Do you think us FL people should Winterize???

[Rampage]

Supposed to have a deep freeze tonight :banghead: I hate winterize for one dang night of cold...any ideas? If the ski is in a non heated garage do you think it will get cold enough to cause damage? Maybe leave the garage lights on? Or maybe put a shop light over the motor? I think you up north people sent this crap down just to get the last laugh...LOL...

 

[Dr Honda]

If it's parked, and going to be sitting for a while... winterize.

I grew up in SoCal... and I never winterized anything... but I kept my toys in a garage.

If you take the chance, and don't winterize... and it freezes... you could have cracked cylinders in the morning.

For the 15 minutes it takes to winterize... it's not worth the $$$ and time to fix it after.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Rampage]

If it's parked, and going to be sitting for a while... winterize.

I grew up in SoCal... and I never winterized anything... but I kept my toys in a garage.

If you take the chance, and don't winterize... and it freezes... you could have cracked cylinders in the morning.

For the 15 minutes it takes to winterize... it's not worth the $$$ and time to fix it after.

Just my 2 cents.

I ride every week so it wont be sitting...they are just calling for a freeze tonight.

 

[kustomkarl]

I'm in Englewood Florida, below Venice, and I'm not winterizing... I didn't winterize at all last year with the cold snap. The freeze is only a 3 hour frost warning, not a freeze of much less than 32*

Karl

 

[Rampage]

I'm in Englewood Florida, below Venice, and I'm not winterizing... I didn't winterize at all last year with the cold snap. The freeze is only a 3 hour frost warning, not a freeze of much less than 32*

Karl

I'm just paranoid I think LOL!! Almost considered wrapping the ole jet ski in a electric blanket LOL

 

[Brant]

Finally getting it!

I have been sending this crappy weather to you guys for years!!! It finally got there!!! I wouldn't worry about your ski in the garage. Its been in the single digits here all week and my garage (not heated) is sitting around 32. We have cases of water sitting in there and they're not even starting to freeze. Just my opinion.

 

[Dr Honda]

You could just drop a heating pad in the hull over night. That will keep it above the freeze point.

 

[Slug-O]

I went to lowes and bought two 250 watt lights and put one in each hull. I checked them yesterday and it was toasty warm under the seat...

 

[Rampage]

I put a Fluorescent shop light in the hull and put a towel over the ski....did not want to risk a fire with my reg shop light.

 

[Michael211_2000]

I put a wireless remote thermometer inside my RXT's hull, and noted that with the seat latched down and the cover on it and sitting outside under my carport the hull temp lagged the outside air temp by about 10 degrees.... so when it hit 32 degrees at midnight, I observed the RXT's hull was still sitting at 42 degrees. At 4 am when it was 29 degrees, the RXT's hull was still at 39 degrees, and when the outside air temp was up to 36 degrees by 9 am the RXT's hull was also at 36 degrees. As the air temp warmed up into the 40's, the RXT's hull came up slower... the hull with the seat latched down apparently makes for a good insulator.

If your concerned though take a heating pad out of it's slip cover and put it on the lowest setting and slip it inside the hull plugged in... when it was down into the upper 20's here earlier this week, my RXT's hull with the heating pad was comfortably in the 50's all night long! I left the pad's control unit hanging outside the hull by the seat with just the pad inside laying between the engine and side of hull under exhaust manifold. Not sure if the control unit could cause a spark or anything, so felt safer hanging it outside the hull (I vent the hull with the seats off every time we have a nice pretty day out).

Also you can get a digital thermostat with remote from Walmart cheap and stick the remote inside the hull so you can more easily determine what the hull temps are like at a glance... the one I have reaches easily from my carport to my living room wirelessly. There's an alarm feature to the one I have, but I don't have the instructions anymore and can't figure how to set it dangit! But oh well.....

Hope this helps.

- Michael

 

[Michael211_2000]

Here's a question though... does the pump retain any water inside it? I winterized my RXT since I don't plan to use it again till next spring, pumping antifreeze thru the pump's flush port while running the engine on the trailer until all the water coming out the back was green (I couldn't find any pink RV antifreeze anywhere, and I'll flush the green stuff out with fresh water on the trailer before going to the lake with it next spring).

So I'm not worried about any fluids retained in my pump freezing... but what about ya'll who are only warming the engine compartment on cold nights, is your pump safe from freezing? IDK.

- Michael

 

[djredman99]

Here's a question though... does the pump retain any water inside it? I winterized my RXT since I don't plan to use it again till next spring, pumping antifreeze thru the pump's flush port while running the engine on the trailer until all the water coming out the back was green (I couldn't find any pink RV antifreeze anywhere, and I'll flush the green stuff out with fresh water on the trailer before going to the lake with it next spring).

So I'm not worried about any fluids retained in my pump freezing... but what about ya'll who are only warming the engine compartment on cold nights, is your pump safe from freezing? IDK.

- Michael

The flush port by the pump area connects to a hose directly opposite the port inside the hull and runs off to the exhaust/cooling system of the 2-strokes and exhaust/intercoolers on the 4-strokes. When it come out from the interior hull, there is nothing that retains this water in closed, tight spaces.

Any water that drains out down by the intake and ride plate and remains is not contained in an area that it cannot freely expand in (lots of open air). So freezing is not an issue.