First Winter Prep - Guidance, Suggestions and Secret Tips Appreciated-gctid823850

[Aircraftbuilder]

Appreciate any input on this topic......which is the best items to do to winterize the boat? This will be my first winter storage as a boat owner.

If you fog the engine, how do you run antifreeze through the water system with out the engine running.

Is it sufficient to drain the water by removing hoses and freeze plugs?

Would you recommend back filling with anti freeze?

Do you leave the plug in or take it out?

Should I wrap up the outdrive in a tarp?

Any suggestions to prevent mold in the interior while it's covered up?

Do you keep the engine cover on, off or "displaced" to allow air circulation?

Full fuel tank treated or empty?

How much angle do you keep on the boat...... balancing the outdrive position with having some angle to drain any water that somehow gets in?

Is it worth it to put the trailer on jack stands to get the weight off the tires?

Anything else I missed?

A couple of givens are removing the battery and having the outdrive in the down position. Also have tire covers and will loosen the tie downs. Will be changing engine and drive oil.

My location is PA, so we get some pretty hard cold spells. Figure I have about a month of boating left because October starts hunting season.

Thanks for any advice and secret tips for "successful" over wintering.

[B95054]

In no particular order....

I always run antifreeze through the engine before removing drain plugs. Some will argue that it is unnecessary but it is a small amount of dollars for peace of mind.

When I drain the antifreeze I catch it and save for next year. You can use it over and over again but is ensures that the little nooks and crannies don't freeze.

Fog the engine after dealing with the antifreeze and drain plugs.

Use a couple of dri-z-airs under the tarp. If you can tarp it in such a way that there is a gap for airflow then even better. plus one dri-z-air under the engine cover.

Plugs out and tilt so that the water will drain if it gets in

I don't put on blocks but I do remove the lug nuts from the tire that is the least in view. Nobody has ever tried to steal the boat but if they do I hope that they would receive a nice surprise as they try to drive off.

Anything that can come out of the boat and be stored indoors is always a good thing - keeps the mustiness out.

Fuel tank full and with stabilizer (which you ran through during the antifreeze stage)

Tilt the drive up and down several times to drain water.

Don't forget to change the oil and leg oil BEFORE storing. Keeps the acids in the fluids from causing any damage during storage.

Detail and wax the boat now before storage - it makes clean up in the spring so much easier.

[Koppers_Kove]

I do all the items I can do,oil change, outdrive oil, fuel stabilization etc.

I then take my boat to my local maintenance facility and have them finish winterizing the boat. Fog engine, antifreeze in system etc. The cost is minimal usually less than $200. My reasoning is if something is missed and freezes and breaks I have repercussion with them as they winterized the boat.

[TenMile]

Does your 3.0L have the block and manifold quick drain hoses? If so, all you really need to do is drain the water from these two. Some rig a shop vac to suck out the rest of the water. You can fill with antifreeze afterwards if you wanted.

[img size=100 ]http://darsenginerepair.weebly.com/uploads/3/2/1/9/3219186/8923880_orig.jpg[/img]

My process for our lake boat with the 3.0L:

- run engine on muffs up to temperature

- spray Sea Foam into carb until engine stumbles and runs rough - then shut off engine (engine fogging)

- remove plugs (one at a time) -- spray a shot of Sea Foam into each cylinder

- remove drain hoses, and drain water from block and manifolds

- remove drain plug and leave it on the front seat of the boat along with wrench (so I don't forget to reinstall it)

- cover boat with tarp

- raise trailer so that any water will drain out the drain plug

- lower drive as low as possible (for me I lower the drive before tipping the trailer, make sure all water drains out of leg, but have to raise the drive before I can tip the trailer).

- remove battery -- do not store on a cold concrete floor

[desuch]

run antifreeze thru engine and outdrive store outdrive fully down to drain ,as far as fogging you have to do it at the end of your anti freeze process thats the only way you can do it right

[Aircraftbuilder]

Unfortunately I don't have that very convenient looking fixture........ bummer. Thanks for the tips!

[iceclimber]

Only addition on freezing, water has to be contained to freeze, expand and cause an issue.Some water here and there will not cause a problem. It gets awfully cold in northern Idaho, and I stopped all the fogging, anti freeze and obsessing about it years ago. I have never ever, ever had a single problem skipping all that stuff and simply blowing out the water system and draining/blowing out the heat exchangers. The only reason I even bother with blowing stuff out ? I put it all back together so it can't drain.

[Chief_Alen]

Be glad you don't have that single drain hose.

Post #3

http://www.baylinerownersclub.org/in...nterize#777847

I want to add ... if you have power steering you need to drain the cooler, remove the water hose off the t-stat or other point after the cooler, let drain into bilge.

What i did was run the boat on a hose, allow to get warm. pull the hose off the tank or before the filter, and allow the engine to die ( run out of fuel ) reattach the hose. Carb is now dry.

Make sure your poking the drain holes with stiff wire.

If you want you can pour a cup of anti-freeze down the long hose coming in from the transom hold the hose up let the anti-freeze dribble out the drive.

The U shaped hose a half cup, Short hose etc.

[88fourwinns]

Some of the basic points:

1) warm up engine and change oil and filter

2) change drive oil and inspect oil for water

3) warm up engine check oil filter for leaks & verify proper level same for out drive

4) fog engine through carb; it may stall if not just shut it off.

5) let it cool off before draining; the water in the engine and manifolds will get very hot (160*) and you can burn yourself if you don't let it cool.

6) now this is the hard part; you must locate every drain and hose that holds water; and drain every one and poke any holes with a thin screwdriver to make sure it is not clogged with rust flakes .

7) then take the drain plugs put a bit of Merc perfect seal on the threads (helps the threads to not corrode) and replace.

8) add antifreeze; this is optional but Merc does say to do it in their manuals.

I like back filling the hoses not sucking it up; why well it's much easier to fig it my way and no risk of burning the impeller if it will not suck in the AF.

9) I disco the big hose at the Thermo housing and back fill with -100 marine AF till it comes out thermo neck. Engine is now filled no need to remove thermo neck. Re connect hose

10) Disco manifold feed hoses at thermo housing and fill each hose till the manifolds are full; AF will run out the exhaust housing on the transom. Reconnect hoses.

11) disco the raw water feed hose from the transom to the thermo housing. Make sure drive is down, then fill that hose till AF runs out the drive water intakes. Reconnect hose.

I also will remove the drive to do the drive bellows inspection (for water) and greasing the gimble bearing U joints and drive shaft splines...

I've done this was our old boat always run in salt water and stored in cold North East winters and never had a problem with freezing. I use the -100 marine AF because it stays liquid to much lower temps than the -50 or 60.

It does help with corrosion because when I did my top end engine overhaul I was able to re use the intake manifold (not rotted) and the block was not rotted thru either....