Winterizing Ballast Tanks????

[EarlyriserX9]

Hey guys. Sorry to bother TT with another winterization situation, but I'm kinda nervous. I'm in South Carolina, where many of my friends just use a shop light to keep their blocks from freezing, as the weather is normally pretty mild. I on the other hand, pulled the batteries, topped off the tank, and drained all the water out of the motor and hoses. What I neglected was the ballast system. I know a lot of guys that never winterize their ballast system. So a month ago when I used the ballast for the last time, I pumped all the water out and that was it. Since it has been in the teens for the last two nights, I got really nervous. So I went out tonight and filled the back ballast bag with a gallon of RV Antifreeze, reinstalled one of the batteries, and flipped the switch to empty. I could hear the pump running, but no antifreeze pumped out the sides. I figured there must be some ice in the lines from the residual water that was left from our last use. To make sure I was safe, I went ahead and pulled both pumps out.

Which leads me to my question... Do you guys think my pumps are going to be ruined? At this point is there anything else I can do?

Sorry for the long post.

[vision]

I would be surprised if your pumps are not fine.

I do not know the bags in the X9. Is a gallon enough to make sure fluid reaches the empty port? If you have check valves in the empty hoses, they may simply be frozen shut.

[DoubleE]

Originally Posted by jgarner

Here is the procedure to winterize your ballast tank. I have a 2008 X2 and did mine today.

Great doc, but anybody know what the differences are from this 2008 doc and an 2006 X-2, if any?

Thanks!

[medicmoose]

Originally Posted by vision

For 07 and newer boats, use a hose and gravity to run anti-freeze into each of the 3 ballast overflow through hulls near the rub rail and run the ballast pumps on empty to suck anti-freeze through the lines.

That's how I have done mine for the past 3 years....suck it through the vent on the side of the boat (via gravity and with the switch turned to "empty") and wait till it comes out the bottom of the boat. Done in 10 mins.

[JulioX2]

This sounds like an excellent tutorial video for someone to produce and upload to youtube or something. Just suggesting

[jgraham37128]

Ok, I tried this yesterday and really didn't have much success. 1st thing was it kept pouring the antifreeze back out. I did pour it into the correct hole too. The second thing was when I turned the pumps to empty nothing came on. I was told it had something to do with the timers? Is there a way to reset my timers, I've noticed I've always had a hard time with the center one cutting off. I would have to flip back to empty then back to fill to get it to fill completely.

[kenk]

Use a water hose in the vent hole and prime with water until you see it coming out of bottom pickup. After it is primed, switch to the antifreeze and it will suck it in easily. Stop after you see it coming out of the bottom pickup.

[swb911]

A few things to check. The motors are protected so they don't kill your battery. So if the battery is <11.?v the motors won't turn. Try hooking a charger to the battery. A gallon is plenty for each tank, first make sure it's the correct vent(your finger will fit all the way in, otherwise it's a bilge outlet) then a long funnel or a long hose so the bottle of AF is higher than the boat. Should go no prob. The fluids drain out the pick ups below.

[DoubleE]

In my 2006 X2, I was successful in using the overflow ports BUT it was frustrating at 1st because I went through 1 gallon of anti-freeze on 1 and 2 gallons on the other and it still wasn't emptying out the rear ports so I thought I'd share in case it helps anyone:

1st, I have fat sacs added in-line on the overflow lines from the hard tanks, so I had to lift/move them around to make sure the anti-freeze made it down into the hard tanks, but that still didn't do it. Then, out of frustration, I pulled the boat off the flat street up onto my angled up drive way and when I hit empty then I finally got the pink stuff to shoot out the respective rear ports!

My only remaining question/concern is with this method of taking in the a.f. in the overflow ports near the rub rail and then emptying it out the other ports near the rub rail, does that mean we don't have to worry about the lines from the intake in the bottom of the boat to block behind the manifold that supplies all 3 ballast pumps?

If we do have to worry, what's the best way? Do I use the fake-lake on the ballast intake with a hose into a 5 gallon pail? But now that I'm writing this, why don't I just do this from the get-go, hit fill on a pump for a few seconds until I can hit empty and see pink? Repeating for the other 2 pumps. (However, with only 1 fake-lake I couldn't have it on the engine water intake, but I'm guessing I could get away with it, no?)

Open to all thoughts/suggestions...