Axis Wakeboard Boat Forum

So I have moved and lost my garage where I would typically store my boat. Now plan to store my boat on the dock for the winter this year and was curious if anyone in a similar climate has installed a engine compartment heater on their boat to avoid winterizing?


I am on lanier in north ga and last year we had an extremely mild winter where we could have used the boat on multiple weekends!



Or should I just get a cheap pontoon to leave floating in the other slip? Not ideal but 0 worries



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I'd be a little nervous leaving a heater unattended if you don't live at your dock, but that's me. If you're unsure if it'll get too cold just run the motor hot, pull the drain plugs and drain the water out and let the engine heat steam the rest. It's when the block is full and has no water for the ice to expand that it becomes a problem. If you have a little bit of water in there but lots of room for it to expand once it becomes ice, you should be fine.

If you have a heater it's a little more complicated than that.

I was thinking one of these?

http://www.bakesonline.com/detail.aspx? ... gLoifD_BwE


I had one on an old cruiser and it worked great


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That's true, I cut the lines going to my heater and put new clamps that are easier to take off, just take those off and blow them out and then blow the lines out via mouth pressure.

why not drain? it's not hard, and if you are doing it semi frequently you could probably get it done in 20 minutes or so. Murphy's law says freak ice storm results in power outage that kills your engine heater power.

This. Especially for those two weeks in January that seem to freeze the hardest. Your climate is much different from mine here in Knoxville.

I am well educated on murphys law ! thats for sure lol


I also didn't realize winterizing is only a 20min procedure? I had my dealer do it last year. if thats the case I need to get educated on the process. this is my first inboard so I am new to winterizing ( probably need to learn how to change the impeller too!)

On my A20 the first time it was definitely not a 20 minute procedure. But if you get a small kit and get all the tools you need, plus the thread sealant, and do the process a couple of times, I think it will be down to 20 minutes. I used to have a sanger with the mercruiser black scorpion engine and that one was definitely less than 20 minutes. Instead of needing tools I just had to pull 8 or 9 blue plugs and throw them in a zip-loc bag. With the axis there are 3 or 4 different wrenches/screwdrivers you need, plus you're supposed to remove some hose clamps so transmission cooler can drain. Then the heater as well.

When dealers do winterization they usually also do oil change which can increase the time. Good ones will also run some RV antifreeze through everything (including heater) just to make sure that any residual water is flushed out and/or can't freeze and cause problems.