Shirley, there is a screw on cap ( look at west marine or defender for info) for your raw water strainer that has a hose fitting so you don’t have to remove the intake hose from your seacock. (Not an easy task). You attach a short piece of hose with a female fitting to the cap and put the hose onto a bucket filled two gallons of pink antifreeze or one gallon then another as it runs down. The fresh water system should already be winterized. Just add more as needed in the plastic expansion bottle.
Brian
Hi Brian ,
Thanks for the tip . I saw a screw on the raw water strainer. Maybe I use that fitting for the hose and run the antifreeze there
For the coolant, I bought a hydrometer to measure the antifreeze concentration in the coolant. So you mean if the measurement is at the correct level (our area can get down to -30 degree celcius Toronto Canada), I do not need to drain all the coolant out and refill in the coolant expansion box ?
Thanks
Shirley
Shirley,
The cap on the raw water strainer that you clean out the bowl is replaced with this cap with a garden hose male fitting then the garden hose with the female fitting is attaches and put in a bucket with the pink stuff. 2 gallons should winterize the raw water side of your W27. It does for mine anyway. That expansion box is the fresh water side and should always be winterized. Every few years it may need to be drained and flushed. Then it needs to be refilled with the correct ratio of water to antifreeze. But the seasonal raw water antifreeze ( different than the fresh water enclosed system) needs to be done each fall. Usually -30 deg. F in New England. Just pump it thru with the raw water pump with the motor running until pink stuff comes out the exhaust then kill the engine and don’t restart until spring.
Brian