"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:21:55 GMT, "Bryan"
wrote:

It's going to be below freezing tonight in an area where winterizing is
optional. I chose not to winterize so that I could use my boat on the
nice
days during the winter.

My friend told me to put a 40 watt utility light in the engine compartment
for cold nights. So, I leave a 40 watt bulb burning in the engine
compartment of my Sea Ray 185. What do you think of this winterizing
solution?

I've heard of this before and while I know that chicken farmers do
tricks with light bulbs, it's normally a infrared bulb.

In this case, I would suspect that as long as it's near freezing, it
would help, but I might boost the wattage to a 60.

One other point - that could be a fire hazard in confined spaces. Make
sure you have some reasonable ventilation.

I agree. It would take more than a single night of near freezing
temperatures to freeze the block, especially when considering the heat
coming off of the ground (or the water) combined with the heat from the
light bulb.