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Question about Pontoon Winterizing in the North East

Glava2876

Glava2876

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Well I made it through my first summer with my 23LFB Tritoon -had tons of fun and learned a lot!
The next learning curve is the fall to winter storage process.
So, after pulling it out of the water, I took it to the dealer for winterizing the motor, because Yamaha requires it to keep the warranty.
The dealer is awesome and very friendly, but I will definitely do this myself when the warranty is up.
Next, I have room at camp to store my Toon, so I had it shrink wrapped, which seemed to be a good way to protect it during the winter months.
The shrink wrap job is great, covers the entire deck and has vents in it. But, it was not cheap and I will be opening the Toon in the spring like a Christmas package and throwing the wrap out -and then do it again next fall...
I was wondering if many of you use a winter cover that can be installed and then removed?
My camp is in Northern NY on the St Lawrence near Ogdensburg, so it looks like the area has 60" plus annual snow fall -not bad to me since at home we get 120"+
I looked and it appears that they range in price from $600.00 to over $1,000.00, so it wouldn't take too many years to result in great savings vs shrink wrapping.
If a good cover would protect it just as well as shrink wrapping, what brands & types would you all recommend?
 
I am on my third season of reusing the wrap. Take it off carefully and it is fine. You will have to heat and strecth a couple spots to get it back on but it works. I will hopefully get one more after this winter and then start again
 
It used to cost us $7-$10 a foot to have our boat shrink wrapped. So about $200 wasn't bad considering the installer constructed a frame inside the boat to fit the shrink wrap over that could withstand major snow like you have up there! Would the winter cover you are looking at have some sort of frame/bracing under it because if it didn't it would get crushed under all that weight?!?
 
Four stroke outboards don't need to be winterized except maybe for a good fuel treatment. All I do after it's out of the water and cleaned up is tilt the engine all the way up, then all the way back down. You'll see water drain out when you do that but the important thing is to keep it DOWN or else you'll trap water in that tube and break it. Tilting it up than back down should get any trapped water out. It won't be a lot.

I've never heard of such a requirement from Yamaha on a 4 stroke outboard. Is that new?
 
Nautical said:
Four stroke outboards don't need to be winterized except maybe for a good fuel treatment. All I do after it's out of the water and cleaned up is tilt the engine all the way up, then all the way back down. You'll see water drain out when you do that but the important thing is to keep it DOWN or else you'll trap water in that tube and break it. Tilting it up than back down should get any trapped water out. It won't be a lot.

I've never heard of such a requirement from Yamaha on a 4 stroke outboard. Is that new?
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Definitely not new! If you live in a climate like me that gets down to -40⁰C and colder, you'll want to be winterized! I always found it best to change oil and gear lube before winter. Some like to do it in spring, but if you happened to get fishing line around your prop and cut the seal you will have some water in your lower end, which as we know freezes and expands, causing large repair bills. I don't believe that you HAD to have a dealership do it, you just had to be able to show it was done (receipt of the kit purchased, heck take a timestamp picture of the oil and lube draining).

As for the shelter, as mentioned many have commented over the years about the navigloo system and have been pleased. I'm lucky enough to have a farming brother in law who was nice enough to leave me a big spot in his concreted quonset, so just the factory playpen cover was all that I needed and I could climb in and check on it whenever I needed to.
 
Always winterize if storing more than 60 days. Especially the piston walls. As a past mechanic, I’ve seen 4 and 2 strokes with internal rust forming if not protected properly. Just follow the owners manual and you’ll be good.
 
here is a link to my thread and what i did. I am in Wisconsin. Got any questions on material and what i do, just message me. Start from the top of my post and work your way down. I have many pictures in it.

Winter Cover and Transhield instead of shrink wrap?

Hey, Anybody try this Transhield pontoon cover? I normally get it shrink wrapped for my Wisconsin winter but that is getting expensive. i bought the cover yesterday and should be delivered tomorrow. Hopefully install on Saturday. I already got the post from leftover from previous shrink wrap...
club.benningtonmarine.com club.benningtonmarine.com
 
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