1st timer winterization - double check my process

[functionoverfashion]

Yes to what Liam said, I use the pink -50 RV antifreeze but it is marginal for protection if any water is present, some people are buying the -100 for peace of mind. The real reason for draining, and this is specific to certain engines which includes the 351 Ford, is that whether the thermostat is open or not you are adding antifreeze over a chamber filled with water. There is mixing and some antifreeze just rolls on through and exits without displacing much water. Lots of people get by without draining, but there have been enough frozen blocks to say it's not the best way to do it. I drain my engine in something like 5 minutes, only thing that takes a bit more time is if your riser plugs are tough to remove, but if you remove them yearly they are easy. For five minutes work, 0 cost, and really easy task to do I'll take the added protection. I really don't understand why people resist doing this.

If you really dislike the 5 minutes, you can buy/make a quick drain setup by putting fittings with shutoff valves on all the drain points. Then you can just open them quickly without any tools, close them up, and run a/f through the system. I had these on my old boat and I could go winterize the boat with only a 5/16 nut driver (to take the heater hose off.)

[DaveNH]

I'm with you on that, I have petcocks on my drains as well. The 5 minutes was generous, assuming I'd get the usual 3 texts from my kids while I was trying to do it!

The other, very real benefit is that you can probe the drains to let any silt flow out that might be accumulating in the block, depends on where you boat as to how much gets in. And, you tend to flush the scale out of the risers as they drain.

[scott resick]

If you really dislike the 5 minutes, you can buy/make a quick drain setup by putting fittings with shutoff valves on all the drain points. Then you can just open them quickly without any tools, close them up, and run a/f through the system. I had these on my old boat and I could go winterize the boat with only a 5/16 nut driver (to take the heater hose off.)

I did this with the heater core so it can be easily maintained. Thanks for the info guys