My Bucket (don't kick it!) (((Winterizing Bucket)))

[E_]

Tuesday night on the way home I stopped at Lowes and got me some supplies to make winterizing the boat a lot easier.
Below are the parts I used and the price at the time. Sure there are other parts that can be used (like how I used a MIP) and you can buy much cheaper parts but this is what I liked when I was in the store and it all worked out wonderfully... I feel I have something that will last me years and with all the parts I purchased, pink stuff bought, and even time figured in it was still cheaper than having someone else to it for me. Last night I used it and it was sofa king easy... I would not even mind taking the boat out for a trip mid winter and having to rewinterize it if need be... (well I might not use the fresh water system but the engine is not a problem with the bucket)


Parts
1 – 5 Gallon Buckett 161932 $4.97
1 – ¾ x ¾ MIP (only use the threaded half of, discard rest) 932242 $4.69
1 – 1” zinc coated washer 15012 $1.18
2 – Rubber Washers 215714 $1.33x2= $2.66
1 – ¼ turn sillcock 248909 Used a 1/4 turn model as it is quicker to open up $10.12
1 – 2 way Brass water shut off 228717 $9.98
1 – Watts ¾ x ¾ garden hose fitting 34756 $6.12
2 - 5/8" & 3/4" Female Metal Clamp Hose Repair 110625 $3.48x2= $6.96
1 - 5/8" & 3/4" Metal Clamp Hose Mender 93124 $3.48
1 – 5/8" & 3/4" Male Metal Clamp Hose Repair 93156 $3.48x2= $6.96
1 – Piece of garden hose around 15’ or buy one $8.00
________________________________________________________________
$65.12 total spent

1. Drill 1” hole in bucket at lowest level possible but where sillcock is not below buttom rim of bucket.
2. Take 3/3 x ¾ mip apart and keep the threaded half. On threaded half slide on 1” metal washer (you may have to grind it down on the bottom side to where it fits)
3. I could not find a rubber washer that would fit the 1” needs so the ones I purchased I cut a 1” circle out of the middle and then placed one next to the metal washer on the mip where it would make contact with the bucket..
4. Slide threads of mip through inside of bucket with the rubber washer against the inside of the bucket.
5. Place other rubber washer over threads sticking out of bucket
6. Put ¼ turn sillcock onto threads and tighten
7. Attach 2 way onto sillcock
8. Place ¾ x ¾ hose fitting (connects a male to male) to one of the 2 way threads.
(Bucket is done) You can get bulkhead connectors like this http://bucketape.com/bucketapeimages/bulkhead1.jpg from Bucketape.com but I like my setup.

Boat hose – cut a length of hose with male end to size to go from muffs on outdrive up to back of boat then place 1 Female metal hose end on other end

AC hose – cut a length of hose long enough to go from cockpit floor down into engine compartment and connect to disconnected hose at petcock then place the metal clamp hose mender in one end and a female hose end on the other.

(if you have garden hose left from what you were cutting from you can then place a mender male end on it)

Winterize boat
1. To winterize boat connect your normal home/shop garden hose to bucket Y adapter side that has the male adapter and turn off valve for that side
2. Go turn on water
3. Connect Boat hose to muffs and place on drive then connect to other side of Y adapter on bucket
4. Fill bucket with 5 gallons of pink stuff. (I guess you could use less) [the prestone has corrosion inhibitors]
5. Turn on both Y adapter (2 way) valves on where water can go from Garden hose into boat hose
6. Turn on boat and run till at operating temp (you may want to spray some fog into air intake on engine just at or during next step)
7. Once at temp as close to simultaneously as possible turn off garden hose valve and open valve on sillcock
8. If you used the see through bucket now just go the helm and watch antifreeze levels drop in bucket. Once down near the bottom or when you hear it suck air turn off engine. (ENGINE DONE!) Turn off your water and disconnect garden hose)


AC (Thank for the hose disconnect tip Matt T)
1. Connect AC hose you made above to bucket where boat hose was connected, ensure unused garden hose part of 2 way is shut off and only the AC hose side is open.
2. Disconnect hose that connects to AC’s thru hull fitting and stick boat hose connector end into AC hose
3. Pour a gallon or two into bucket
4. Open Sillcock valve
5. Turn on AC and let it run till it has pumped enough antifreeze through.
6. Shut off AC and disconnect the AC hose from the hose on the boat and reconnect that hose back properly to the thruhull petcock
7. Smile about money saved

Here are some pics....

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Not bad for $65 IMO and it will last a lifetime the only truly breakable part is the bucket and that is a easy replacement.
Here is a super cheap arse kit for $40 plus shipping AND it does not have the setup for switching between the garden hose and the pink stuff…
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DIY-Boat-Winter ... 8332918%26

Look at this crazy contraption for $189 http://www.amazon.com/Winterflush-Dual- ... rizing+kit

This one does the same thing and is $50… (might work good for tree woman )
http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product ... rchID=4006
But I like my big ole bucket and it can store all the other stuff like hoses, fogging oil can, flusher muffs, etc.


I have one of these if anyone wants it
http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product ... gi?i=26582 that dang thing was $60 and I can easily do the same job with less work and less mess with the one I made or the one above. But if someone wants it I’ll take $30 plus shipping to you. (have original box). Here is it on the 210 I had http://s80.photobucket.com/user/E_HILLM ... 0.mp4.html Ignore that hillbilly talking http://s80.photobucket.com/user/E_HILLM ... 1.mp4.html

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[LC addict]

Your desummering technique seems much more difficult than mine! i just call Anchorage Marine and they pick my boat up from under the pole barn in the driveway, drive it to the shop down the street and take care of all those tedious details.......and park it back in its spot snug as a bug in rug for its long winter's nap when they are finished.

[E_]

It will be easy enough next time and much cheaper. To winterize my boat Winner's Marine charges $469 with me delivering and picking up. I think I paid around that for DJ @ Marine and Speed aka Jeff Jones Marine last year.

This year even with making the bucket it cost me $140 including pink stuff, engine oil and filter. Next year it will be about $75... $394 remaining will buy a lot of boat gas. lol

..heck maybe I should start winterizing them. rofl. I could use $300 in about a hour's work.

[LC addict]

Would take me $60 in gas to get there and back, and would take the Captain all day to git er done - I'll just stay home and write a few letters for work and do a report or two and make it up in bonus pay and still come out ahead cause I wouldn't have to listen to Captain gripe about having to do it ;-)

[E_]

Get there and back? Yours is just the engine, that is a 15 minute job to winterize however the oil and filter part would still be a pita for you rich people that don't want to get dirty. Lol.

[LC addict]

We also have a sink and shower line in back, plus Kevin changes the oil, and filter and checks the fluids. Plus I would have to drive down and back to do it.... that takes away from my Eva time!!!! Not rich by any means, but would rather someone else take the responsibility than leave it to someone who doesn't know what he's doing, lol

[E_]

Quit messing me up picking on you

[Captain Bob]

Congratulations, E for doing it yourself, for coming up with the (detailed) parts list and procedures and sharing it here. It really is pretty easy but, as you mentioned, most folks just don't want to take the time or don't want to get dirty. Side benefit of DIY is that you can check on other things while you are there.

When we sold our last two runabouts and I showed the new/prospective owners the tools and techniques I used to winterize (almost identical to yours), each of them (literally) "begged" me to sell them the bucket, the hoses and the fittings. Told them that, if the were interested enough to do their own winterizing, they could have it - and I gave it to them in each case.

You didn't mention your fresh water supply... On our house boats I used a cheap 12 VDC water pump (Harbor Freight) to pump a few gallons of RV A/F through the lines --but never through the hot water heater! Flushed it with city water in the Spring.

[E_]

Fresh water for me is the home/shop garden hose that is already in place. I just brought it home with me so I didn't have to pack out all the stuff that needed to come off it. Boat is in shed behind the house and as I have time I do a little here and there to it like getting all food items off of it, all liquids, sweeping carpet, etc. If we have some warm afternoons before it goes back to storage in Nov. I will also let the chain out (might get new chain) and either way I will paint the chain with galvanizer and then also do some color coding on it to give me a better idea of how much chain is out.


Or did you mean my fresh water system? For it I just bought a few more gallons than it would take by pulling lines etc. (used 7 gallons I think) and I poured it all in the empty fresh water tank and then let it finish pressurizing (filling) the hot water heater and then I turned on all of the sinks and showers and ran them dry. (as well as opening the valve on the hot water heater and made sure pink came out of it as well.) I used the shower in the bathroom to spray pink stuff into the floor drain and ran the pump to make sure it was not left with water in it...

[E_]

Well, the exhaust ports and other ports on the boat are now dripping pink tonight

[Lock5]

My $1.50 funnel stuck into the end of a short piece of hose works just as good..........................now if I can just find the short piece of hose. I have the funnel because I have been using it to fill the bottles for the calves..................oh shiit that means it's up at the barn and the boat is down at the house..................why the he!! am I talking about this I'm not finished boating yet.....................

[E_]

The bucket allows me to prepour 5 gallons of the pink stuff while the engine warms up and then just flip from hose to bucket when ready. no fumbling. It also works by allowing me to set the bucket on the floor in the boat while I run a hose to the AC from it and then go turn ac on...

[MarineAssist]

E,

You should really drain the engine and manifolds of all water before adding your antifreeze. That is the way all the professional shops do it. If not, you run the risk of the ~2 gallons of water remaining in the engine block to dilute the antifreeze too much to properly protect the engine.

There is a plug on each side of the engine block near the engine mounts to remove, as well as one in the bottom of each exhaust manifold and possibly another in the raw water pump line.

I would not suggest winterizing a boat yourself without mentioning this crucial step.

The shops also use a special tool call a refractometer to verify the outcoming antifreeze from the exhaust ports has freeze protection value of at least -40 below.

[E_]

This is why I run soooo much pink stuff through mine. I don't stop until it is pure pink coming out. My method was used the entire time I had my 210 and it was also used on this boat last year with several days of negative temps. IMO it must be working if it didn't fail last year.


I DO however appreciate the concern and heads up. (don't stop doing that)



More info from camco instructions http://www.overtons.com/assets/prodman/ ... ctions.pdf (which further supports why using at least 5 gallons of antifreeze)

Propylene glycol antifreezes with burst protection levels
of -50°F will begin to form a “slushy” appearance at
+10 to +13°F. These same antifreezes will continue to
“harden” when cooled further but will not pose a threat
to equipment until the temperature approaches -50°F.
A minimum -50°F burst protection level is extremely
important in order to overcome the dilution that may
occur in small cavities inside the engine during the
winterization process.

5. Stop engine just before antifreeze tank is emptied.
There must be no more than 1 quart of antifreeze
remaining of the initial 5 gallons. The 4 3⁄4+ gallons are
required to ensure full distribution and circulation of
burst protection antifreeze throughout the engine.

DIY_Kit_Instructions.pdf

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[E_]

I did remember today that I forgot to run the aft shower so I will need to do that before I forget. dangit lol

[MarineAssist]

I pay to have mine done. For what they charge, to me, it makes no sense to fool with it.

I will tell you this: We replaced a radiator in my rollback truck (chevy 350). I decided to flush the engine out as well as the heater. Ran a garden hose in the lower radiator hose and left the top one off to allow the water to run freely out. We ran the truck until the water was clear. Hoses were hooked back up and the radiator filled with ne antifreeze.

I checked it after driving 20 miles only to find all the brand new antifreeze so rusty you could not read the freeze temp on the tester.

The next time, we drained everything completely, including removing the block drains, flushed again and then refilled and all is good. I did not want to leave the rusty crap in the brand new aluminum radiator.

The issue was the water left in the engine block the first time is somewhat stagnant around the lower part of the cylinders. Simply flushing water over the top of it did not clear out the old stuff. It had to be drained completely. Then when you start the engine again it refills with the new liquid.

On a boat engine you also have the issue where a certain amount of water/coolant automatically gets mixed with the exhaust to keep the rubber parts cool. This happens whether the thermostat is open or not. It has to or the rubber exhaust hoses would melt from the exhaust temperatures. That means when you are winterizing you see pink stuff pretty much from the beginning. Without draining the block there is no way to tell if you have filled the engine or not.

But, do as you will. It will still take 3-4 gallons to do the engine either way. The block, heads and manifolds hold that.

[E_]

It seems less pink until it runs about 2 gallons through for me

[TheOneAndOnlyROOSTER]

Pop-O & I are going to do my "Cement Pond", this afternoon

[E_]

Had to get a couple more gallons, forgot to run the aft shower. Fixed that today.

[E_]

With my special bucket I actually pulled mine from the water this year, pulled up and out of the way, and had the engine done in two minutes. Then pulled up to the storage unit and in 15 more minutes had the ac, hot water heater, toilet, etc. done.

If I had two buckets I could maybe get that time down even less. The longest time is running lots of pink into the fresh water system to get it all pink.

[Pinnacle]

After bypassing the hot water tank and running the freshwater pump to empty the freshwater tank, I hook up an air compressor to the shore water inlet and use it to blow out as much water as I can. Only then do I add the pink stuff. I find that it takes much less pink that way.

[E_]

Yep, I'd say you might save $10 or more with that method.

[E_]

Great vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4U7Yxg5P4

Its an entire series

[Pinnacle]

Watch out for differences in "the pink stuff". I have found a number of vendors are selling water system antifreeze that contains various amounts of ethanol in addition to propylene glycol. If you drink it you may get drunk and then suffer the preparation for a colonoscopy . If you use it in your boat you may cause some deterioration of the seals and hoses, etc. in your systems. And the alcohol can evaporate. Be sure to use only the pink stuff that contains propylene glycol only. No alcohol.