[C320-list] Winterization Plumbing on my C320

[Michael Leschisin]

 A couple of things I consider on the winterizing topic when doing my boat.  

The term antifreeze is really a misnomer.  Most of the -50 PG antifreeze on the market begins to slush and eventually freeze solid at around +20 to +12 degrees.  It gets its burst protection from the fact that water expands by about 10% when it freezes and most of the -50 products expand at around 3% as they start to freeze.  The -50 rating is the temperature at which the product expands enough to burst a copper pipe; plastic pipes like the ones on our boats, much less.  Starbrite’s web site rates their Wintertech -50 for burst protection of PVC pipes to -10 if undiluted.  I take that to mean plastic pumps, PVC connectors and Pex pipes would fall in the same realm.  Living where I do, January lows can hover around -25 for a week or two at a time so I use a Shop-vac to get the water out, run a quality antifreeze through the system and then suck that out.  Anything left has room for expansion.

Alcohol is know to do a number on rubber seals and o-rings.  For the twenty minutes the antifreeze is in my water system it probably wouldn’t make a big difference, but there still is residual solution sitting on the pump heads, whale fittings, and other parts over the course of the winter.  
Would I find a melted pump under the vanity next spring?  Probably not.  Would I be shortening the life of my pumps? Maybe?  With a water heater by-pass it costs me about an additional $6 to run non-alcohol based antifreeze verses the cheep stuff, so my philosophy is "antifreeze is cheap, Boat parts aren’t”.  I definitely would not consider using anything with alcohol in the head where a weak Joker Valve can lead to a wonderland of aromatherapy.  I was a bit shocked the first year I winterized to find -75 antifreeze frozen solid in the head at about +5 degrees.  I have since gone to using -100 that won’t freeze until -40.  I run the same Starbrite -100 through the engine raw water system and use a refractometer to test the last bit, spit out the exhaust, so I know I’m good down to -70 or better.  (Nothing like peace of mind during those cold snaps) You can get them relatively cheap on Amazon- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3AY7Q3/ref=emc_b_5_i <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3AY7Q3/ref=emc_b_5_i>   and I’m sure there’s a reason you can pay over $100 for one, but I’m just looking for a ballpark figure and not a scientific number on the coolant.  I also use it to test the closed coolant system.  By running the -100 though I’ve protected my impeller housing, heat exchanger and muffler, but I know awful lot of sailors who overlook testing the closed system that could lead to a cracked engine block.



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Michael Leschisin
mleschisin at imagestudios.com <mailto:mleschisin at imagestudios.com>

Wild Blue Yonder
Menominee, MI

#995





> On Oct 12, 2021, at 4:21 PM, Ken McCrimmon <kenmccrimmon at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Good Afternoon
> I am looking to learn from somebody who does their own winterization of the plumbing systems on their C320.
> My home is north of Toronto and my boat is in Midland.
> 
> I would be interested in helping somebody who would not mind me learning from them.
> 
> Willing to do the heavy lifting
> 
> Ken