Official Caterpillar3116/3126 Thread

I love that video, environmentally friendly as well catching the antifreeze!

If I buy the boat and if I winterize myself in the water, it's 4 hours away, what do I need to bring?

Main engines/generator:
  • 15 gallons of the pink antifreeze
  • 2 5 gallon buckets, one inside the boat, one outside like this video
  • wrench/screwdriver to loosen clamp(s) on raw water hose at seacocks
ACs:
  • ?
  • Can I pour the pink stuff into the raw water seacocks and run the AC? This never worked on my prior boats, I had to push the pink stuff thru with a drill pump.
Fresh water system:
  • drain fresh water
  • 5 gallons of pink
  • flush thru all fresh water lines (don't forget stern shower sprayer and anchor sprayer)
 
Thanks, the rule of thumb I have always heard is 2 days with temps below freezing and they can freeze. The boat is in MD, it was 15 degrees one night this week. It's 3 hours from my home and I will leave it there for the remainder of winter.

On some of my prior boats I did not winterize except for pink stuff in the fresh water for the outside lines. I used a Caframo heater in the cabin and a boatsafe heater in the engine compartment. The latter was hard wired into the AC/DC panel with a breaker. The challenge with this if what if the marina loses power?
 
Last edited:
mrsrobinson said:
I love that video, environmentally friendly as well catching the antifreeze!

If I buy the boat and if I winterize myself in the water, it's 4 hours away, what do I need to bring?

Main engines/generator:
  • 15 gallons of the pink antifreeze
  • 2 5 gallon buckets, one inside the boat, one outside like this video
  • wrench/screwdriver to loosen clamp(s) on raw water hose at seacocks
ACs:
  • ?
  • Can I pour the pink stuff into the raw water seacocks and run the AC? This never worked on my prior boats, I had to push the pink stuff thru with a drill pump.
Fresh water system:
  • drain fresh water
  • 5 gallons of pink
  • flush thru all fresh water lines (don't forget stern shower sprayer and anchor sprayer)
Click to expand...

The list looks good. Just a warning, the engines pull antifreeze very quickly. I have a set up with a 15 gallon bucket and a hose that I connect to the inlet of the sea strainer. I don’t think you could pour fast enough to keep up and the intake hose is very stiff so it’s hard to get into a bucket.

I use a drill pump for the AC. You might be able to pour into the sea strainer for that one while it’s running but it will usually lose prime like your old boat
 
Yeah, my 7.4s pulled quickly as well, and yes that hose is stiff and was a challenge to get into the bucket. I've never had success doing the AC without pushing the water thru with a pump on my drill.
 
mrsrobinson said:
Thanks, the rule of thumb I have always heard is 2 days with temps below freezing and they can freeze. The boat is in MD, it was 15 degrees one night this week. It's 3 hours from my home and I will leave it there for the remainder of winter.

On some of my prior boats I did not winterize except for pink stuff in the fresh water for the outside lines. I used a Caframo heater in the cabin and a boatsafe heater in the engine compartment. The latter was hard wired into the AC/DC panel with a breaker. The challenge with this if what if the marina loses power?
Click to expand...
AC system I usually push backwards through the system. Pump into the outlet till it flows from the pick up.
 
mrsrobinson said:
Yeah, my 7.4s pulled quickly as well, and yes that hose is stiff and was a challenge to get into the bucket. I've never had success doing the AC without pushing the water thru with a pump on my drill.
Click to expand...

fill your sumps too, the hoses are long enough on these bigger boats that I like to put a half gallon or so in each and trigger the pump
 
kvduff said:
AC system I usually push backwards through the system. Pump into the outlet till it flows from the pick up.
Click to expand...
I've done this in my previous boats when they're out of the water, but how do you do it with a boat in the water?
 
Maybe run it and then shut the seacock off until the water drains out and then disconnect the water supply and blow it out with forced air? Or put the intake hose in a gallon of pink stuff until it runs out the discharge on the hull? Sorry, I'm no help... my boats are always in heated storage.
 
mrsrobinson said:
I've done this in my previous boats when they're out of the water, but how do you do it with a boat in the water?
Click to expand...
That’s a whole different animal. I imagine you could look for bubbles. Others may have better ideas.
 
kvduff said:
That’s a whole different animal. I imagine you could look for bubbles. Others may have better ideas.
Click to expand...

Close the seacock and open the top of the strainer. Vacuum out the water in the strainer and pump in reverse til the AF fills and spills out into the bilge. Leaves a little mess to clean up but won’t hurt anything.

to be extra safe you could pull that 1-2’ hose off the let any water in it out that might be trapped bht that seacock is in the water and as long as the water it’s sitting in doesn’t freeze neither will anything around it
 
Last edited:
mrsrobinson said:
Thanks, the rule of thumb I have always heard is 2 days with temps below freezing and they can freeze. The boat is in MD, it was 15 degrees one night this week. It's 3 hours from my home and I will leave it there for the remainder of winter.

On some of my prior boats I did not winterize except for pink stuff in the fresh water for the outside lines. I used a Caframo heater in the cabin and a boatsafe heater in the engine compartment. The latter was hard wired into the AC/DC panel with a breaker. The challenge with this if what if the marina loses power?
Click to expand...

Im in the water 24/7/365, and I don’t winterize. I have a heater in the bilge, and don’t get to concerned until it’s single digits for a couple days. The water is usually in the high 40’s/low 50s and that tends to keep the bilge “warm” as well.

Biggest issue is if the marina loses power for those same couple days. In that case, I’ll plan to run the generator, and my dock neighbor will back me up if I’m traveling.
 
mrsrobinson said:
I love that video, environmentally friendly as well catching the antifreeze!

If I buy the boat and if I winterize myself in the water, it's 4 hours away, what do I need to bring?

Main engines/generator:
  • 15 gallons of the pink antifreeze
  • 2 5 gallon buckets, one inside the boat, one outside like this video
  • wrench/screwdriver to loosen clamp(s) on raw water hose at seacocks
ACs:
  • ?
  • Can I pour the pink stuff into the raw water seacocks and run the AC? This never worked on my prior boats, I had to push the pink stuff thru with a drill pump.
Fresh water system:
  • drain fresh water
  • 5 gallons of pink
  • flush thru all fresh water lines (don't forget stern shower sprayer and anchor sprayer)
Click to expand...

So it's been unruly cold here the past two weeks. And it's starting to get to the point that I would be getting worried about petcocks freezing. This past weekend I had ice around the boat even though the ice eaters were on. Might warm up a bit next week, but Feb. is coming and that's when it gets cold. This year is colder then most so far.

I am in the water all winter long, but fully winterized. I use an air compressor to blow out all of the through hulls and close them while the air is still flowing. Then pour a little pink in the hose(s). I also run a bilge heater as well.

As far as the AC goes, I blow it out with air. Easiest way to deal with that. When the water temp is below 50, the AC lines will freeze up, so you can't run it. Fresh water can also be blown out with air. Have done that for many years and on many boats.
 
How does everyone power their bilge heaters? Do you have it hardwired and connected to your panel? Or do you run an extension cord from the cockpit leaving the engine hatch open on the cord?
 
mrsrobinson said:
How does everyone power their bilge heaters? Do you have it hardwired and connected to your panel? Or do you run an extension cord from the cockpit leaving the engine hatch open on the cord?
Click to expand...

I remove the heater when it warms up and have an outlet in the bilge to power it. So yes, ran from the panel and connected to a GFCI outlet in the cockpit.
 
mrsrobinson said:
How does everyone power their bilge heaters? Do you have it hardwired and connected to your panel? Or do you run an extension cord from the cockpit leaving the engine hatch open on the cord?
Click to expand...
Wired to a breaker on my panel
 
Is $3500 for both engines a fair price to service the after coolers? Remove aftercoolers from both main engines. Ultrasonically clean, test and reinstall with new zincs.
 
gents, what is the temp of the 6inch exhaust hose from SST elbow to out the boat... ?
I am re painting my exhaust tubes ( frp) black and should I use hi heat or normal black paint 410 3126 cats
 
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