Winterising hmmm should I?

W

woody001

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 Aug 2004
Messages
1,207
Visit site
Thinking of the winter months, should I winterise my engine??

Many people say dont bother, many people say you most.
Allot fo swedish people think we are mad wintersing our engines.

What's the panel think?

woody
 
The advice I received from a marine engineer was
a-fill the deisel tank
b-stuff oily rags in the exhaust and air intake (or cling film)
c-change the oil
d- check the anti freeze if fresh water cooled

when you say winterise, what else are you thinking of?
 
YES

I bought a secondhand diesel engine, test ran it in the garage before installing it in the boat,

It was left in the garage with all the hoses disconnected until the bearers were glassed into the boat.

A couple of weeks later we man handled it up a very steep ramp into the boat which was on its trailer and fitted the engine, (The weather was cold with snow around but I thought the engine must be empty)shortly after that I found one of the core plugs had pushed out and the cast iron exhaust manifold had cracked !.

The bit of water had been there from the testing before it was fitted.

With the cost of engine spares How lucky are you feeling ?

Pete
 
same question as Fireball, is boat in or out of water, and how much use will it get over winter.

You can get away with almost nothing if it's in seawater. If out of water needs more work
 
If you intend to keep the boat in the water, particularly salty water and use it regularly then do not winterise the engine/s.
The fact is that a piece of machinery like an engine is best kept working and doing the job it was intended to do. If it is left to do nothing it will deteriorate, winterising it will help but its still better to use it!

If the boat is taken out of water and stored ashore during winter months then do as much winterising as possible.

If you keep the boat in fresh water, then use engines again as much as possible but keep an eye on the temperatures during the coldest winter months. Make sure you have enough anti freeze etc.

I find the best way to use the engines in the winter if you cannot take the boat away from its moorings is to run the engines up in gear against the ropes, but be careful to make sure you have enough mooring rope strength to hold the boat whilst doing this! You may have to run the engines for 15 minutes or so to get engines up to temperature.
Don't forget of course to charge your batteries regularly as well.
I have been doing this for over 20 years now and never suffered a problem with any engine over the winter period.
 
Entirely relies on what you mean by winterising. All salt water should be drained including water traps and heat exchangers as freezing water can split them. All fresh water should have antifreeze anyway. Beyond this, it depends on how far you want to go. Personally if I am in the water I run my engines at least once a month. If out, I change the oil, filters and turn the engine over without starting fairly regularly. I would only ever shoot oil into the cylinders if I was leaving the boat for longer than the winter season.
 
In Chichester? ISTR that in the marina it freezes over sometimes so freezing water would be an issue for you there. In Falmouth is is unlikely to happen so in general, it depends where you are. Trouble with winterising is that it makes it inconvenient to use the boat in the winter which is a shame. Chichester is a lovely winter sailing and boating area. Seems a pity to miss out on the use of the boat.
 
Re: Winterising hmmm should I?

If you are not going to run the engine for a while I'd slacken off the fan belt and cover the engine with a blanket or similar to cut down condensation.
 
I'd drain the coolant if out of the water in winter seeing as you will want fresh coolant for the new season (even though it isn't likely to freeze solid in S Hampshire). However, fresh water may well freeze so I drain the tank, calorifier andf HW tank. It's a good idea to to remove the raw water impeller and replace before going back into the water. Immediately before liftout, I'd change the engine oil, the oil and fuel filters and the gearbox lubricant too.
 
When was the last time salt water moorings froze in Chichester? or elsewhere?

Of course salt water will freeze, but I cannot remember the last winter when it was actually that cold! I remember the thames froze about 9/10 years ago, I was up at Shepperton, the outer parts of the stream froze and the middle areas didn't. But of course this was cold enough to cause problems if I had not taken measures to avoid freezing pipes etc.
We do have to have a sustained period of minus temps before real problems occur, so we do normally get warning that this is going to happen.
 
[ QUOTE ]
When was the last time salt water moorings froze in Chichester? or elsewhere? Of course salt water will freeze, but I cannot remember the last winter when it was actually that cold!

[/ QUOTE ]
If you read my post you will see that I said "Chichester Marina", not "salt water moorings". However, Chi Marina is not considered to be fresh water and it froze for a period while we were living aboard there from Sept 2004 to May 2005. Probably froze in Feb, I imagine, as this is usually the coldest time but any local from Chi Marina will confirm that this was not an unusual or isolated occurrence.
 
Also froze to a good few mm at Emsworth around 1988/9. I remember having to smash the ice with a boat hook to get out, with lots of floating ice. Having said that, I do nothing at all to 'winterise' (raw-water engine) and simply start up the engine (or go for a 'sail') at least every few weeks. Drinking water has never frozen. Only prob is occasionally the butane stays resolutely in the bottle ... but there are ways around and of course could always change to propane.

Vic
 
The way I look at it is; at the end of the season I have my engine winterised, and at the begining of the season my engine is recommisioned which is essentially the same as a service. So all of my engine maintanence is done when I don't want to use the boat. So apart from break downs, which happen very very rarely (as I look after the engines) I have no down time in the middle of the season when I want to use the boat.

I use a marine engineering company to do it for me. I tell them when I want it wintersied and then when I want it recommsioned it all gets done and I have no worries, and it doesn't cost me much more than a yearly service. I ask them to do extras as and when required.
 
Hi, welcome to the forum. I guess that most people here do their own winterising and routine servicing for the good reason that you get to know your engine if you have to crawl over it changing filters, etc.

If you get a third party to do that then you don't really know what is going on in your engine bay and more importantly, you won't have the knowledge, experience, tools and skills if something happens when out of the reach of service mechanics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top