Is my G damaged from freezing temps?

[Daveed]

Hi all,

I’m on my second G23 and I’ve never winterized my boat because we typically surf year-round. I have 2 Xtreme heaters that I use, 1 in the engine compact and the other in the bung hole compartment. My boat is stored in a metal barn that is foam-insulated.

I live in Texas and, last week, most of the state experienced some form of power loss when **** literally froze over. Temperatures where I live were below freezing for at least 4 straight days. Now that things have thawed and we’re back into 70 degree temps, I’m taking inventory of the damage the winter freeze inflicted on my house and property.

My question is: what can I do to determine if my boat has been damaged by the freezing temperatures? Do I need to take it to the dealer? Or drop it in the water and see what happens? Are there tell-tale signs I can look for?

Thanks in advance

[Nautiquehunter]

Did you loose electricity? The heaters should have protected the boat as long as they were working. It takes a long time to get the inside of the barn loaded with stuff that holds heat to go to freezing temps that will cause damage. Your engine is in a covered compartment another insulator to the cold. Do you have a heater in the boat? The heater core is under the dash and is less protected . Last do you have freeze protection on your insurance policy? Put it in the water and watch the engine temp if its is normal look at the engine ,trans and v drive oil for water contamination.

[bird_dog0347]

I would take it to Buxton and let them look at it.

[Stevemo14]

I have never had a boat freeze, but I have push the limits on my 5th wheel, and things froze way quicker than I would have imagined. No damage because I caught it, and turned the heat on within 12 hours, but the lines were defiantly frozen.

From what I saw on IG ( Joey Bradley's account, the original purchaser of my boat ) things looked bad down there. He deals with pools, and those pics were brutal.

I hope your boat is ok, but i think its 50/50 at this point.

[nohlan_4]

What year is your G?


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[hal2814]

I’m also in DFW. My garage is insulated but it still got well below freezing and stayed that way for days. I also didn’t have power the entire time. I did winterize but I still ran my engine earlier this week to check everything. I don’t want to find out in March or April I have problems. I checked the oil and trans fluid levels and ran the engine until it warmed up completely. While it’s running I listened for misfires and back fires and check visually to see if there were any external cracks in the engine, transmission, and exhaust manifolds. Once it got up to temp I was able to verify the thermostat was working by watching the temp hold steady for a few minutes. After that I turned everything off and waited for a few minutes. Then I checked my fluids again to make sure they were still the same and no water was getting in the engine or transmission. After that I redrained everything. I don’t do antifreeze because I also run pretty much year round. I’ll be out again in a few weeks at most.

It depends on year and options but most G23s are at least partially closed cooked. You’re probably looking at exhaust manifold problems at worst case. And maybe heater. I don’t know much about them. I’ve never had an operational heater.

[bturner]

Agree with the general comments above. Had the "what if and it's cheap insurance" winterization discussion with several people this year on another forum. The short version of which why not is that it never freezes here so I don't drain/winterize and I haven't had a problem for x amount of years. The counter to that is if the worst case occurs (freezing weather, no power) at least dry blocking at a minimum is a cheap insurance policy. Well unfortunately.... the worst case happened which is really rare in some places.

As stated above you have a 50/50 chance and that will depend greatly on just how cold it got inside your boat. The low hanging fruit for freeze damage is going to be exhaust manifolds as they seem to be the first place to go. With the larger displacement motor hybrid cooling systems this would be my fist place to check. On those hybrid system the heat exchanger would be the first place I'd look after the manifolds. Look for cracks which will typically have water trails from where water is/has escaped. A lot of time especially after sitting for a while you'll see rust stains where a crack has occurred. A bright light will be very helpful trying to identify any areas as black tends to mask a lot. If your block is fresh water cooled then in addition to the above you're going to be looking for pushed out or leaking freeze plugs.

On the ballast systems I really haven't seen much damage there on used boats that I've looked at where I fairly certain those systems were not winterized properly. As long as they were drained you should be fine. If you're boat has a fresh water system like a sink or something all bets are off if you actually stored the boat with water in the system.

[SilentSeven]

If not drained, any heat exchanger or small water system (shower, etc) will typically be the first item(s) to freeze - which makes sense when you think about it. Consider looking at those first. If you have a cockpit heater, that can be a good place to start as by design they are in a high air circulation area. Look for drips and wetness around the heater core which would suggest freeze related cracking.

Sadly, a visual inspection won't always show problems. You may have to get pressure and heat into the system to discover any leaks.

Hope it's all ok.

[LakesideRec]

Cracks from freeze damage often kind of close back up into a hairline crack when unfrozen. So the leaking may be slow.

[Daveed]

My G23 is a 2018. The heaters were without power for most of the 4 coldest, sub-freezing-temp days. The barn where the boat is stored is on my property. I call it a barn because the previous owners of the property had 2 horses. When I bought the property I removed the stalls, removed the fiberglass insulations, and spray foamed the interior walls. The barn is basically a metal-sided Morton structure, or pole barn as they are called here in North Texas.

I've never winterized my boat because I do use it year-round. I've felt pretty safe with this practice as the boat is stored on my property, making it easy to check and re-check that the heaters are properly functioning. Like a lot of people here in Texas, I never accounted for such an extended period without power.

My initial plan was to drop the boat in the water this evening and see what's what. Instead, I dropped it off at Buxton Marine this morning for a more thorough inspection.

[nohlan_4]

Yea it being a late model with open loop cooling I’d be more worried about damage. 2015 and earlier G’s like mine had more of a closed loop system so they are harder to freeze.


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[SilentSeven]

..... of the 4 coldest, sub-freezing-temp days.

Just of of curiosity...how cold did it get at night and what were the daytime temps?

Fingers crossed for a happy ending.

[Daveed]

Just of of curiosity...how cold did it get at night and what were the daytime temps?

Fingers crossed for a happy ending.

Thanks.

The lows were between mid single digits to mid teens for 3 days, highs were mid teens to mid twenties for 5 days. The 14th I legit got ice crystals in my beef after leaving it outside in the snow for an hour. It was farking cold

[SilentSeven]

Yeah....that's concerning. I think you're doing the right thing going to the dealer for a check....

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[bturner]

I was thinking you'd be fine if it just got down in the upper 20's or just below freezing. Teens for days is concerning. Best of luck.....