How cold before need to winterize?
 

It is supposed to get down to 33 degrees here in Indianapolis tonight, plus or minus a degree or few. I have a 1991 v20 cuddy with I/O. With temp. at/around 33 degrees, there may be a frost, but I would not think a "hard freeze." Should I be scrambling to get her winterized? Supposed to be in the upper 60's over the weekend and I would like to get her out for one last run down on the Ohio River.

Well, as we all know, water freezes @ 32F. So if it gets to that temp or lower you should winterize her OR warm her above that temp. Can you put her in a garage? How about a small electric heater? Remember, you don't have to get the engine hot, you just need to keep it above 32 degrees. Even one of those oil dipstick heaters truckers use should do the trick... If you drain your outdrive the only thing you have to worry about is the water in your block. (Unless you have fresh water cooling, at which time you need to find a way to keep that water above 32 also). Here's an idea....Since the whole thing is under the fiberglass engine cover, I would think that simply placing a small electric ceramic heater in the engine compartment should do the job nicely. Set it on low, put the cover down over it and let it run through the night. It should keep everything below decks in that area all nice and toasty warm. (I'm a firm beliver in the K.I.S.S. principal).

If you are really worried about it you can also just stick a light bulb on a drop light under the cover. But I would think even at a few degrees below freezing over night assuming some 50 degree temps the day before you'll have to shed all the heat built up over the previous day and then will still need a fair amount of time to freeze solid.....you'll be fine. But like said if it makes you sleep better drop a light or heater in there for a a buck or 2 in electricity.

Here is probably my wrong answer, take it for what its worth.

I keep anti-freeze running in mine, the only "freezable" water would be in the heat exchanger in which should be mostly drained, or I believe you could manually drain it as well.

I would think the temp would have to go well below freezing for awhile to cause problems with what little water is in the system, that is assuming you have anti-freeze in the cooling system.

Mine went below freezing last year before I winterized it and it was fine...

rkc

when it gets below 75 degrees, we throw sweatshirts in the cabin.

like I've said before, when we winterize, we switch from beer to burbon.

All seriousness, my old boss when I first started working on boats, told me to think about how cold it would have to get to freeze a bucket of water. He said to keep a 5 gal bucket of water on your porch, kick it each morning, the time you break your toe on it is the time your motor is frozen and busted. The point he was making, it has to get below freezing, and stay there for a while before it will freeze enough to bust a block, smaller items, like fresh water fittings and outlets will freeze quicker, but it still has to get below 32 and stay there for a while. Think about how long it has to stay below freezing for that bucket of water to freeze. If you are woried about it, the light bulb thing will keep you from freezing, make sure to use two bulbs, in case one burns out, and use incandesent, not flouresent or LEds, they wont make any heat( I've seen the results).

BTW, it was 82 and humid here today

Thanks all. Went ahead and winterized it not knowing whether I would get it out to use it this weekend or not. Always a bit of a sad day.

RKC, I do not keep antifreeze in it. My engine is a 4.3 litre raw water cooling engine, not a closed system like yours. I do, however, drain the block with the 4 plastic screw plugs (one of which broke putting it back in). After a good drain, I put the drain/freeze plugs back in and then pull each hose. I fill all the hoses with antifreeze. I used to just run antifreeze through the flush muffs but had a bad experience with that once. Also did all the usual fogging oil, lower unit lube change, etc. Not going to do an oil change because I changed it in the spring and probably only put 15-20 hours on the engine this summer.

I had not even gotten the drain plug (blue plastic wing bolt) in finger tight yet when it broke off. Not the easiest thing to back the broken plug out of the block. New plug cost %&^&$$ $4.26 at the closest boat dealer. Parts guy said they break all the time and suggested I get 4 of them but I declined.

make sure you stick soemthing up in those holes to make sure they aren't clogged

Thanks, Spare. Did that, and the lowest plug on the starboard side was plugged pretty good. A LOT of water gushed out after I stuck a wire up in there. Did it again after it had all seemed to be drained and it was clear.

I have heard that some folks just pull the plugs on their I/O's, let the water drain, and just leave the plugs out all winter. I would not be comfortable with that unless the boat was stored indoors and there was no chance at all of having a tarp problem and getting the bilge filled up with water.

Nip
Here's what I do, I have a inbd like you do.

I take 2 light bulbs (60 watt or larger) (incase 1 burns out you still have 1 working) and lay them on either side of the carb on the intake and close the eng cover. This will warm the intake which will warm the block. A friend of mine bought a elect heater that isheld on to the oil pan by a magnet. He likes it and says it keeps the oil warm.

I have done the light bulb for 10 years now and have never had a problem.

Now I have a garage to keep her in so I don't worry to much anymore.