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Any tips for a Newbie trying to winterize?

cathole

cathole

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Just wondering a few things before I store my 2004 2575 RFS

1.  What's a fair price to pay for a professional service to winterize my pontoon?

- I've been quoted about $250 by a recommended tech

2. Any tips on what I should do in addition to a winterization service?

3.  Any tips for keeping pests away from boat while stored in a building?

This is my plan so far:

run boat one last time with high octane fuel mixed with sea foam additive

top off fuel, add stay-bil

remove batteries for indoor storage plugged into a tender

store boat on trailer indoor cold storage, covered 

Thanks
 
Price seems a tad high but depends on motor and market. I pay $150 for winter servicing, but I also have a 150 pull fee but that includes taking it to storage after service.

Moth balls and dryer sheets to keep pests out. People laugh at the dryer sheets, but we have not had issues with bugs inside the boat since we started using them. Oh and my boat smells spring time fresh too ..... Lol !!!!!

Don't forget to service trailer bearings, grease them up good.
 
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I pay about $300 to professionally winterize.......It includes changing oil and filter, running antifreeze thoroughly through the engine block, changing the fuel/water separator, fogging engine and cylinders, changing the lower unit gear lube, add stabil to the fuel tank, greasing all external fittings, disconnecting and removing battery, pulling the prop, inspect, clean and grease shaft..................I used to do this myself in my old boat that had the carbureted version of the 4.3L but as I got older I just let the marina guys do it. Lazy I guess in my old age................Ha!
 
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I don't put mothballs, but I do use almost a whole box of dryer sheets, the big box!! Figure you can't have too much! I always put a few mouse traps out and a little bait around the trailer, have yet to have an issue. Next year I plan on winterizing it myself, buying all the doo-dads and thinga-majiggers right now. 
 
Oh yeah one more thing............I get 3 medium size foil pans and put a container of "Damp Rid" in the middle and surround it w/mothballs. I put 1 pan on the floor towards the front of the boat, 1 pan towards the back. The last pan goes into the engine compartment. You'd be surprised how much moisture is pulled out of the air and into the containers when you uncover your boat in the spring.................
 
[SIZE=11pt]I changed my engine oil, oil filter, the lower unit oil, and added sta-bil to fuel yesterday on my Yamaha F150  but I have some questions as I'm a newbie on boat engines.   I was paying just shy of $300 for this.  I thing Big Kahuna is getting a great deal, I be afraid of the price at my dealer if I got everything he has done.  [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt] As I was taking out oil plug it slipped out of my hand and went into oil bucket, I installed plug but as I was emptying old oil into a container, I found a metal washer so I had to take out plug and install washer.   In my manual it says “Put a new gasket on the oil drain screw”,  What I found was a metal washer, is that the same as a gasket?  I usually  consider a gasket as being made of rubber ( or anything but metal).  Do I need to replace metal washer/gasket?   I’m accustomed to changing oil on cars and the drain plug never has a separate washer or gasket.    [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]http://www.yamaha-motor.com/assets/service/manuals/1/LIT-18626-07-14_1372.pdf [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]I also had problems with oil filter, after I drained oil, I started to remove filter and oil started leaking ( oil filter is upside down).  In manual it says to “make sure engine is in upright(not tilted) when changing oil.  I had to put a lot of rags to soak up oil when removing filter.  Anyone have any suggestions?  It seems to me I should tilt engine to drain oil out of filter in the future.  [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Manual says to run engine before changing oil---how long should I do this?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]If I’m adding sta-bil to fuel, how long should I run engine?  [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]What type of boat muffs do people used?  The ones I had did not make a tight seal and I had to used my hands to keep them tight enough so the water would come out of the water inlet.  If I let go, water would not come out of top water inlet.  [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]I replace gaskets on lower unit oil vent and drain but how tight should I tighten screws?  I can’t find anything in manual.    [/SIZE]
 
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If you're going to do your own oil changes, I would replace the gasket (metal washer). For the oil filter, poke a hole in the top with an awl, it will drain while you're draining the oil. The lower unit screws make as tight as you can by hand. As for the muffs, squeeze them together to tighten them up. Let it run for 15 minutes to get the stabil into the engine.
 
Thanks Carl.  One more question for you.  The lower unit gear pump that I bought is that supposed to be a one time thing?  If not, how do you remove excess oil out of tube?     
 
If you take the pump out of the bottle you should be able to pump the remainder out of the tube and back into the bottle. You can use it again and again.
 
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