This coming season will be my first ever winterisation!
My engine is Westerbeke 27 1983. Fresh cooling system (I see a plastic coolant box attached to my engine).
I saw many videos of taking off the raw water intake hose (close the seacock first , of course), attach a garden house to this intake hose and run the anti freeze through the entire engine by turning the engine on. As soon as the pink antifreeze runs out the exhaust, we know the antifreeze has run through the engine…but that is the raw water side only…
How about the fresh water side? Should I drain the coolant and add the fresh “anti freeze coolant” to the plastic coolant box?
Obviously, I have problem locating the coolant drain plugs..
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
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 ?
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.
Shirley: These photos show my set up. Install a TEE fitting into the system as shown with a valve and garden hose fitting. Close seacock and open flush valve. Take a 5 gallon bucket and fit a garden hose bib to it at the bottom. Connect a hose from bucket to flush valve. Open flush valve and run fresh water through engine. Then add antifreeze and run that through engine and close flush valve. Done!! This also gives you a back up bilge pump in emergencies by connecting a hose to the flush valve and place other end in bilge after closing seacock.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
Another popular option is to simply close the raw water valve, unscrew the cover to the raw water filter, start the engine, and pour the fresh water into the raw water filter.
Once it’s properly flushed, pour two gallons of anti freeze into the raw water filter, screw the cap back on, and open the raw water valve.
Joe V
I have always admired your setup off the back of your strainer but I settled for just spinning off the Groco cap and adding the cap with the hose fitting when needed. Not every one has your skills. Come to think of it the cap could drain the bilge in no time as well if the need presented itself.
Just sayin
Shirley,
In case you didn’t know, assuming you have a Groco sea strainer after your raw water intake, there is a fitting you can buy that screws in to the top of the Groco with a garden hose fitting. This allows you to attach a hose directly to the system. You can make a short hose and put the other end in a 5 gallon pail suck in whatever you want into the engine cooling system. While I’m sure Joe’s works well, this is simpler and requires no plumbing and pipe fitting skills. Although the adapter probably costs a bit more, you can easily install it your self. Here’s an example, although I think you can get it on Amazon too. You’ll need to check the Groco model number to get correct size.
If I had one of those, I’d tie it to the strainer body so I don’t have to hunt it up. Mine may be more work to install initially, but probably a whole lot cheaper and obtainable at any hardware store.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
My 1989 N30 had a Groco and my 1989 N33 does now too.
I’ve been successful with the take the top off with the engine running solution, then quickly close the inlet valve, add some fresh water to flush then follow quickly with a couple of gallons of pink stuff till exhaust water runs pink.
Ed Strazzini
Pelican, N33#36
Deltaville, VA
I have never understood the buy bunch of different stuff to flush the engine - I close the thru-hull, stuff a hose into the strainer (I have a 5’ or so length of hose I garbage picked with a valve someone left under my boat to control flow), turn on the water and fire up the engine. Run for ten minutes or so and shut it all down. Open two gallons of antifreeze, drain the strainer and then fill it with antifreeze and fire up the engine and pour in the balance of the two gallons as fast as the engine will take it. Shut down the engine, clean up and you are done. One short hose to put away.
Hi All,
I’m confused by parts of this tread. In her original post, Shirley mention a “plastic coolant box” which sounds like a coolant reservoir. This is part of a closed loop. Periodically you do drain, flush, and refill the closed system. ( Just like you would for an auto. ). Probably not every year. The coolant in the loop is usually yellow/green in color… you would use a hydrometer to measure specific gravity to verify the mixture is appropriate for your climate.
Most of the tread describes how to winterize a marine diesel engine which uses raw seawater ( or lake water) to sink engine heat ( via a heat exchanger) from the engine coolant loop. The raw water system gets flushed and filled with antifreeze usually red in color. The same less toxic stuff you use in the water system.
For folks that leave their boats in the water in the winter, this is a great thread. For folks that prefer to winter on the hard, there is a caveat.
The yard may prefer to winterize the engine for you. The reasons are:
It’s easy money.
They want to bring your boat to the lift with its own power… but if its already winterized they can’t without pumping out the red antifreeze.
They definitely don’t want to have to call you when the boat is out to remind you to winterize it.
It’s bad for everyone if the a winter freeze causes a leak because you wouldn’t know till the boat is splashed.
I’ve let the yards do the engine winterization for the past few years, but I handle all the non-engine winterization myself.
What do others do ?
Rob
s/v SOAVE
NS33 #009
Cedar Point YC
Westport, CT
Rob
That’s a good explanation of the winterization process. The difference between the enclose engine coolant, and and the seawater or lake water cooling closed system should be understood by anyone doing winterization. The close system should always be winterized even in the boating season the seawater system at my yard at my yard. They expect to be done before they haul the boat so people don’t try to do it on hard they hip the boat to the lift and don’t use the engine for power. but that’s the process at pilots point Marina. The same place where you bought Soave.
It seems there are many different ways to winterize the seawater system, but I prefer using the cap. I think it’s easier and not as messy.
Hi Brian,
Yes, now that you mention it, I remember the boat they used at Pilots Point to shuttle boats to and from the lift. I remember how precisely they could maneuver. I guess they had lots of practice.
I keep Soave at a club that doesn’t have a large enough hoist on site, so I bring Soave to Norwalk Cove Marina for winter storage.
I guess we have about a month to go and 2025 will be a wrap. Time to start making my winter project list.
Smooth Sailing,
Rob…
Ward.Woodruff
(Ward Woodruff N33 #8 Margery Niantic Bay, CT)
18
Can someone prove me wrong?
My process for the Beta 35 in my N33 and the 370 HP Yanmar in my powerboat is:
Run the boat 15 miles up the Connecticut River to my boatyard. This provides the freshwater flush.
Drain the water from the raw water/seawater side: open raw water pump, and disconnect hoses to drain. Leave the raw water/Seawater side dry for the winter.
No need to buy the pink stuff.
I do a similar process (drain and blowout) on the domestic water system.
Hi Ward,
I’m still in my monkey-see-monkey-do phase of my marine maintenance training. Hearing how others winterize is helpful.
The two approaches ( flood with antifreeze VS drain ) highlight a trend in maintenance. Reduce labor. Replace components rather than parts. Reduce skill required to perform maintenance.
Seems to me both approaches work if done properly, but ( I think ) subtleties may make one approach more attractive depending on the individual.
Opening the pump requires time, knowledge, and some continuity between decommissioning and commissioning. ( where’d I stash the parts ? )
Pulling the hoses gets tricky if they are old and hard or the clamps are corroded. ( if you touch them every year you don’t let them get that way )
Blowing out the lines assumes you have a portable compressor or an air tank to take aboard.
Some knowledge of the system is helpful ( filters or seals that shouldn’t go dry ? )
Any beneficial anti-corrosion or cleansing properties in the pink stuff ?
Soave is the first boat I’ve had that has a diesel or plumbing, but it seems similar to winterizing a summer cabin… maybe I can draw on past experience ?
My experience with winterizing other stuff is that draining back is the preferred method, but flooding with antifreeze is sometimes the easier method.
I’ve enjoyed learning by doing on Soave, and will readily admit to making some mistakes. Soave has a salt water foot pump for the galley sink that I thought would drain back once on the hard. Last winter the filter housing cracked because saltwater was airlocked in the filter. The only reason I noticed it was it was next to the keel bolts that I inspected over the winter… would have been a mess if the boat was splashed with the cracked filter housing. I probably should have actuated the pump a couple times to break the airlock.
I may give your approach a try this season this season… except the part about motoring up the Connecticut River… a garden hose flush will have to do.
Cheers, Rob…
s/v SOAVE
NS33 #009
Cedar Point YC
Westport, CT
Ward.Woodruff
(Ward Woodruff N33 #8 Margery Niantic Bay, CT)
20
I am not aware of seals that should not go dry. I welcome comments from anyone with knowledge on that.
The “pink stuff” is watered down propylene glycol with a corrosion inhibitor added. The propylene glycol by itself mixed with water is corrosive.
I was at the hardware store yesterday and there was a big display of “pink stuff” at the entry. It was labeled as burst proof to -50 F.
Here is what I understand burst proof means. If the system contains the exact concentration as in the jug from the store, at -50F there will be a slush of ice in the system. The slush at that concentration will be able to move if there is room in the system. It is unlikely that our boats will experience -50F so, some additional water laying in the system could be mixed in. That additional water would raise the burst proof temperature of the system.
One could measure the concentration of the solution in the system with a hydrometer. There is likely to be some error with that as there may be areas of differing concentration due to pockets of water not thoroughly mixing.
