Thread: New boat owner W/questions

Wondering about winterization since many of you seem to use your boat all winter is there anything I need to do to avoid problems in this area? Im assuming you dont winterize every time you take the boat out in the winter or am I wrong? If it freezes am I in danger of damage if I havent done something and what would that be.

I have an oil injection tank that I am assuming will tell me when it gets low but I checked it the other day and found it quite low. Is there normally an alarm that goes off or a light or nothing at all?

What else am I not thinking about here? I am heading out to overtons to get a service manual and Lord knows what else today but is there one manual thats better than others?

Been trying to get some mold off of the covers and bimini top and wonder what you guys use for that if you have that problem.

Any other reminders would be appreciated also.

I think the biggest threat is water in the lower unit oil. It would be a good idea to change it anyway. Batteries don't fair well in the cold so keep them warm or trickle charged if your going to store them for a while. As far as the oil injection I don't trust them, you usually don't know they have gone bad until its too late. Keep a good check on the oil level or disconnect it and mix your oil manually. Once you've made sure there is no water in the lower unit you want to make sure you drain all water from the engine after you take it out of the water. I run mine with the engine down for 10 seconds or so when it's on the trailer after I take it out of the water. If you don't plan to use it during the winter there are other ways to put it up for the winter.(fogging, fuel stabilizer, etc) Check with your local boat dealer or someone on here can direct you. Good luck.

or Stabil is not a bad idea anytime:D

mix you up a little bleach and water say 1/3 bleach take care of any mold and mildew just spray it on might need to brush it a little then rinse

you can't beat octagon soap, you can take a bath with it then go outside and clean your boat and your truck all with the same 75 cent bar, and it does a great job. one of the best antibacterial soaps out there.

Purple Power from walmart works good too. Make sure you cut it with some water, it'll clean ANYTHING

I use mine all winter, never winterize it. But I always run just a few seconds or 2 once I leave the ramp. Then, by all means, dont forget to leave the motor completely trimmed down so any remaining water will have chance to drain. Shouldnt be any problems that way. Also, with the sorry gas we get now its better to keep tank as full as posible to keep out moisture. And buy a fuel cannister and mount it on boat. Looks like a big auto oil filter but it catches any little rust or water particles. Keep your batteries charged, as soon as you get home hook em up. And I'm sure you will find almost everyone on here tell you to disconnect the oil injection and mix it yourself. Thats true. Boat mechanics will tell you that an engine is most likely to not get oil they need at idle speed. Trouble with the oil alarms is they dont sound until you are not pumping any oil at all. Think if you was running 5000 rpm and it quit// You couldnt shut it off soon enough. About a 30 minute job to find and disconnect pump. Its more trtouble to mix oil but will help save your motor.

Certainly good help here everybody. Thanks for the replys. Hope to see you on the water soon.

FC If you are going to use it all winter then no need for winterization.. However, What I like to do (all year round) is unhook the gas line when I get to the dock and let the motor run out of gas. My Father has always done this on his motor and I THINK the reason is to keep the gas fron sitting in the carburator...

I need to know how to summerize mine. I use it all winter and it sits in the garage from April to September.