Its time to start thinking about your boat. (Winterizing)

[Dutch]

How often should you use the boat to not have to" winterize " ? once a month ? ever two weeks , etc. ?

I go at least once a week weather permitting... and it has to be be pretty nasty for me to stay home.

[EnonEye]

Nice write-up Scrapper. Living up north it's important to do EVERYTHING mentioned on the list and pay attention to details. My boat will be heading out for its 18th season next year and I've failed to do everything on this list only one time. I didn't get the fogging oil into the engine because the fogging valve was stuck closed. I figured that I'd just spray it into the cylinders, turn the engine over and forget about it. Coincidence, or as a result of my negligence, the next year I had to do a power-head rebuild that mom wasn't too happy about ($4k). Moral of the story is get it done RIGHT and if you're not confident in your abilities take it to a shop. Those few bucks spent there are well worth it.

[Spoonminnow]

Park your boat in an up hill posistion with the drain plug out if leaving boat in weather..."even under a cover"...that way any trapped water will leak out of the back and not form ice in the boat.

If you don't have a hill, put the wheel of the boat trailer stand up on a cinder block, crank the handle and raise the bow.

A water separator installed inline between the tank and motor takes the worry out of ethanol as long as you also use Marine Stabil.

Remove sonars units!

Tent the boat cover front and back. We get heavy snow and ice that rip covers not tented from sheer weight.

[Crappitier]

That's what is so great about my pontoon. No winterizing, no gas, no pollution!

I also fish all year. The crappie is a "cold water" fish, just like a trout. We never get any ice here in southern PA, but if we did, I just might try ice fishing!

The past few years, my best crappie catches have been in Dec, Jan, and Feb. The crappie seem to bite best when it's snowing!

[Lonestar Proud]

I fish all winter down here in Texas, so about the only winterization is taking the big motor all the way down to drain water from the hub, just in case it drops down below freezing some night.