Winter in the Midwest R -21 -EC

[Pilotboater]

Hey Friends,
Looking for the winterization tips on the 3YM30 in the R 21 EC ! All the other systems I understand just need to get my arms around the engine part.

Cheers !

Steve

 

[bob daily]

Steve. Just flush out raw water system with RV antifreeze !
Close sea water inlet, attach jumper hose to fitting, place hose in jug of. Antifreeze and run engine till you get pink antifreeze out exhaust port. Be sure to open seawater inlet prior to storage for winter!
If your have any questions please feel free to give me a PM or call my phone number is in my photo album. Bob

 

[Pilotnavigator]

Change the oil and filter, check the impeller. Change the fuel filters too.
I add 2 ounces for beach to the water tank and fill it, after a day...
I pump all the water out of the water tank, as much as the water pump will get out. Then disconnect the suction line to the tank. Remover the screen from the water pump. I have a length of hose and a fitting that goes into the pump and the other end into a jug of antifreeze. Run the pump and open the tap until pink runs free. Turn off pump. Remove hose and your done. A little water in tank will freeze just like a ice cube but will not do any harm. Next print re install the screen and the suction line to the tank. Fill and pump empty to ready the boat for summer.

 

[Pilotboater]

THANKS A BUNCH FOR THE REPLYS ! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. 🙂 GOING TO GET IT DONE ON MONDAY !

 

[lproulx]

Sort of an elaboration on Bob's suggestion on the engine. If you cut a short section of hose out of the line from the sea cock to the engine, and put a tee in it, with a male hose fitting pointing up from the tee, you can hook a washing machine hose to the tee and stick the other end in the antifreeze. Put a cap on it when done. It can be hard to get the antifreeze sucked into the engine otherwise, since the hull fitting is one of those strainer type things.

 

[Pilotboater]

Not getting any suction from the antifreeze into the engine. Can I attach a photo to this site ?

 

[Catch22]

Are you trying to draw antifreeze through the through-hull fitting or are you using a tee as mentioned? Without a tight fit at the through hull fitting you might be sucking air and losing the prime......

My tee is in the line just before the raw water strainer on the starboard side of the engine......make sure the raw water sea cock is closed if using the tee.

If still no draw, check your raw water impeller.

 

[bob daily]

Sometimes if the boat has been sitting on the trailer with sea clock open it will lose its prime!
Just rev the RPM's up a little and you'll be fine, push in the button on side of throttle to do this,
keep an eye as you don't want other overheat or run with no coolant.
Good luck Bob

 

[cstpt]

No flush fitting on my 2017 ym30 and couldn’t get draw from the strainer. I disconnect the outlet hose from the strainer, use a male-male fitting to connect a two foot length of hose to the disconnected hose leading to the impeller, stick a funnel in the end and pour into that. The added height seems to start the flow. The T fitting seems like a good idea but for once a year, this system is pretty easy.

 

[Catch22]

Anyone wanting to try the tee for this process might want to look at the kit that Prestone makes for automotive flushing. It comes with multiple tees for various sized hoses.......Most auto supply stores or Wal-Mart's sell them for 5 or 6 bucks..


arious sizes

 

[lproulx]

As sort of an embellishment - I took a standard sort of rectangular car washing type bucket, holding maybe 2 Gal, and, after making a suitable hole, installed two 1/2-in IPS size pipe flanges on a side of the bucket, near the bottom, one inside,one outside, clamping them together with machine screws and nuts. l used a small piece of rubber roofing for a gasket. I put male hose barb on the outside one.

You can use this as a reservoir for flushing the engine and air conditioning systems. Position the bucket as high as needed to get enough head to prime the pump involved. I get nervous about forcing too much water through the system with a direct garden hose connection. If you just run the garden hose in the top, the system can draw as much as it needs from the bucket. If it's a de-liming operation or some similar situation you can catch the output fluid and recirculate it.

 

[Catch22]

Good reason to be nervous if you "force water " into the system....hydro locking is a major consequence.....The system should "draw" at it's own rate....

 

[Newf]

The raw water system, as we know, draws or sucks water through an inlet on the bottom of the boat, so when flushing or winterizing or whatever, through a hose tee'd into the suction line, there should be no need to add any height to assist in priming the pump or starting the flow. If you are drawing from a pail on deck and it's not sucking with the seacock closed then you are either sucking air from somewhere or your impeller is not up to snuff.(IMO)

You don't prime your pump when you are in the water. The impeller pulls from the ocean/lake and pushes it through and out of the engine so it should certainly be able to draw it out of a bucket on deck without the need to elevate anything.

 

[lproulx]

Very true - My pail is more useful for the AC system, where, on the 21ec at least, the pump is not self priming, to the point where when I first put the boat in the water, I have to unscrew the strainer globe to bleed air out of the hose. You're entirely correct that the engine pump will lift water without any help. Probably shouldn't have bothered with pail suggestion in view of original post only talking about engine.