Quick Winterizing

I was looking through some older posts for info on calabrias and ran accross one that mentioned an air pump connection on top of the motor for quick winterizing. (Bstroop was the poster) Anyone have a Calabria and familiar with this option. I think I have it on mine just wondering what i need to look for to make sure. A few pics would be really nice to see.

Sounds like a quick way to freeze and damage your engine. How can you be sure all the water is out and not trapped somewhere.

If you are looking at the engine from inside the boat you should see a a pin with a orange ore yellow cap and an air valve next to it. Put air to it suppose to blow the water out. I have used winterized a few of them I wouldn't rely on it 100% does an okay job but still can blow water out the old fashion way.

This link goes to a mercruiser manual go to page 1B-59 for draining. http://boatinfo.no/lib/mercruiser/ma...iser31.html#/0

Originally Posted by Froggy

Sounds like a quick way to freeze and damage your engine. How can you be sure all the water is out and not trapped somewhere.

Sounds like a well educated response. Have you ever seen or used it before professor?


I use it on mine all the time. After using it for the first time I went ahead and pulled all the hoses to test how well it worked and got nothing else out of any significance. If you look at how all your hoses are routed to each other, including you exhaust manifolds and block drains. They all gravity feed to each other without any high points to creat a trap. The lowest point is the manifold where all the water discharges when pressurized. The only thing that I do in addition the pressurization is just turn the engine over for a few seconds to sling out anything trapped in the impeller vanes. It works well and my boat has been outside in the negatives for extended periods without a single problem.

I'm going to work on the boat tomorrow, I'll take some pictures.

I'm no professor I'm not even the smartest guy on the block . But I am smart enough to not take chances with my engine. I see from your profile your average temp in the winter is similar to mine 20s-30s at night 40s-50s in the day. It may be that you have been lucky so far. I know people that don't winterize at all and go years without a problem . One thing for sure the only way you can absolutely guaranty your engine is safe is to drain the water and fill it with antifreeze. This debate has been going on forever and there is always someone that posts the newest shortcut method of winterizing . Really what are you going to save 20 minutes? If its not recommended by the builder I wouldn't take the chance . It looks like you would so good luck the only one you will hurt is yourself if something goes wrong.

I'm with Froggy on this one. Safest to drain and dry-block or refill with antifreeze. This air pump method may work, or may not work, so why risk it? For me the extra time is worth the peace of mind. And shaving 30 minutes is not worth a cracked block.

I love it!

Person 1- I have a feature on my boat and am not sure how well it works.
Person 2 - I have that feature on my boat and have used it for a long time. I even went further and pulled the hoses to make sure it's works as advertised. Mercruiser engineered the system on the engine and it even comes with instructions in their maintenance manual.........sooooooo I imagine it's recommended by them.

Persons 3&4 - Who probably have never even laid eyes on it or know anyone that has feel that it's unsafe.

I love threads where people ask for experience and get it from inexperienced people.


Not a big deal if you only winterize once a season. if you ride all year long it's really sweet winterizing your engine before you even leave the parking lot.

Originally Posted by bstroop

I love it!

Person 1- I have a feature on my boat and am not sure how well it works.
Person 2 - I have that feature on my boat and have used it for a long time. I even went further and pulled the hoses to make sure it's works as advertised. Mercruiser engineered the system on the engine and it even comes with instructions in their maintenance manual.........sooooooo I imagine it's recommended by them.

Persons 3&4 - Who probably have never even laid eyes on it or know anyone that has feel that it's unsafe.

I love threads where people ask for experience and get it from inexperienced people.


Not a big deal if you only winterize once a season. if you ride all year long it's really sweet winterizing your engine before you even leave the parking lot.

When I talk about winterizing, like most other inboard boat owners, I am assuming it is done the same amount of times that winter comes around, which is, oh, let me think... ONCE A YEAR.

If we're talking about flushing the engine block every trip, that's one thing. If, on the other hand, we're talking about WINTERIZING (which involves a lot more than just draining the engine block), then my personal opinion is that this method would not be ideal.

However, I will admit my personal experience comes from winterizing a different boat that doesn't have all these new-fangled gadgets and gizmos that make for a "quick winterization". Does it change the oil and replace the impeller for you, too? Maybe it tends it's own battery. I bet it even pats you on the ass after a gnarly surf set! Perhaps it even gives you a reach-around while you strap in to your board? I need to sell my boat and get a calabria with the quick winterization package, pronto.

I'm not even going to try and out idiot you Josh. Keep on digging a deeper hole into something you don't know about.


I'm going to work on the boat today Bill and I'll take some pictures for you. Hope my block isn't cracked :-(

Brian.

Pressure manifold. Has the valve stem, pressure indicators, and pressure relief valve.

I have my "mercruiser supplied" pump attached but you can use any type. Keep pumping until both of the green pressure indicators extend. Usually only takes about 5 or 6 pumps to pressurize the system enough to extend them.

As soon as it's pressurized water will begin discharging from the lower manifold with the orange rubber hose. If you lose air pressure but aren't done draining just give it a few more pumps to extend the indicators again.

All of the hoses, exhaust manifold drains, block drains, water pump, impeller housing, and discharge manifolds are all sloped downward and link to each other with quick disconnect fittings. Make sure someone hasn't modified anything or replaced a hose that doesn't allow for a smooth low point drain routing. If you look around your engine you'll see that the air pressure lines go to several places and introduce air at different spots. It was too hard to take pictures of them everywhere but just look for the green and white air lines.

Like I said above I use it all the time and have had zero problems. I also run with a crowd that at one time or another have had 4 Pro V's with this feature. I your still unsure of its value you can still pull all the blue drains and/or hoses to blow everything out. I did it the first time as a test of the system and was satisfied with the results. I don't pull the plugs or hoses anymore. Once you verify the routing of your hoses you'll see why.

Any q's give me a shout.

Forgot.......you won't hear any gurgling or air escaping during the process, it's a sealed system. Once it's done draining just pull the ring on the pressure relief valve to relieve the stored pressure.

This is what MerCruiser has to say about it . Make your own decision on how to winterize your boat?

Do I still need to have winterization performed by my dealer if I have a self-drain system on my engine?

The drain system on your engine is NOT intended to replace full winterization. It is for extending your boating season by allowing the cooling system to be drained after use if there is a risk of light freezing weather and you will be boating the next day. For full extended winter storage, after completely draining the cooling system, Mercury MerCruiser requires the use of propylene glycol antifreeze (with a rust inhibitor for marine engines) in the seawater section of the cooling system. The fuel system must have fuel stabilizer added and the system must be fogged with 2-cycle oil. We recommend that your product be winterized by an authorized MerCruiser dealer. Damage caused by freezing or improper winterization is NOT covered by the limited factory warranty. This is also a good time to have scheduled maintenance performed on your engine by your dealer.

I'm pretty sure the discussion was solely surrounding just getting water out of the engine. Full winterization is another topic.

In these days of law suit happy America I bet you have a hard time finding any company that doesn't have you go to the ends of the earth to prevent a failure.

Use you're best judgement. Mine has been successful thus far.

I wasn't trying to get away from a full winterization. I was just curious as to the option and how well it would work for those early/late season warm days where I could possibly get out without having to do a full winterization. I appreciate Brian's posts and pics and the explanation of the option. I plan on taking advantage of this option in the future, just need to get a bypass hose installed for my heater.

Sorry maybe I read the title of this thread wrong?

Originally Posted by Froggy

Sorry maybe I read the title of this thread wrong?

Be sure to stop by the Half off X Star thread and point out that it's really not half off. It's cut in half.