The video is a little shaky. Our tiny camera really needs some support but here's what it looked like as we got ready to winterize the engine.
We bought all the stuff we'd need two weeks ago. Twelve gallons of pink antifreeze, three gallons of engine oil and two oil filters. Turned out the oil filters were the wrong ones. How did we possibly buy Fram PH-6 when we needed PH-8A? How long have we been doing this? Luckily there was a NAPA close by so the right filters were easy to get. Guess we'll make a note of that in our boat log.
As you probably know, this is a sloppy process. We had a large quantity of puppy training pads in stock and we used them to sop up any oil that might be spilled. Our method is to crack the oil filter loose with a filter wrench and then slip a zip-lock bag around it. The filter and all the oil in the lines are caught by the zip-lock bag. The filter drops into the bag, we zip the bag up and we are ready to go.
The photo shows our remote oil filter assembly. We learned long ago that the engine mounted filters were much too difficult to change without spilling lots of oil into bilge, so we installed these. The remote filter assemblies were inexpensive but the oil lines that we had made at a local shop were not. But, that oil going through the filters is pretty important so spending a little for really high quality hoses is really worth it.
We pre-filled the new oil filters by sticking a funnel in the bottom and pouring in new motor oil. It takes a while to really fill the filters but once filled, it's easy to screw the new filter in. We like the Fram filters because they have a rough coating applied to the bottom that makes them easy to grip when oily. We also wear elastic gloves and when this process is complete, we will have gone though at least two pairs.
Then it was time to pump the oil out of the engine oil pans. We now use a vacuum pump and after going through three or four electric oil change pumps that stopped working after one or two seasons, we began using this one. We had warmed the engines oil by running each engine for about 30 minutes before we got started.
The directions for this pump say to pump the handle 16 times. (The tube from the pump is pushed down though the dip-stick tube.) Sixteen pumps gets us about a quart but when we recharge by pumping 16X a few more times, we get 4-1/2 quarts from each engine. Each ring on the pump appears to be a quart. This is our third season with this Marpac Fluid Extractor pump and unlike other more expensive electric pumps, it continues to work just fine. Two guys at the boat yard stopped us and asked us about the pump. It can be bought at Defender Marine for less than $60.00.
After that, we poured a gallon of Rotella 10-W30 oil into each engine and then started each one to check the oil level. The oil lines to the remote filters also have to be filled, so neither engine showed "full." We added some oil to fill the remote filter lines and the oil change part was complete.
Next we began the process of filling the engine cooling systems with antifreeze. We've found over the years that we feel comfortable with three gallons in each engine. We have fresh water cooled engines so the pink antifreeze is only protecting part of the heat exchangers and the exhaust elbows. It doesn't take much before we see pink coming out of the exhausts.
Our method of adding the pink antifreeze isn't very elegant although it always works. We use a big old five gallon bucket on which we mounted a fitting, a shut-off and a length of hose. Don't laugh. We're cheap New Englanders.
Then hose from the bucket is connected to a "T" fitting on the seawater intakes for the engine. Sure, it drips a little but it only takes two or three minutes before the seawater pump on the engine has sucked the bucket almost dry.
Did we "fog" the engines? This year, we didn't, only because we didn't have any Marvel Mystery oil on hand and we we don't like pouring motor oil down the carbs. We think the engines will be okay for the next six months without fogging.
After finishing the engine winterizing, it was time to do the boat's fresh water system. We have 45+ gallon water tank that was almost full. (Shouldn't have been, but that's another story.)
We opened the faucets in the head and galley (both hot and cold) and let them run to empty the tank. It's amazing how long that much water takes to run out. Once the pump started to spit air, we shut the faucets and added six gallons of the same antifreeze to the water tank. Then we opened the hot water faucets and waited until we saw red antifreeze coming out in the sinks. Notice we said hot water faucets. We don't disconnect and drain our hot water heater separately. We simply run antifreeze though it very thoroughly. Once we saw pink from the hot water side, we did the same thing for the cold water lines.
It's really great to see pink stuff coming out of those faucets and the head.
Bet this is the only blog that will show you a marine head at mid-flush!
To finish up, we opened the deck hose that Frances uses to wash off the deck and water her flowers. We also poured antifreeze down into the shower sump until the pump came on and opened a "T" at the air conditioning cooling pump line that is much like the ones on our engines. The AC pump isn't self priming so it takes a while to get it to suck, but it eventually goes. We run a full gallon of antifreeze through it although that may be much more than we need.
Pink antifreeze is now everywhere and it's time to complete unloading the boat, which we at least started on Sunday. Never realized how much stuff we have on this boat!
Yeah, we know. We say this every year.
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