Some Basics on Winterizing a 228?

[Jack23]

All,

I bought a 2005 228 this year. Love the boat. Engine is being winterized by the yard, but with their prices, I need to do what I can when I can. So, for the raw water pumps, can I simply shut off the valves and run the pumps for a few seconds to get any excess water out? Assume I then disconnect the lines leading to the pumps after that. I think there are two pumps - one for raw water and one for livewell. This boat has no holding tank for toilet, so I'm good there.

On fuel, I have it down to 1/8 of a tank of ethanol treated fuel. The boat started out with a yamaha motor, but I hung a new suzuki on it this summer. I was running yamalube with the ethanol treatment - would it be OK to fill the tank with gas and add valvtech now? Reason is my yard said they recommend valvtect and I bought some specifically for winterization.

What am I forgetting other than shrink wrap?

Thanks!

 

[Harpoon]

I prefer to leave the tank very low and stabilize with marine stabil or startron. Then in the spring fill up with nice fresh high octane fuel. That worked for me with a Zuke for many years.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

I live in the mountains of NC. I have yet to winterize my motor. However, I open all the seacocks to drain water out of the lines. Run the pumps to flush out lines. I drain amd fill the freshwater tank with RV antifreeze. I then remove all removable cushions. I add a lot pf stability to the tank. My boat is stored under cover. I turn off my batteries and periodically trickle charge them.

 

[Parthery]

Don't fill the tank. Treat with Sta-Bil, PRI-G, etc.... In the spring fill it with fresh fuel and then run everything through it.

Batteries should come out unless you want to cut a seam in the shrink wrap. You want to charge them once a month.

Remove cushions. Open hatches to air out. Clean the boat thoroughly. Change the oil. Change the gearlube. Change the filters.

Shrinkwrap or cover.....

 

[DennisG01]

With a fuel tank, especially an aluminum tank, you should have it either completely empty or totally full. Both of those conditions will minimize condensation.

Running your pressurized water pumps dry "should" be enough, but it's not guaranteed since there could be dips or long runs where water can accumulate. The reason is that once no more water is coming in, it can't continue to push out the water that's on faucet-side of the pump. For me, it's easy very easy to access the seacock so I just pull the hose off the seacock and stick it in a gallon of AF and turn the pump on till pink come out. Takes about 3 minutes, start to finish. If you can't easily access the hose/seacock, you could always use a fake-a-lake from the outside (or build your own from a toilet plunger, a few cheap fittings from a hardware store and some old garden hose).

Fresh water tanks (and black water holding tanks, hot water heaters, etc) can simply be emptied and left alone. The small amount of water left in the bottom is nowhere near enough to cause damage. Of course, the lines from those tanks will need to be cleared - air pressure or pump AF through, for example. Not putting AF in your tanks simply means less flushing in the Spring. In some cases, it's not easy to access the fresh water tank fittings and it's just easier to put AF in the tank.

I would use your own stabilizer (ethanol fighting, if needed). Don't trust that the pre-mixed Valvtect coming out of the tank is mixed properly. I heard (have not seen it myself) from someone I consider a good friend and a reputable source the Valvtect "additives" are mixed on site and often times this job is given to the "lowest man of the totem pole" at the marina... which typically equates to that 16-year old kid listening to music and texting at the same time. Given that many kids can barely do those two things at the same time, I'm not sure I would trust them to also be adding the right amount of additives, as well. :roll:

 

[Jack23]

I am going to try to rig a hose to a plunger and run antifreeze through the pumps. I'm sure there is a video on youtube...

Thanks!

 

[DennisG01]

I didn't even bother wasting time searching Youtube. If you go to a decent hardware store with the plan of what you want to do, the people there will get you what you need. I used an extra adjustable cover support pole to replace the handle - that way I could easily adjust the plunger to fit tight against various hulls. But you can make it work the existing handle and scraps of wood, along with cranking the tongue jack one way or the other. I adapted the other end of the garden hose (opposite the plunger) to to a cap from an AF bottle. Be sure to punch a hole in the bottom side of the bottle (which will be held upside down). You could also get a small Rubbermaid container and plumb the garden hose to it. Many, many options.

 

[Jack23]

so, it turns out that west marine has a handy-dandy plunger winterizing tool that has a threaded attachment in the plunger section that you hook your tank of antifreeze to, and a height-adjustable handle setup. I only had one day to get the boat winterized, so I wussed out and bought it. Here are the results:

raw water: flushed antifreeze through no problem

live well - panel switch kept tripping - shut itself off. Can't seem to figure out how to get pressure going. seacock was open, batteries fully charged. I don't think it has it's own raw water pickup, right? one pickup on the bottom for any raw water that comes into the boat. This boat is new to me this year. Surveyor specifically said livewell needs new pump. I use the livewell very little, so I never filled it this summer. I'm thinking the pump is definitely shot.

Fresh water tank: pressurized system, got all water out, ran it dry. Can't seem to find the fill opening so I could put antifreeze in there. This tank is belowdeck just forward of the gas tank. Where's the fill?

Boat is at the marina, getting the engine winterized. Wrapping is next.

 

[DennisG01]

Wussed out... :mrgreen:

Panel switch... It could very well be a bad pump and it's popping the breaker. It could also be an old breaker. When they get old, they pop easier. Try swapping with another breaker. Another possibility is corroded wiring at contacts, so check that, too.

You might have one raw water pick-up, but who knows - a previous owner could have changed something, too. If you take the pump out of the mix, you could manually pump some AF through.

Water tank... I'm not sure where it is. Does it happen to show the location in the manual? It could be right on the tank - meaning there's simply a removable cap - look for an access plate in the floor above the tank. Other than that, if it has a remote fill, take a peek at the tank and try to at least see which way the hose goes. If there's a remote fill, that means there's also a vent. If it's an older set-up, then the vent is separate and usually located just below the fill. It shouldn't be too hard to find those, if it's a remote. The fill is the same size as a gas tank fill.

 

[Parthery]

Your freshwater fill should be next to the rod holders, on the front of the transom livewell. Should be a silver cap.