Winterize?

[Butchkid]

I have a 2011 2575 QCW. I live in Texas so my boating season is a little longer than some. The week before Christmas we had a sunny day that was 77 degrees and it was a beautiful day to be on the water. A few days later it dropped to 29 degrees that night. That caught me off guard and now I feel foolish. My boat sits in an unheated indoor storage unit that looks like a single car garage. The ceiling is insulated but that is it. There is electric in the unit and I had the battery plugged in and charging. I rushed to the boat the next morning and it seemed like the temp in the garage was definitely warmer than the outside temp. The freshwater supply didn't have any ice in it, but I was concerned that metal conducts cold a lot better than plastic so I might still have a problem in the engine. At this point I couldn't do anything about it so I bought a bilge heater and dropped it in the engine compartment. It is a 450 watt heater by Xtreme. Now that I have that, my question is whether I can skip the winterization. If I use the boat one or two times between now and spring wouldn't I be ok? I went ahead and put Stabile in the fuel since I'm not using it frequently. This is a big enough unit to keep the engine compartment warm enough right? Especially considering the fact that it is indoors. Thoughts?

 

[cwag911]

I assume you have an I/O and if you keep the outdrive down to drain and the heater in the bilge to keep it warm (above freezing) then you should be ok. I've only worked on I/O's when we lived in NJ and there you HAD to winterize. Is there a drain on the block? If so you might drain it while it sits. My $.02

 

[BigKahuna]

The only problem I see about the heater in the engine compartment of your I/O would be if you would for some reason lose electricity for an extended period of time and you have no other way of keeping the temp above freezing..................

 

[LakeRat1]

I would be worried all the time..... But then again I live in KS.......I have three inboard boats in my insulated shed right now and for comfort, all three are winterized........

I have a deal pending on at 2012 Bennington with the SHO Yamaha 250..... What if any winterization has to be done with this boat? For sure fuel stabilizer, but what else?

My plan is to pick up the boat within the next month, bring it back to KS to add the LED Lights on the side, as well as upgrade the stereo.....then she will be heading to her new home at Lake of the Ozarks........Once there she will sit on a lift and I hope to boat at least two or three time per month, starting in April....then 4 to 4 days per week starting in May........

Advise on winterization would be appreciated

Thank You

LakeRat

 

[Padre]

As old Ben Franklin said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. My son tried going the bilge heating route, and what BigKahuna said is exactly what happened. Big storm, loss of power for almost two weeks. Couldn't get to where the boat was due to down trees, etc. $4500 rebuild. I guess in my opinion, keeping it warm is always helpful, but keeping it warm AFTER it has been winterized would be even better.

 

[LT1GMC]

There is also more to winterizing than just draining the water and Stabiling the gas. Most like to fog the engine with fogging oil to protect the internal parts with a bit of lubricant to reduce the chance of rust forming (rings, valves, especially the exhaust valves, cylinder walls), drain or change the fuel filter, check lower unit for water in lube or change lubricant, get the battery on trickle charge or remove, and other details.

Outboards will self drain water from the engine if the motor is not tilted, but I/O's will NOT! They have to have the engine exhaust manifolds and blocks drained, or flushed with RV antifreeze (or stored in an above freezing storage area).

 

[macstoon]

On the subject of winterizing on outboard motor.I keep my Bennington with a 150 four stoke Yamaha on a lift at the lake. Everything I've read or heard is if you don't do a full winterization start and run the engine at least every 30 to 45 days for 1/2 hour or more to circulate oil and charge batteries.For me that's not a problem I live in southern mo and I can pick days the weather is not bad. I like checking on it anyway.Of course you always treat the fuel in the off season.