Anyone Else drain their Block

I had the boat out a few times last week, but these low tempts this week freaked me out. Glad my I/O has a quick disconnect drain system. Cracking the block in mid-April might have pushed me over the edge.
Dan

Don’t forget the water jackets.

A buddy of mine partially winterizes (drains what will drain) between early trips and puts a heat lamp in the doghouse just in case

What about a magnetic block heater?

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

What about a magnetic block heater?

That’s a good idea, I just found one for 30$, snap it right on and plug it in

Forgive my ignorance here but are you referring to the lower end when you say “block”?
I haven’t had mine in the water yet but the boat it now outside vs. when it was in a heated shed stored this past winter.

It seemed they were talking about i/o systems to me.

I just started the two 454’s, the generator and the heat in the camper. All cooled by water. I’m in the water and it’s at 45 degrees, but the 17 degree air temp tonight has me a bit concerned.

As of right now, I’m just going to move three space heaters into the hull. If a water line breaks from freezing, I might be structure come morning.

If it gets chilly tonight and tomorrow night Brian, fire it up or run to runnings for some block heaters.

bullcans wrote:

Forgive my ignorance here but are you referring to the lower end when you say “block”?
I haven’t had mine in the water yet but the boat it now outside vs. when it was in a heated shed stored this past winter.

Yeah, I was talking about my In-board/out-board motor. Draining the lower unit is no problem, but the engine block is like a car motor, so I had to disconnect the drain lines to let all of the lake water that was in there to drain out.
Dan

Trouble light with a 40 incandescent light bulb under dog house will do the trick, I do this if I need extra time to get boat out. Just needs to stay above freezing not 60.