Some folks at our club have used a similar setup but they do it without any hose disconnection. They have a bucket with a hose at the bottom to catch the exhaust and route it back externally to the raw water intake with a length of hose with a valve attached to a short section of piping with a toilet bowl plunger acting as a seal to the outside hull. Two or three person job to 1) hold the bucket 2) hold the plunger to the hull 3) start/stop the engine. They let it run until warm or whatever the owner wants - also catches most of the antifreeze from getting dumped into the yard. They move from boat to boat adding antifreeze to the bucket for each.
ed -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Robert Wooden Sent: Friday, October 19, 2012 1:11 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Winterizing an Engine I think I do something different than most people... I have an Atomic 4 gas engine, but would not be afraid to try this with a small diesel; this process ensures that all the raw water passages are flushed with antifreeze. - Rig up a suction hose to the raw water pump. I use a short section of garden hose - Have a cheap 5 gallon bucket with maybe 2 gallons of antifreeze in it - Fill the hose with a funnel to avoid the impeller running dry even for a few seconds - Hang the bucket from the transom (done on the hard) so it "catches" the antifreeze from the exhaust I use a short piece of line over the stern railing - Run the engine until everything is up to temperature (maybe 5 - 10 minutes, the raw water cooled A4 takes a while to warm up) - At the end, just before engine shutdown, pull the hose from the bucket and (use a funnel) pour a gallon of fresh antifreeze into the hose - Shut the engine down as the last of the antifreeze is sucked into the engine Since I run the engine and circulate the antifreeze I don't worry about thermostats, water muffler drains etc. I have done this for 6 years now (in Wisconsin, yes it gets cold here) without any issues. You can use the same technique to run the engine in the spring with water to ensure it still starts/runs (if you are paranoid). It is really easy to rig up and allows you to run the engine any time you want "on the hard". In the spring, if you wanted to run the engine for an extended period you could put a hose in the bucket and keep if full instead of catching the exhaust water. Just an alternate way to winterize that I had not heard anyone talk about... Bob Wooden Rhapsody C&C 27, Mk III, 1975 _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
