On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 14:14:52 -0500, rhys wrote:

We winterize for real in Toronto, and part of that is putting a
T-connection after the pump but before the block. This T has a hose
fitting for a garden hose and you can flush the block with city
pressure straight out the back end. The first 15-20 seconds ain't
pretty, even in a clean lake. After that, you seal that T off and run
pink antifreeze via the raw water pump until it too flies out the
back.

I have a big strainer basket mounted above the water line. Raw water
runs from the intake up to the strainer, then back down to the water
pump. As a result, I can take the top off the strainer and feed
whatever I want into the engine by pouring it into the strainer. On
haulout day I run the engine, keeping it warm until I'm in the haulout
slip, then close the seacock and pour the pink stuff into the
strainer. With the engine warm the thermostat is open enough to get
flow everywhere. Then I shut down the engine and pull the drain plugs,
confident that anything left in the system is unlikely to freeze.

The other advantage of the strainer is that it provides a very obvious
direct check point for water flow peeking up through the engine cover
in the companionway.

It may be something in the lubricity of the pink stuff, but I have had
no problems with impeller damage from modest amounts of dry running
around haulout and launch. Atomic 4 in this case.

Ryk