Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

[paultjohnson]

I was checking out the boat launch in So St Paul on the Mississippi today. Came across a guy winterizing his boat on the launch.. BTW he was causing no inconvenience for anyone as there was 2 ramps, cold and not busy...
He said he does it like this every year...leaves boat on trailer, puts drive in the water, gets it up to temp to open the stat, shuts boat off, pulls the boat up a bit, Then he puts his bucket, fitted with a hose valve like on your house, that has a chunk of hose with muffs on the end, on the ski step and installs muffs on drive. He had about 5 gal of RV AF. He filled the bucket, opened the valve and started the engine. Ran it till pink came out of the exhaust , it started turning pink after about 2 gals, he went thru 4 gal..He was fogging it as the AF drained from the bucket. He had already changed the oil and was gonna go home and change the gear lube.
To me it didn't seem like the water coming out was very pink, He seemed to really take his time from when he pulled the boat out after it got to temp[not running] and getting his bucket hooked up and restarted. Damn near 10 min I bet, I would think the stat would close again. But he said good enough.... hmmm ....He then stores it as is... Just thought I would pass this along ......... IMHO he is askn' for trouble I wouldn't trust that the AF thoroughly replaced the water... Whatchya think ???

 

[Bluestream]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

Well its not the right way to do things.

I wonder where all that anti-freeze ends up???

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

I hope he has plenty of those jugs and really hope the impeller will pull it up.
If the thermostat did not open he will have something cracked come spring..

 

[98Shabah]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

I'm pretty curious why the guy would do this at a ramp.. Really.. Maybe he likes an audience? Maybe it gives him a reason to get away from the house??

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

I'm pretty curious why the guy would do this at a ramp.. Really.. Maybe he likes an audience? Maybe it gives him a reason to get away from the house??

He said it kills his grass at home.

 

[rhino4552]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

He said it kills his grass at home.

And I guess he assumes its better to let it drain into the water. This kind of thing frustrates the heck out of me.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

Was he running it with the drive tilted up? He has a lot more to worry than dead grass.

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

And I guess he assumes its better to let it drain into the water. This kind of thing frustrates the heck out of me.

I'm not defending him, but I don't know... How toxic is RV anti-freeze? I assumed it was relatively harmless. I know the green/ blue stuff is harmful...ethel glycol.. But is pink ?

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

Was he running it with the drive tilted up? He has a lot more to worry than dead grass.

he put it down prob 75%

 

[spudshaft]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

Pretty sure the pink stuff would kill fish. I wouldn't let my dog drink it, anyway

 

[DaNinja]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

I used the same setup. I used Low-Tox and would never do it at the ramp.

I did it in the back yard with a collection tub beneath the drive.

Oh, and this...
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=388961

 

[ccustomrides]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

Iboats forum is official Antifreeze haters.LOL
He is using Rv/Marine antifreeze which is used in Engines and water systems. So yes it's safe for fish,people,kids and all dogs! Now warming up the engine so the thermostat opens up is a MUST but I am pretty sure he ran it at the dock till TEMP and then poured in the freeze.

 

[scoutabout]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

I like a nifty contraption as much as the next guy but this seems like a lot of hassle for potentially iffy results.

Open the block and manifolds and let them drain. Pull a hose or two and fill the block with a funnel if you want to fill it at all. I personally liked having a block full of antifreeze but this seems like way more hassle than is required.

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

Here is product info on Marine Antifreeze from Jamestown Distributors website.

Marine Antifreeze -50 F
Safe. Odorless. Tasteless. This is an excellent antifreeze for marine or RV applications. Protects to 50 degrees below zero. No mixing required. Great for use as engine storage. Propylene Glycol formula makes this pink marine / boat / rv antifreeze non-toxic.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

Here is product info on Marine Antifreeze from Jamestown Distributors website.

Marine Antifreeze -50 F
Safe. Odorless. Tasteless. This is an excellent antifreeze for marine or RV applications. Protects to 50 degrees below zero. No mixing required. Great for use as engine storage. Propylene Glycol formula makes this pink marine / boat / rv antifreeze non-toxic.

OK, the nerd in me kicked in and I just had to look it up. Propylene glycol is considered non-toxic for most animals, except cats for which it is very toxic. The main issue with propylene glycol based anti-freeze getting into surface waters is high BOD (bio-oxygen demand) - in the process of breaking down it depletes oxygen from the water. Propylene glycol has a BOD about 500 times that of raw sewage, meaning that dumping 1 gallon of propylene glycol in the river has the same effect as 500 gallons of raw sewage.

One guy spilling antifreeze probably isn't going to do a whole lot, but IMHO it's still pretty irresponsible.

 

[Haffiman]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

I find it sometimes a bit amusing reading the comments from the 'environmentalists' on the forum.
Don't pollute here -don't pollute there.
But the whole season they have no scruples running around puking out toxic fumes, polluting the air and killing whatever fish they may catch for fun.
(Exempted those who catch for fun, and let them out again, with or without hooks here and there).
Not to forget all the styrene let out when the boat is produced.
Honestly, I do not think he does that much more harm to the environment compared to boating activity in general.

 

[ontario026]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

I use a similar device to winterize the majority of the boats at my marina, with a few exceptions. It is a purpose made jug, I beleive starbrite brand, and the actuall kit includes a y adapter, so you can run the boat on water with the muffs, then switch over to draw antifreeze once the engine is hot... I DO NOT USE THE KIT AS DESIGNED.... I manually pull hoses, block drains, etc etc to drain 95+% of the water from the system then I hook the jug directly to the water muffs, I normally use the mercury "PIN" style muffs for a better seal, then open the valve on the jug and fire the engine, the proplene glycol w/rust inhibitor antifreeze gets sucked through and I watch to see pink coming out of the exhaust releif ports in the transom plate, then before the antifreeze runs out I hop back in the boat, and give a little fogging oil down the carb and kill the motor.... Then I grab a funnel and a bit more antifreeze and give a little extra down each manifold hose till I hear it running out the exhaust, then the remaining I pull the big "rad" hose going to the engine circulating pump and top off the hose till the block is full. reinstall the hoses, double check the engine oil level, gear lube monitor, etc and trim it up and send it out the door with a note on the invoice for the customer to lower the trim and disconnect batteries once storage location has been reached... That is the only way I recommend using the "winterizing kits".... Remove basically all the water first, then introduce the antifreeze....

Matthew

One last note: even though the way we winterize here is all hoses reconnected etc and block and manifolds full of non-tox antifreeze, I recommend all my customers run the boat on land with water muffs in the spring to avoid the antifreeze (non-tox, but I won't be taste testing it) getting directly into the water at the launch ramp....

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

One small thing i want to add is At least the guy was doing this on the river. Not some pretty little lake that people swim and fish on. and it does seem that RV AF is realistically non-toxic.
This is the Mississippi river, just downstream from downtown St Paul and about 5 mi down from where the Minnesota river connects to the Miss. The Minn river is REALLY skank as its nothn' but farmland runoff, fertilizer and feces ... blech/puke.....There is alot of industry, barge traffic etc. I have heard horror storries about how much untreated sewage hits the river.
Enviro's dont get me wrong , Im not sayn' its ok to be a slob cuz its the river. But people that wash thier cars and boats in the driveway, fertilize thier lawns etc. all do thier share of damage to the watersheds....

" Let he who has not sinned, cast the 1st stone...."

 

[bow wow rider]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

i think it's hilarious you stood two feet away and took a picture of him.

he obviously likes the attention to be doing that on the boat ramp.

EDIT: while he's adding pink liquid to the mississippi, it appears the guy in the background is adding yellow liquid.

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Picture of a guy winterizing his boat on the boat launch -Mississippi in Mn

i think it's hilarious you stood two feet away and took a picture of him.

he obviously likes the attention to be doing that on the boat ramp.

Its was all good, we were chattn' it up... He was a real nice guy...fellow boater.....

LMAO about the other guy ! I hadnt noticed that... Na he was fishn'...