6. I got caught off guard when the first snow storm hit our area the other day. My boat was taken out of the water earlier in the week, but I was not able to put antifreeze in the engine before the storm hit. How much damage do you think I have done? It got to the low 20's overnight two times.

We've had many folks contact us with this concern, and in some cases (and for a variety of reasons), engines have sat all winter without being properly winterized.

There's really no way to know for sure how much damage (if any) may have occurred to an unwinterized engine that has been subjected to freezing temperatures, until it is started and checked for water leaks. However, it's equally true that the Atomic 4 is quite forgiving of even relatively hard freezes, so there's every reason to hope that no damage has been done to this point as a result of the minor episode you're describing.

Here are some steps you can take which should protect your engine for the rest of the winter:

1) Make an attempt to get a small heater on your boat as soon as possible, and thaw out your engine. If you don't have electricity at your boat, a small propane space heater that attaches to a 20 pound tank (barbecue grill size) will work well. These heaters (we use them in our shop, and call them "butt heaters") are available at Home Depot type stores for about $30.

2) If your cooling system has been flushed somewhat regularly, you should be able to remove the two drain plugs in the block, the one in the aft end of the manifold and the one in the bottom of the water pump (all of which are 1/8" pipe plugs), and drain most of the water from the engine.

3) If you can't remove the drain plugs, or if you don't observer much water draining from the water jackets after the drain plugs are removed, you can draw in a gallon of RV antifreeze through a "T" fitting between the raw water through-hull and the water pump, by turning the engine over on the starter.

Before performing step 3, I would remove the spark plugs so that the starter and battery don't have to work so hard, and I would also remove the thermostat and clamp off the bypass hose. This precaution will insure that all the antifreeze goes through the block and head before passing over to the manifold and into the exhaust system. By the way, the bypass hose is the one between the "T" fitting in the center of the water jacket side plate and the inlet to the thermostat housing (just above the starter). The short hose from the thermostat housing to the manifold is NOT part of the by-pass system.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since the engine is not being started, the exhaust will not blow the cooling water out the back of the boat. This means that the RV antifreeze, as well as any water that was already in the block and head, will collect in the water lift muffler. To be certain that the antifreeze and water do not flood the exhaust system, flow back into the exhaust manifold and back into the combustion chambers, I recommend that you disconnect the water hose from the back of the manifold and collect the antifreeze and water in a bucket after it passes through the engine.

After thawing the engine and drawing in the antifreeze, you can inspect the engine for any external sign of water leakage (looking especially at the freeze-out plugs in each end of the block, top of the head and the two in the front face of the manifold) and for any indication of water entering into the crankcase (like milky colored oil). Absent any of these indications, you should be able to rest quite easily until you start the engine in the spring. - Updated: December 10, 2003