Time to winterize the boats.
Well, the ice is forming and there's 6 inches of snow on the ground that doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon. I might be able to break my way into open water for another week or so, but it's getting to be time to winterize and store the boats.
Thought it would be interesting to discuss and share some winterizing tips for boats. A few thoughts:
- Outboards - I don't go through elaborate rituals to store outboards for the winter. The only two things I do, both of which I think are important, are that on the last trip, I pull the fuel line off and let the outboard run itself out of fuel while doing a fast idle at the dock. That gets most of the fuel out of the carb so it doesn't evap and gum things up.
Then when I pull the boat out of the water, I give the outboard a couple of more pulls and usually it will pop and run briefly. That seems to be just enough to eject any water that's being held by the water pump and in the cooling system. Then I give it a few more pulls just to be sure. I've never had any problems with this approach, it seems like outboards drain themselves enough so frozen blocks aren't the issue that they are with I/Os.
It's probably important to note that at this point it's usually above 0. If it's below 0, storing a wet outboard becomes a whole different deal, which is probably not of interest to most of you.
I don't fog the cylinders of my 2 stroke outboards. I know, I know, but is this really necessary with 2 strokes? I mean, there should be oil on the cylinder walls all the time, surely? I can't see the point of filling them with even more plug fouling oil and starting them in the spring is such a clown show. . .
- Fuel and fuel tanks - This one tends to generate a lot of debate. I just add Stabil and a couple of ounces of SeaFoam treatment and leave it at that. I don't top off my fuel tanks, but I know a lot of guys think this is an important step to avoid condensation and other fuel problems. I run 5 star in my small outboards, so I think this fuel has better storage properties and I don't think topping everything up provides any benefits.
And I'm also cheap, so the idea of having 50+ gallons of fuel just sitting around all winter for no specific reason would drive me crazy. It's also a storage problem.
- Batteries - I take all my batteries, both starting and deep cycle out of the boats and store them in my heated workshop. For the first time this year, I'm going to try one of those battery maintainer devices that tops off the battery when necessary.
Overall, I've gotten excellent service lifespans out of my deep cycle batteries. Even with heavy use, I tend to get 4-5 years out of them which seems to be above average. I'm not an engineer, but I suspect leaving batteries in the boat in the winter and letting them freeze and discharge is hard on them and can reduce their service life. It takes a little effort and some storage space, but I think it's worth it to keep them warm and dry as especially the deep cycle batts aren't cheap.
- Freeze prevention - make sure your bilge is dry, especially if you have a bilge pump. Allowing water to freeze in the bilge will crack the pump and the discharge hose. Same goes for livewells and baitwells, make sure they are dry. I blow out the discharge hoses with compressed air just to make sure. I know a few guys who ended up doing hours of work re-plumbing everything after hoses and pumps that were left with water in them burst when they froze.
- Finally, I have built a-frames for my boat so the winter covers have a very steep pitch that allows water to run all the way off without collecting on the cover. I also use a trailer jack so that should water get under the cover, it will drain out the plug and not collect in the bilge.
I'd be interested in other tips or thoughts. Happy winter. Boat ownership, if nothing else, insures that you will always have something to do.
Grouse
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