Keeping It Cool
by David S. Yetman
October 15, 2007
Winterization, end-of-season lay-up or decommissioning - whatever you choose to call it -
will never be a favorite part of boating life. It's bad enough that you have to come to grips with
the fact that your boating season is over, but to make matters worse, you have to do all of this
work on the boat without any hope of immediate gratification. Fortunately, there are several things
you can do to make the process easier and more convenient. And it's not just the owners of smaller
boats who stand to benefit. Even more complex boats with freshwater cooling or pressurized water
systems become easier to prepare for storage with a little planning and the use of some innovative
accessories.
The planning part can be divided into two stages. The first is to allow various fluid levels
on the boat to be drawn down in preparation for putting the boat away. You'll be able to avoid the
long pumping-out process if the freshwater tanks are nearly empty to begin with. Use up as much of
the fuel on board as possible to avoid storing the boat with old gas in the tank. This is
especially important now that most of us are dealing with the effects of ethanol in our gasoline.
(See sidebar on page 91 for more information.)
The second stage of the planning process involves thinking
ahead to ensure you'll have everything on hand needed to do the job. There's nothing as frustrating
as having to stop midway through the project because you don't have the right tools or material to
finish up. And after you've done the job once, do yourself a big favor by sitting down to make a
winterization list for next year. Note the parts - gaskets, etc. - that you used, quantities of
antifreeze and other fluids, and the brand and amounts of fuel additives. Also make note of any
helpful methods or tricks you discovered that you might not remember a year from now. Write down
the logical order in which you did each stage. It may save you from the disappointment of
discovering that you need to pump out the water tank when you've already removed the battery.
Once you're ready to begin the work, you'll find there's no shortage of accessories and
devices on the market to make the task easier. For sterndrive or outboard motors, one of the
handiest is an antifreeze flush kit, which consists of a reservoir that's often equipped with a
shut-off valve, a hose, and adapters or a clamp-on ear-muff that fits in or over the water intake
ports of the lower unit. Simply fill the reservoir, start the engine and allow the antifreeze to be
pumped through to replace any residual water in the cooling system.
Although these devices work well, there are a couple of tricks to enhance the process and
make the most of your expensive antifreeze. First, make every effort to drain as much of the water
out of the motor before beginning. Less water means less dilution, which in turn will keep your
antifreeze at a high level of protection. Second, in the absence of an adapter, temporarily seal
the muff with duct tape or wrap stretch cords (bungees) around it to provide a better seal and
reduce leakage, especially in cooler weather, which can make the plastic cups stiffen.
For inboard-powered or sterndrive boats that have an
intake water strainer, there's a handy accessory that has a hose inlet and valve mounted in a
temporary strainer cover. Once the inlet seacock has been closed, this allows a container of
antifreeze to be piped directly into the cooling system in a convenient and leakproof manner, again
ensuring maximum protection with as little antifreeze loss as possible.
Boats that have a pressure-water system on board present some unique challenges, since the
systems must either be protected with non-toxic antifreeze or drained completely. Unfortunately,
complete drainage can be difficult to ensure. Most people use a combination of draining as much as
possible with the addition of antifreeze afterward. But since any residual water will dilute the
antifreeze, draining is still important. In situations where you have the ability to make a
modification, drainage can be enhanced by adding a drain valve or plug at the lowest point of the
system. Opening the valve or removing the plug will allow the system to drain into the bilge and
out via the bilge plug once the boat is out of the water. Be sure to reverse the process before
adding antifreeze.
Another handy accessory at winterization time is a vacuum tank. It consists of a sealed metal
tank, a hand-operated vacuum pump and a flexible hose with several adapters. To use it, you need
only to assemble the pieces, seal off the hose with the clamp provided, and operate the pump to
create a vacuum in the tank. Put the end of the hose in the liquid you want to retrieve, open the
hose clamp, and the liquid is efficiently sucked up into the tank. Such devices were originally
designed and are now sold as an oil-change pump, and they do a great job while nearly eliminating
the mess usually associated with an oil change. They may be especially appreciated when changing
the oil of a 4-stroke outboard motor without hauling the boat, where any spillage in a normal
change might end up in the water, creating a potentially messy and costly situation. And they have
innumerable other uses around the boat, especially in preparation for cold weather, when residual
water might freeze and cause damage.
In addition, they can help in removing puddles of water that
other pumps might miss. Water tanks and drain hoses that don't drain completely can be sucked dry
and shower sumps emptied completely with a single swoosh of vacuum power. Their only limitations
are that they can't be used for gasoline or other volatile fluids because of fire safety concerns,
and they shouldn't be used for any fluid you intend to reuse because of the difficulty of cleaning
them completely between uses. Remember, oil and other contaminants must still be recycled or
disposed in an environmentally acceptable manner.
Putting a complete, organized winterization effort together won't eliminate all of the work,
but it can certainly make it easier. There are other consolations as well. It'll be easier next
time. And just think of how little you'll have left to do when spring launch time comes around.
QUICK TIPS
1. Make sure you've planned ahead so you have everything you need
before you begin.
2. Let your boat's fluid levels get as low as possible before winterizing.
3. Drain all the water out of the engine before adding antifreeze.
4. Use a vacuum tank when changing the engine's oil.
5. Write down the order in which you did each stage for reference next
year.
The Ethanol Issue
The introduction of water-absorbing ethanol into our fuel supply has posed many new questions
for boaters, not the least of which is about long-term storage of fuel during lay-up: Do you stick
with tradition and fill the tank to prevent condensation or drain it completely to avoid ending up
with power-depleted, stale fuel in the spring? The "experts" are evenly divided on the answer and
will probably remain so until we have more evidence that one way is clearly better than another.
My own preference is a belt-and-suspenders approach. I draw down the tank to use up as much
old fuel as I can, then fill it with fresh fuel and liberally treat it with a traditional fuel
stabilizer such as Stabil as well as one of the new enzyme-based conditioners like StarTron. I then
run the engine to ensure that the system is full of the treated fuel before storing the boat. -
D. Yetman