Unless you fish all year long or well into December or January or are a Waterfowl hunter it's about time to winterize the boat.

I know that I want to drain the oil out of my lower unit and refill it with fresh gear grease before it gets too cold outside.

I'll run the gas out of the motor by unhooking the gas line and letting the motor run until it stops. Then I'll take out the spark plugs and spray in some fogging oil into the cylinders and turn them over a couple of times to spread the oil inside the cylinders and onto the pistons. This will keep moisture from rusting the inside of the engine. I'll use Sea foam in the gas to get the crude out of the engine next spring.

I'll add some stabil to the gas to preserve it for the long winter ahead. Gas it not cheap these days so keeping the gas that you already have in good shape is a good idea.

I'll also charge up the batteries real good for the winter storage period. I have the Optima Batteries so they will stay fully charged for about 12 months and make it though the winter ok. I may unhook the connections to the battery to prevent any voltage leaks of the system. My Optima Starting battery is going on 7 years old now and still works great.

I'll also put some new grease in the trailers bearing buddies and make sure that there is no water inside the bearings.

That's about it for my boat. I probably forgot something but I'm sure that someone will tell me if I forgot to do something to winterize the boat.

What do you do to get your boat ready for winter?