Winterizing Ballast Tanks

[dmayer84]

I just got my boat and I am winterizing it for the first time. Does anyone have any tips on how to winterize the ballast tanks. I find the manual that came with the boat horrible and tried ordering offical mastercraft service manuals, but they dont want owners to have them. I have the valve and the hose hookup on my boat for the tanks but dont completly understand what I am supposed to do. So far winterizing it has been a nightmare. First problem is that I asked my dealer what I needed to start my boat on land, and they sold me fake a lake which would work great if I wanted to fill my ballast tanks on land (found this out the hard way).End of the story is I burned up my impeller because I didnt know that the water intake for the engine is seperate and I am working on getting the dealer to take back the fake a lake and give me a free impeller . Finally ordered the parts to build a ball valve in the line with a hook up for a garden hose. I think that it was a bad design to put the water intake where the boat rests on the trailer. The ballast tanks continue to have me baffled.

[Utahfoiler]

The tanks don't need to be winterized. All you need to do is run some antifreeze through the pumps. That is what you need to worry about freezing and cracking. Just hook a host to the ballast line and shut off the intake valve. There is a big valve right after the ballast intake that can be shut off. Then put it in a bucket with water and antifreeze and turn on the ballast pumps until it is good and through the pumps. I usually turn all 3 first then one at a time.

On the boat intake, it usually is right above a trailer bunk. I have just disconnected the hose and put a garden hose directly into the intake. Once the engine is started, there is no water coming back out. This way you can add in antifreeze to the engine as well. I have just used a funnel and garden hose stuck inside of the intake hose.