winterizing 97 cutter

[cutbrain]

I tried (first time) to winterize the 97 30 ft cutter. I used the hot and water low drain and drained out the fluid. Then added antifreeze everywhere. One problem. I looked at my water tank and there still seems to be some water in it. How do I get all the water out of the tank. It is a few inches on the bottom.

[easyride]

A few in. in bottom shouldn`t be a problem,it should have plenty of room for expansion.
Dave

[cutbrain]

my concern is that there is a pipe at the bottom. I turned the valve off but there must be water in the pipe. I suppose if it is a problem the access should be easy and it should not be a disaster.

thanks

jc

[maltnhops]

When you said you used the "hot and low drain", do you mean you used the drain near the fresh water tank itself? My fresh water drain is very close to the bottom of the tank and only leaves about 1/2" of water in the tank. I know not everyone likes to do this, but I put pink stuff in the tank, too. It's not much, but enough to mix with the water in there. I run a lot of fresh water through the tank in the spring anyway, so it flushes things out really well. Easyride is right, though. There is plenty of room for expansion in the tank.

To pump the lines full of pink stuff, I used the method in my ('89 345 LE) manual. I disconnected the intake side of the water pump and attached a 4' hose that I put directly in the bottle. The pump sucks it right out of the bottle so it uses very little antifreeze to fill the lines. Of course, I bypassed the water heater. The pump has a backflow preventer, so I could reconnect the regular intake line without leaking antifreeze. I hope to permanently plumb in the antifreeze intake hose with a "T" and a couple valves so I won't have to disconnect anything next year.

Good luck!