Engine Winterization

[WayWeGo]

I am curious about how much water a 318 uses when running your engine when boat is out of water and you use a 5 gallon pail to feed it water or anti freeze.

Not sure about a 318, but our 440s can suck the water out of a bucket just about as fast as you can pour it in from gallon jugs.

[The Dog House]

I am curious about how much water a 318 uses when running your engine when boat is out of water and you use a 5 gallon pail to feed it water or anti freeze.

does it empty pain in 1 minute?
5 minutes?

A 318 will go through 5 gallons at idle speed (650 rpm) in about 2 minutes. I have a 5 gallon bucket that the engine draws from and another 5 gallon bucket feeding the first bucket. Both buckets are full when I start the engine (10 gallons total) and it takes about 4 minutes to empty.

[Svend]

great info!! thanks so much!!

next question:

the bottom seacock where fresh water comes in, connects to a hose which looks like it stays low and enters near bottom of engine (correct me if I am wrong)

I was thinking of adding a hose from seacock that raises up to top of engine where it is easier to add antifreeze, and then when done, this pipe would connect back down to the existing pipe at bottom of engine. Do you guys think there is any issue with the engine water pump lifting the water up 18 inches or so and then going back down to floor again to existing tubing.
Is the impeller the pump for fresh water intake?

water intake.jpg (121 KiB) Viewed 4246 times

[WayWeGo]

Another option for easier winterizing is to add a strainer to the hose from the through hull to the raw water pump. You can take the top off the strainer and pour antifreeze into it. Some folks make a big funnel by using a traffic cone so they can pour more antifreeze at a time.

[The Dog House]

the bottom seacock where fresh water comes in, connects to a hose which looks like it stays low and enters near bottom of engine (correct me if I am wrong)

I was thinking of adding a hose from seacock that raises up to top of engine where it is easier to add antifreeze, and then when done, this pipe would connect back down to the existing pipe at bottom of engine. Do you guys think there is any issue with the engine water pump lifting the water up 18 inches or so and then going back down to floor again to existing tubing.
Is the impeller the pump for fresh water intake?

A better approach would be to add a safety seacock adapter to your existing seacock ( http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/V ... hgod8nADeA ). A safety seacock allows you to close the seacock and attach a garden hose to the engine inlet hose. To run the engine on the trailer I run a garden hose to the engine with the seacock open. I then turn the water on and the water starts coming out the bottom of the boat. I then close the seacock and quickly start the engine. I've been told that if you have the garden hose water running with the seacock closed for too long before starting the engine that the water can back up into the engine (which is bad).

To winterize the boat, I have a garden hose fitting with a barb adapter ( http://www.piecoweb.com/us/garden-hose- ... hgodFtsBvg ) attached to some Tygon tubing. I put the Tygon tubing into a 5 gallon bucket filled with pink antifreeze. The engine suction pulls the antifreeze into the engine. The safety seacock adapter makes life much easier.

[prowlersfish]

great info!! thanks so much!!

next question:

the bottom seacock where fresh water comes in, connects to a hose which looks like it stays low and enters near bottom of engine (correct me if I am wrong)

I was thinking of adding a hose from seacock that raises up to top of engine where it is easier to add antifreeze, and then when done, this pipe would connect back down to the existing pipe at bottom of engine. Do you guys think there is any issue with the engine water pump lifting the water up 18 inches or so and then going back down to floor again to existing tubing.
Is the impeller the pump for fresh water intake?

I would not , it would be easy to get a air lock and it would add restriction to the intake . look at the other 2 posts above

[Svend]

Success!!

Thanks for all the help!

Here are a few tips from my experience... this is on a 1977 F30 Express with dual Chrysler 318's. As many of you know, these are packed in TIGHT on the F30!

1) bring an old thick comforter... fold it over 4 times so it gives a lot of padding, and lay it on top of the engine. This allows you to lie down on the motor somewhat without putting stress on items at top of motor. Then you can lay down and reach in with both hands to looses clamps on water pipe.

2) get one of those stubby short screw drivers with a wide blade to stick in around cooling tubing and seacock brass fitting. It tends to get stuck nice and tight and there is hardly any room down there to twist it and pull it off seacock!

3) change your oil BEFORE bring boat out of water so you can run engine for 15-20 minutes before sucking oil out. It is tough to run engine on the hard using just a hose and water source (if you have one handy), and my yacht club shut off hoses before I had a chance to do. So, again, oil change, engine fogging, then pull boat and add antifreeze.

4) I created a simple pail set up with short hose to add coolant. (see attached image). It is simple and cheap to make. NOTE: on my engine setup, the engine sucks the full pail of anti freeze very fast, so have the pail filled, and a few extra open and ready to pour!

5) do this on a fairly warm 45 degree plus day, to make the pain of your knuckles hurt just a little less! lol

my-winterizer-pail-2.jpg (68.32 KiB) Viewed 4219 times