Winterrizing your boat

[Alaska Gray]

How hard is it to do it? also what all need to be done?

[poordave]

Sta-Bil

It 's easy to do. I have used a product called Sta-Bil in my 4 wheeler & boat eng. 25hp Yamaha. Schucks Auto has it. You can store it with the gas in it.I've never had a problem yet. Dave

[jrogers]

What kind of Motor??

If it is an inboard, you better drain your heat exchangers, meaning the fresh water side. I drained mine last year, and then moved the boat, and in the spring I had a cracked exchanger which cost over a grand to replace. Fortunately they were still making mine, which is often not the case. The other option is to leave the drains open for the winter. I have a friend who bought a boat when the prevous owner left them open, and he almost sunk his boat on his test drive.

I think this year I will leave the drains open, and put a note on the steering wheel so I don't forget in the spring.

[AKmud]

Gas tanks

Make sure and leave them full! If they are empty, you will more than likely have a water problem next spring. Condensation in the tanks can add up over a few months. Water in the fuel problems are absolutely no fun when you are 20 miles from the harbor (speaking from experience!). Fuels these days have a really good shelf life, but Sta-bil is a good idea too. If you are running a 2-stroke outboard, I would recommend fogging the engine as well.

[Alaska Gray]

I have outboadrs
twin Yamaha 115.
Do I need to fog the enigines? If so how.
I will put Sta bil in my tank when I'm done. I heard good things from that.

[Snowwolfe]

If it is an inboard, you better drain your heat exchangers, meaning the fresh water side. I drained mine last year, and then moved the boat, and in the spring I had a cracked exchanger which cost over a grand to replace. Fortunately they were still making mine, which is often not the case. The other option is to leave the drains open for the winter. I have a friend who bought a boat when the prevous owner left them open, and he almost sunk his boat on his test drive.

I think this year I will leave the drains open, and put a note on the steering wheel so I don't forget in the spring.

What drains are you referring to?

I drained my heat exchanger by removing the bolt from the bottom of it and only got a few ounces of water out of it. And since the bolt went in with that feeling I better not tighten it any more I aint gonna take it out again,lol. I did remove the hose from the water pump to help drain the block and also seen only a tiny bit of water come out. I think if you lower your outdrive completly for a few hours it drains the block pretty good. But I will still remove the hoses and drain the mainfolds to make sure.

[spoiled one]

winterizing 4 strokes

Gray-

On my old F100's I would pull the plugs and spray fogging oil into the cylinders and then bump the starter a couple of times to coat the cylinders. I would change both the lower unit lube as well as the oil. I always topped the tank off and added stabil, too. They would fire right up every spring without a hitch. Also, you might add some RV antifreeze to the bilge or just pull the pumps off the botom of the hull.

Pete

[Alaska Gray]

Thanks for your help everyone.