Winterizing Ballast Tanks

[MTRBTR]

I came up with an easy way to get marine antifreeze into the ballast tank vents without having to unscrew the hoses or pump in with a fake a lake. This is especially nice for the belly tank. The vent hoses or the rear tanks are easy enough to unscrew and to pour antifreeze into but the belly tank would be pretty hard to get to and the vent points down so its hard to get a hose shoved far enough into the vent hole and not have it come pouring back out your vents. I installed a new dishwasher in my house recently and didn't need the new hose. I had it laying around my garage and found that the rubber end fit perfectly into the vent hole of my SV 211. It was a perfect seal. So as long as my funnel was above the level of the vent the antifreeze would pour right into the tank through the hose. I put about 2 gallons through each tank and pump. I could catch most of the antifreeze from the intake under the boat into a bucket when I pumped it out of the tank. It worked really good.

[GMLIII]

Wouldn't your technique work just as well for the 2 rear tanks as you used for the belly tank vs unscrewing rear vent hoses? Looks to be a great idea.

[MTRBTR]

I used it for the rear tanks also.

[ckevans98]

So This is my first time with a boat with ballast tanks. 2008 super air 220. To winterize you pour 2 gallons of antifreeze into each of the over flow holes on the side of the boat and then turn on the drain for the tanks until the water/antifreeze comes out from the bottom? Im afraid to make a mistake diy but it cost 50-$ per tank at the marina im looking at. Is there anything that you have to do for the heater that is in my boat? Thanks in advance.
Chad

[bturner]

There are different ways/strategies people approach both these winterization procedures. What works best for one boat may not be the best for the next. This method should work well for most every ballasted boat with reversible pumps. The idea behind it is that you're basically putting antifreeze in the tanks through the overflow then running the pump(s) to pump out what water and antifreeze is left in the tank which in turn ensures that antifreeze is in the lines and whatever is left in the tank is a mixtures of antifreeze and water.

On my boat I have easy access to the pumps by just removing some 8 or 10 wing nuts to remove the entire rear seat back. I then remove the fill side hose of the pump, attach a hose to the pump, place the other end into a bucket with a gallon of antifreeze and pump that gallon into the tank. There is now antifreeze throughout the system and I know that the more delicate components have pure antifreeze that hasn't mixed with any residual water that may have been left in the tank. I've used this method on two different boats for the past 11 years, live in Michigan and haven't had an issue with any boat I've used this method with.

Both methods work and based on the OP's experience I'd say his will cost slightly more to do but mine will take longer. Either in my book are acceptable.

On the heater..... The way I like to do the heater is to first drain all the water from the cooling system per the instructions in the the engine manual. The PCM instructions are really good and the flow diagram is much better than I've seen from Indmar or Ilmor which I'm most familiar with. Once you have all the water drained out of the engine and manifolds leave the engine drains out for now. Remove the the heater line from the top of the block and either use a compressor (with no more than 10 lbs of pressure) or blow into the line (which can be challenging) until you hear the water in the line drain in to then out of the block. Do this a couple times until you no longer hear any water going into the engine. I next use a funnel to put non toxic antifreeze into the line and will once again pressurize the line until I hear fluid draining into the block. When you hear that you know you have antifreeze throughout the system. You can now replace all your drain plugs and proceed with filling the block with antifreeze.This is a low tech and easy way to know your system is safe for winter.

I'm sure there's a bunch of other ways to achieve the same end result but both of these have severed me well over the years.

[MTRBTR]

Yes, you have it right. My way of doing it (not saying its the best way) is tip the front end as high as I can with the trailer jack and pump as much residual water (if any) out of the ballast tank as I can get. I pumped one gallon of antifreeze through, looked at it and I could tell it was still diluted with water so I pumped another gallon through and it was pretty pink, so I figured it was good. Had good luck with that last winter and it gets pretty cold here.

As far as the heater, after draining the boat I unhook the heater hoses and blow through it until all the water comes out. That should be good enough. I am a little OCD so I put all my plugs back in the engine after draining and suck antifreeze through the system and then pull all the plugs and drain it again and blow the heater hose out again. You should not have to drain it a second time if it has antifreeze in it but I do it anyway.

[MTRBTR]

BTurners ways for both are really good too.