First time winterizing ! need a little info ??

Heyy this is my first boat and in the next couple weeks I will be looking for a mechanic to winterize my boat. I was just wondering ( I'm not a engine guy at all ) what sort of things are typical done during the process and how much do people roughly pay ??

I have a I/O 4.3 cobra engine ( 1988 holiday )

Thanks in advanced !

Is this engine raw water cooled, or cooled via a Closed Cooling system?

To be honest I'm not sure, I'm heading up to the boat today. How can I check ??

Is there an easy way to check out how ?? sorry for my inexperience

Put some Sta-Bil in the tank. Turn off the fuel tap and run the engine until it runs out of gas. Change the oil, drain all the water and/or coolant out of the block, manifolds. Bring the batteries indoors. If you have fresh water tank, holding tank, they need to be drained too. Run the faucets dry, open up the fresh water system pump. That's about it.

thank you very much for your reply !

Sorry to reopen the thread but I called my local marine mechanic and his winteriztion includes putting stablizer in the fuel, fogging the engine ( I think he said ) draining the enging and checking the gear oils for 135 dollars. Does this sound likea good deal ? and is he missing anything ?

that's a very good price. removing battery, changing engine oil/filter are the missing things.
I change engine oil /filter first before the fogging/draining. I do the fog running on new oil. I doubt you have any tap to turn off for your fuel. I have never done anything in that regard.

Ok thanks I'll prob remove the batteries myself anyways. Should I idle the the boat tell she runs out of gas ? or does it need a little gas for a lot of gas for the winterization ??

IF??? You have a fuel shut off??? then you can run it out of gas(my opinion,not a good idea).
If you don't have one,then don't run it empty.
If you run it out of fuel, you don't burn all the gas.You leave a small bit in the crooks and crannies.
It will dry out faster because not much is there.
It will gum up quicker.
The tank should be full when left for any length of time.
Condensation forms in a partially filled tank a lot quicker than a full one.
The oil should be changed when you winterize.
That way you'll know if it has any problems(water,metal shavings etc.).
The sta-bil is a good idea.Even in the summer.
It should be added the last trip out so it can circulate in the system/
Just adding it when the winterizing is done won't get it circulated as well.
Depending on the motor and weather or not you have a closed system.
Draining and leaving it empty isn't as good as leaving it full of anti-freeze or a substitute.
The exposed metal of the crank case and the manifolds will rust faster if it only has air in the system.
My job would be: Add sta-bil,change oil,drive and motor.
Flush the system,remove drain plugs and clean out any blockages/sand etc.
Fog.
Drain and fill with a good marine approved anti-freeze.(auto anti-freeze is illegal to flush into the lakes/rivers/ocean)
Grease the fittings, drop the drive and grease the u-joint fittings and check the bellows,Make sure the water(#1) passages are clear.Reinstall drive,new gasket,remove prop,grease the shaft.
Depending on the boats extras? Sink? Head? They'd get drained and air blown through the lines.
It's been a few years since I've winterized anything,but I think I got most of it.
The batteries should be taken out and stored inside where they won't freeze.Then again my car battery froze every winter when I lived in.MI. and Md.
The 135$ for a dealer is ok.
Just not the job you should have done.
He probably won't drop the drive?? Or grease anything. I wouldn't be happy with that job at all.


#1 there is a small screw on the side of your drive that needs to be loosened and drained if the drive isin't removed.

Hey Jerry thanks for the great details of how and what to expect for winterizing my boat

ominous11, I'm not including anything pertaining to your exhaust system. Hopefully that will be self explanatory.

Your O/B potable water system (as you know) will need to be winterized.
Blowing the lines out with air will work, but perhaps with a caveat.
Air will blast and move water out to the system......., however, water may return to any low points, where it may sit and freeze expand.

IMO, if you'll drain the system, and then add the pink RV type anti-freeze and pump it through the system, you'll have less to worry about.
This will cover you for the system lines, the system pump, and all system fixtures.

Water Heater main tanks are typically drained and left dry.
If yours has a winterizing "By-Pass" valve kit, be sure to use it.

The kit allows for purging the entire system (both the hot and cold sides) with the Pink RV anti-freeze, while the WH remains "dry".
This saves you time and anywhere from 6 to 12 gallons of the Pink RV anti-freeze.






If this engine is RWC'd, your coils within the WH and/or Cabin Heater will be heated with raw water..... and will also need to be drained down.


As for your engine:
It will be important that you add the fuel stabilizer prior to your last run, or prior to a short trailer ride as you'll want this to blend and mix with the fuel in the tank.

You can also remove the fuel filter cartridge, dump some fuel off, and add an oil enriched fuel mixture directly to the cartridge.
Re-install the filter cartridge.

Warm the engine up for your oil/filter change.
Re-start engine after the oil change.

Now this oil enriched mixture has made it's way into the carburetor.


If RWC'd, pull all of the sea water drain ports, and be sure to probe them to free them of any rust scale.
Remove the Circ pump suction hose, and drain this area.

Next, remove the sea water pump impeller, and shelf it for the winter.
(it makes no sense to install a new impeller during lay up time)

Last on the list will be the cylinder fogging.
NOTE: introducing oil enriched fuel and engine fogging are not one-in-the-same.
I'd recommend fogging in addition to the oil enriched fuel, for best protection.

With the impeller removed, you'll be doing a 8 to 10 second "dry start".
Don't panic..... this is done often and with zero issues.
During this 8 to 10 second "dry start", you will fog the cylinders.
8 to 10 seconds is more than enough time to properly fog this engine, and we will not harm any exhaust components.



Key points to fogging:
Fog at approx 1,000 RPM.
Instead of letting the fogging solution kill combustion, have a helper ready to kill the ignition.
Leave the throttle position alone, and continue fogging until all comes to a halt after ignition has been cut.
Now your fogging solution has not been partially combusted.

I don't believe that the 4.3L engine uses a dual plane intake manifold.
For the SBC V-8's, you'd want to know that an equal amount of fogging solution should be applied to both primary throttle bores.
If we miss one plane, we risk missing 1/2 of the cylinders.


I marked up a SBC V-8 intake manifold some time back to show which cylinders use which plane.
Like said..... this may not apply to the 4.3L.