Winterize Aerator ballast pumps?

[BrickBrock]

Do you guys do any thing special for your ballast aerator pumps to prepare for freezing temperatures?
Mine are hooked up to sacks in the back of the boat. The empty pumps are easy to get to, but the fill pumps are a bit more difficult. I will bring the sacks in for the boat's winter slumber, but I wonder what everyone else does with their aerator pumps and bilge pumps? I still have the hard belly tank, so I will drain that tank completely also.

[Chexi]

Do you guys do any thing special for your ballast aerator pumps to prepare for freezing temperatures?
Mine are hooked up to sacks in the back of the boat. The empty pumps are easy to get to, but the fill pumps are a bit more difficult. I will bring the sacks in for the boat's winter slumber, but I wonder what everyone else does with their aerator pumps and bilge pumps? I still have the hard belly tank, so I will drain that tank completely also.[ATTACH=CONFIG]25803[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]25804[/ATTACH]

For the ballast, just runs the aerator pumps on empty until no more water comes out. Then run them for another minute. They are aerators, so you won't a damage them. If you bags have quick connects, disconnect them and take the bags out.

Since this is your first boat, if you really plan on winterizing yourself, which I strongly recommend against until you are more familiar with the boat, be sure to read the manual on this site for your boat several times regarding winterization of the motor. Ideally, find someone local with the same boat who can walk you through it. Some people suck up anti-freeze. Others drain the water. There is no consensus as to which is better.

But since you need to change the oil and tranny and vdrive fluids anyway, I'd still strongly recommend you have a pro do it all right now. This is a new to you boat that you have hardly had a chance to use and also your first boat. If you mess something up, or even if you don't (and there is some latent problem that you did not discover when you inspected the boat, is the hassle next spring when you have a cracked head or other problem really worth it? Think of the conversation with the wife. She's better than most about things like this, but why risk it for a few hundred bucks?

Do you have a heater? If you do, don't forget to winterize it too.

[charlesml3]

Do you guys do any thing special for your ballast aerator pumps to prepare for freezing temperatures?

I do. It never occurred to me until I had one freeze a few years ago and shatter the housing. Anyway, the idea here is to figure out how you can get some RV Antifreeze into the pumps. On my 1999 Air, I use the vent for the ballast tanks on the Starboard side of the boat. I get a funnel into it and slowly pour a whole gallon of RV Antifreeze into it. The antifreeze goes down the vent line where it dumps into the ballast tanks from the top. It then drains out the bottom, THROUGH THE PUMPS and out the pickup in the bottom of the boat.

You'll need to figure out a way to get the same result on your boat.

-Charles

[NautiqueOasis]

I attached a bilge pump to the bottom of a 5 gal bucket; connect a hose from bilge pump to my fake-a-lake; place fake-a-lake over ballast intake underneath boat; put 2-3 gal of RV antifreeze in bucket; turn on fill switch at console and run bilge pump; sucks in antifreeze into tank; I then drain ballast for a short spurt; takes about 15 minutes.