Here is my antifreeze recirculating contraption.
This enables you to run your engine as long as you need to.
Thermostat open in other words.
This is to make sure the antifreeze is completely mixed throughout your boat's entire cooling/heating system.
You can also use it to recycle & re-use your anti-freeze - IF you have an overwhelming & burning desire to go out and freeze your butt off for a New Years' Day Ski @ 20 deg. F - as some crazy Adirondackers have been known to do....
The key to it is to have a one-way valve. So that the hose going to the raw water pump stays full.
This will cause less wear & tear on your pump's impeller.
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Does yours use any sort of electric pump? Or do you just rely on the "prime" from running to get the fluid going?
But that is why it is important to put in the one-way valve so that the column of anti-freeze will prime the raw water pump. Instead of back sliding into the buckets as you liftthe end up and over the gunnel...
Here is a better picture - you can use the green covers to increase the anti-freeze to water ratio to lower the temperature range. Or, use them as I did here, on the right, to keep the mixture from splashing out...