[C320-list] winterizing/ oil change

[Michael Leschisin]

Hey Lou,

Winterizing is not hard as long as you take your time and follow a check list so that you don’t overlook anything.  I had the yard do the oil change the first year on our boat and they made such a mess I vowed never to have them do it again.  I think you can do a better job since you’ll take the care to do it right on your own boat.  

As far as doing the oil change in the water, I did that the first couple of years but always felt under the gun since time would run short and I had my haul out scheduled.   I’ve gone to changing it while in the cradle.  I can take my time and can also get my raw water antifreeze through the system at the same time.  

I disconnect the raw water pickup hose from the seacock that’s in the back of the engine compartment and have about three or four feet of the same diameter, clear hose that I attach with a PVC barbed coupling.  I run that hose up to the cockpit through the rear cabin port light and clip it into a bucket with a spring clamp.  I then run a garden hose into the bucket and attach it with a spring clamp so that it doesn’t fall out.  I clean out the sea strainer, reinstall it and I’m ready to go.  I turn on the water and allow it to overflow the bucket so it just runs out the back of the cockpit.  I go ahead and start the engine and watch to see that the water is being taken up by the engine.  Sometimes I need to give it a kick of throttle to get the flow going but once it settles in I can drop back to a bit above idle and just make sure I’m not taking up water faster than the garden hose is putting it out.  I run the engine up to temp for my oil change and as long as I’m not sucking that bucket dry I could run all day with this set up. 

Once the engine gets up to temp, I shut the engine down, pull the garden hose out, empty the water from the bucket and refill it with -100 antifreeze.  I reinsert the pickup hose and restart the engine watching to see that the antifreeze is going in; again I might need to give it a little throttle kick to get it started.  I run three gallons through, adding to the bucket as it goes since my bucket is fairly small.  When I get down to the last  of the antifreeze, I have a friend catch a few ounces as its being spitting from the exhaust.  I shut down the engine as the bucket nears empty and I’m all set to go.  I bought a refractometer on amazon for about $35 which allows me to test the exhaust antifreeze and to sleep on those subzero nights throughout the winter (I live in Wisconsin).  If the refractometer shows a freeze point of -70, I know I’m all set. (Most won’t read below -70 for propylene glycol even if the concentration is 100%).  I could probably run less antifreeze if I drained the aqualift muffler, but I like to see that water spitting on start up so I know everything is flowing through the engine.  Beside, antifreeze is cheap relative to engine parts.

I clean up the cockpit, reattach the raw water hose and move on to the oil change.

Hope this helps,

Michael Leschisin
Wild Blue Yonder
C320 #995
Menominee, MI


> On Aug 29, 2024, at 7:44 AM, Louis Friedman via C320-list <c320-list at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:
> 
> Hey all,
> 
> Second winter coming up with our C320. last year I had the yard do all the
> work other than removing sails and covering. Thinking about doing the oil
> change, winterize stuff myself this year but I'm not particularly handy. I
> did read the full summary someone posted on here a few years ago. It's
> good.  Just worried I will miss something and royally screw up the engine!
> Just to confirm, Boat in the water for oil change and out of the water for
> winterizing engine and water?
> 
> Lou Friedman
> MissAdventure #623