Ballast Tanks - Winterization

[ksuich01]

Hey Everyone! I just bought my first V drive and it comes with Ballast Tanks. What is everyone's experience with winterizing these tanks. It seems like a plastic tank with no water in it should not be a problem, but what about water lines/pumps? It seems they are gravity drained.

Thanks for any insight!

[NautiqueJeff]

What most people do is first make sure the tanks are empty. You can run the pumps in drain mode on the trailer to ensure you got all of the water out. Then use a fake-a-lake or similar to allow the pumps to draw anti-freeze into the pumps and lines. If your boat is new enough to only have one pump per tank, that's all you need to do. If you have a separate fill pump and drain pump, you'll need to pump in enough anti-freeze so that your drain pump can pick it up from inside the tank. Then run the drain pump until anti-freeze comes out of the drain port. That way you know you have anti-freeze in all of the pumps.

[ksuich01]

Thanks Jeff.. I have a 2008 SV 211... I saw 3 pumps in the enginebox... I assume these are both drain/fill?

[s_kelley2000]

Yes, 2006+ will have reversible impeller pumps, so one pump per tank.

[Nautiquehunter]

I drain the tanks then disconnect the suction hose going the each pump . I take a 2' separate hose and connect to each pump one at a time then put the other end in a gal of RV antifreeze and turn the pump on. After the jug is empty I remove the impellers and store them separately.

[wazzy]

I tried this suck up method today with our 02 SAN with out any luck. The "IN" pumps are Jabsco's & the "OUT" pumps are Rule. Somebody told me to dump some AF down the drain fitting in the side of the boat & all should be good. Does this make sense? Any other thoughts/suggestions?

[Auburn Tiger]

Wazzy, That's exactly what I did. One gallon per tank. Fitting angles down so I inserted a tube then put a funnel on top and climbed up a ladder so I was poring higher than the hole. Turn pumps on to empty and you have now circulated the AF through your system!

[SoldTheBayliner]

Mine has two pumps with a line between. I remove the line between and turn both pumps on until they're done spitting water in the bilge and not gurgling anymore... I leave the line off and put it back in spring. No antifreeze. No problems in 4 sub-zero winters doing it that way.

[wazzy]

I ended up pouring 12 oz of AF down the "out" (used a funnel with a tube), then put my mouth on each & blew into the tank. (considered that was good enough). Then for the Jabsco's, I took both in & out hoses off & blew back through them. Some water (or AF went back into the tank). Decided to use my Top-Sider to suck any other water out of the hoses (probaby should have done this first). Then I decided to take the panel off to expose the impeller to drain any water in there.
I know this is probaby all over kill & not in the right order, but I feel much better now going into the winter.
Since there is some AF (& maybe a little water) in the tanks, should I empty them the best I can with the pumps?