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Fairly new to Cobalt (May) and fairly new to boats unless of course you count my jet skis I've had for a couple years. First let me start off saying no I didn't really search the forum for an answer but my question is also fairly specific. I was reading another thread on winterization and I've seen videos where people will use the EZ Drain feature and then flush the engine with antifreeze to coat the internals and get rid of any residual water. My question is this:

Rather than flush the system with antifreze, what if you just filled it with antifreeze and left it? Has anyone done that? Would there be any harm in it? Just a thought. Still have a couple months here in Texas before I even need to really worry about that since we really don't get freezing temperatures until December into January. Our freeze season is really January-February and maybe the first week in March. But in the 40+ years I've lived here I've only seen single digit temps 2-3 times and teens a handful.

So what say you peanut gallery?

Starting last year I just took out the batteries and used the EZ Drain system. Temps got Very cold this past winter, I had no problems. I used to run antifreeze through the eigne but decided to give the EZ drain a try and happy I did.

Oh batteries will be left connected since it has a tender and it's stored in dry storage w/ a power outlet. Was just curious if anyone has tried to store with antifreeze left in the system

What engine/drive do you have?

When we leave our boat on a covered lift with the mooring cover on it at the end of the season, all I do is use the EZ drain and turn the batteries off. I don't use antifreeze. I usually put in fresh oil at the end of the season. We've never had a problem.

Assuming you have a Volvo in your CS22, your engine always has antifreeze in it as they have a closed loop cooling system. Lake water gets cycled through a heat exchanger to cool the antifreeze (like air through a car radiator) but does not go through the block. No reason to do anything other than use the ez drain and call it good. Fog if you want……I don’t since we have a short layup in East TN.

bruceb58 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2023 6:50 pm What engine/drive do you have?

Yep I should've speficied that. It's the Penta 250 DP

Matts19 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 15, 2023 7:10 am Assuming you have a Volvo in your CS22, your engine always has antifreeze in it as they have a closed loop cooling system. Lake water gets cycled through a heat exchanger to cool the antifreeze (like air through a car radiator) but does not go through the block. No reason to do anything other than use the ez drain and call it good. Fog if you want……I don’t since we have a short layup in East TN.

Yes it's got a Vovlo Penta, which is why I posted in this forum. But if there's antifreeze in the system, then yeah that makes more sense so thanks for that. I guess come December when it finally starts getting cold, I'll pull the pin, hit the plunger to drain it and call it good.

Thank you all for the info!

Yes, that is all we do. I would make sure you drain the bilge afterwards and at least put some gas stabilizer in the tank.

Land_Locked wrote: ↑Fri Sep 15, 2023 8:06 am

bruceb58 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2023 6:50 pm What engine/drive do you have?

Yep I should've speficied that. It's the Penta 250 DP

Put that info in your signature. It will be useful for later when you ask questions.