a gal at walmart…

been winterizing this was since I started helping my grandfather when i was 14, his boat, my parents boat, and now my boat have all lasted a long time 25-30 years with a little simple maintence.

you may want to change the impeller if it hasn't been done. Is this a fresh or saltwater boat. If salt you wanT to inspect the exahust manifold for corrosion and leaks

also take your prop off and grease the prop shaft splines, will keep the prop from getting stuck on …

 

[Scott Danforth]

change the engine oil first. (never let oil with combustion byproducts in it sit over the winter)
then follow your process
then pull drive for annual maintenance.

 

[Lou C]

Always better to change oil; if by chance there’s any water in either you want to know that now so that it can be dealt with over the off season. In addition while most people wouldn’t bother I think that doing an oil analysis on the motor oil is a good idea. It will tell you if cooling water is getting into the oil, if the wear metals are high and if the oil you are using is staying in viscosity grade. Again if there are problems they can be dealt with in the off season. While my motor oil “looked” normal an analysis done in 2015 predicted the future failure of the head gaskets in 2016 because sodium from salt water showed up in the oil sample.

 

[Donald0039]

change the engine oil first. (never let oil with combustion byproducts in it sit over the winter)
then follow your process
then pull drive for annual maintenance.

In reality there are additives in the motor oil that deal with the acid from combustion byproducts until the TBN reaches about 1. Of course doing an oil analysis to find out the TBN cost about as much as changing the oil.