WINTERIZE YOUR BOAT TO HELP REDUCE SPRINGTIME HEADACHES AND EXPENSES
With the breaking of the weather for much of the US, the time has come to tuck your boat in for its winter slumber. Much like a bear gets ready before their winter hibernation, the same principles apply to your boat. For some, it may even be too late. 30” Inches of snow in Buffalo sure couldn’t be good for the Lake Erie & Ontario boaters. If you take the necessary steps now, you’ll be rewarded handsomely come springtime with a ‘healthy boat’ that needs minor attention to get it in the water.
The second part to this topic is should you attempt to do it or have your boat winterized professionally? In short, if you can afford to have a pro do it, its a no brainer. The extra money you save by doing it yourself will be spent fixing oversights come springtime. Read on at whats involved and use that as an argument to get it done by a pro, or trust that you can handle it yourself!
A Quick Look at Winterizing... Step By Step
Standard Winterization
1) Purchase and run a fogging solution through your engine
2) Use an external spray for external corrosion protection on your engine
3) Completely drain all fluids from the engine and refill with anti-freeze
4) For stern drives, replace the lower unit gear oil with new oil
5) For stern drives, grease external fittings.
6) Remove all batteries from the boat and store them inside
7) Cover your boat
Optional Winterization
1) Remove spark plugs and spray oil on cylinders, then replace spark plugs
2) Change engine oil and filter
3) Remove prop and grease prop shaft
4) Add fuel stabilizer to prevent condensation in gas tank (run engine briefly to flush stabilized gas through fuel injectors and carburetor)
5) Winterize fresh water system
6) Remove outdrive and grease U-Joint
Thanks to Julie Bostian from About.com for this consise list
* these are just general suggestions. always default to your manufacturers guide when winterizing your boat.
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