Would it be ok to lower the dirve unit down into a troft or large container that has a "antifreeze solution" and rund the engine until the solution has circulated well through out the engine? Probably a stupid question, but will this work?

One thing to remember is if you're recycling the antifreeze through the engine (exhaust draining back into the tub) is to watch the temperature of the water. Depending on how big the tub is, the hot exhaust water will be returned as warm water, therefore eliminating sufficient cooling capacity. If you're just winterizing, you probably will not have to run the engine long enough for this to become a problem.

will it work? sure!

Should you try it? NO!!!

Think about it.

How big a tub . . . (BIG) How much antifreeze (LOTS). What you going to do with it afterward? (most of it will still be in the tub)

Some guys here basically do that with some rather large boats. I helped them make a contraption to catch the antifreeze/water mix out of the exhaust and collect it in a large tub. A sump pump hooked to a home made plunger looking thing wedged under the intake pushes the mix into the engine. It's quite a contraption, and the only way it makes sense for them is they do about 6-8 boats with it all on the same day. They continually check the mix to make sure it is right.

It would, however, be a royal PITA to set up and tear down for one boat. And I don't know what they do with the left over antifreeze.

So to answer your question, and echo tpenfield, sure you can do it that way. But I think there are easier ways to do it, IMO.

Well, if my thinking is correct, We have a horse ranch....lots of large water trofts on the place. If when done, you store whats left in the troft ...say in a couple five gallon containers... they could be used over and over again for at least 3 to 5 years...right?

NO you don't want to do that!if one of your horses gets in to it,it WILL kill them!!!
the A/F has a sweet smell and taste it don't take much to do the deed.

woosterken

No joke, I would not use it to water the horses with ever again!!!....maybe a few kitty cats...but not horses!! And b/f I get blasted about the kitty cats comment I WAS JOKING!!!

Can you use RV antifreeze? RV antifreeze is enviormentally much safer and is an animal were to get into it by accident, it shouldn't cause them any harm.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL98/731328/2898754/37003168.jpg

This is what I do. I have a fresh water rinse system and use a drill powered pump to pump the anti-freeze in to all parts of the engine. You can do the same sorta thing using "muffs" attached to the hose and run the engine. Make sure the engine is up to temp so the thermstat is open.
West Marine sells the container.

One problem I could see with winterizing via a barrel of antifreeze, is the remaining water in the engine would 'contaminate' the antifreeze.

problem two is, if you don't remove the thermostat, you risk not getting antifreeze everywhere unless you continually circulate it until the engine's hot enough to open the thermostat.

Since problem one requires draining the water and problem two requires removing the thermostat, once you've done that, all that's left to do is pour the antifreeze into the engine thru the thermostat opening...very easy, very cheap.

Oh gosh all this talk about "how to suck up the antifreeze, and then did I really get it circulated through the engine?" is just ridiculous. Take out the drain plugs, let the water drain. Then take a piece of coat hanger, and poke into every hole to remove the sediment, and let the water drain. If you have compressed air, remove the line from the raw water pump and blow air back through it, so your pump and all the coolers after it will be dry. Then you are done.
And if you don't have compressed air, take the hoses loose at the thermostat housing, take one gallon of non toxic stuff of your choice, and with the drains all still open, pour into the hoses until the stuff runs out the water pickup holes in the drive, out the exhaust manifold drains into the bilge, and out the block drains into the bilge. Tilt the boat bow way up, collect the runoff in a pan under the bilge drain plug and recycle it properly. Boom you are done. Easy, very little material, not a lot of time, and not worries.

Now come on darnit! It's 82 degrees in the midwest, the Illinois River is going down, we are allowed to go idle speed, so get out an go boating! This winterizing crap can wait until October, at least!

A local shop here does the same thing and afterwords they seal up the outdrive to prevent leaking on the way home and open up the top drain valve for expansion. The only question that comes to mind if this is a good idea, why don't more people do it?

I think I will just take the thing to a boat shop and have them winterize it! I just thought that I had the troft thing going, I coud continue using the boat for a while and after each use, I could run it in the antifreeze tank and not have to totally stop using it for another month or two. I guess next boat I will have to seriously think about an outboard!

That's your best bet, me I don't winterize as I live in the desert and the few nights it does get cold, I have a heater for the bilge. I tend to boat all year round and at least run the boat on muffs each saturday.

Check this out.

This is what I am using next time. Billyb has a good idea but it is tough to get the hoses off my raw water pump anymore.
With the above kit you hook up to a garden hose and a "fake-a-lake". Once your engine comes up to temp you switch two valves and you motor sucks up five gallons of pink AF.

As soon as the last of the AF goes out the jug you switch the motor off. Also since I have FI in my motor I will NOT be fogging again. I might put some 2-stroke oil in the gas but that will be it. And I doubt I do that. Hooking and unhooking fuel lines is just tempting the hydrocarbon gods to leak some fuel into your bilge so it can be ignited later for blasts.