Time to get the boats ready for winter soon.

[Moveon]

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?

[peter]

Thanks. That's a good check list. I've always kept mine in a heated garage and not winterized but might not have the heat this year so this is a good check list. Thanks.

[Moveon]

Thanks. That's a good check list. I've always kept mine in a heated garage and not winterized but might not have the heat this year so this is a good check list. Thanks.

Thanks Peter, I got some of this from other fishing web sites over the years and most of it I have practiced for the last 30+ years on my own boat.

Which reminds me of one more thing to check.

Check the water pump every few years as the rubber veins on the water pump impeller can wear out and break down. Pieces can get caught up in the water pipes and restrict water flow to the engine.

And it's getting closer to the time when you need to winterize your plumbing in the old campers and trailers. Draining the water out of the toilet traps and or put in antifreeze in the traps where water can stand over winter.

My garage is not heated. But I can put an electric heater out in the garage when I want to work out there in the winter. But I have to move the boat out of the garage to do any work in there. Wish I had a larger heated garage now.

[fishassasin]

mpveon, do you not put any stabil in the carb or do you leave it drive... also do you drain the bowl of the carb. just curious. i do fish into the winter but alot of it is from the bank on the ohio or with someone else... thanks for any info.

[Moveon]

mpveon, do you not put any stabil in the carb or do you leave it drive... also do you drain the bowl of the carb. just curious. i do fish into the winter but alot of it is from the bank on the ohio or with someone else... thanks for any info.

I put the Stabil in the gas tank . One ounce per two gallons. Since I have a six gallon tank I put about 3 ounces in the gas tank with new gas and new oil Oil is 50 to 1 ratio. I also added some SeaFoam to the gas tank. Just a couple of ounces of Sea Foam.

The motor puts out white smoke when I added Sea Foam to the gas and at first I get a gooy light brown oil like substance coming out of the exhaust ports by the propeller. I have a 35 HP old Johnson Motor with a long shaft. It scared the heck out of me the first time I saw this stuff as I thought my engine was runined. Once I blew up an engine in my Pontiac Firebird when the accellerator got stuck and I threw the gears into neutral to stop. But I forgot to turn the key off and the engine got so hot so fast that it cracked and oil got into the radiator's water. That's basically what the Sea Foam produced, It dissolved the carbon inside the engine and it comes out the exhaust as a oil water mixture that's colored light brown or tan. But that's a good thing for the Outboard Motor as it's getting rid of all the carbon inside the engine that built up over the last 30+ years.

Now my Johnson 35 HP engine purs like a kitten and will idle nicely. I can go about 1.5 mph or so when heading into a wind at idle speed, which is perfect for trolling for crappie.

I don't actually drain the carb bowl as that would be hard to do. There's going to be some gas left in the carb bowl even after you run the gas out of the engine. I just unplug the gas line at the engine and run the engine until it stops. Then I take out the spark plugs and spray Fogging Oil into each spark plug hole. That coats the top of the pistons and the cylinder walls with some oil to keep any moiture from rusting the metal inside the pistons etc. I'll turn the engine over a couple of times to spread the oil around inside the piston and cylinders.

I've done these two things for 30+ years now ever since I bought my boat brand new back in 1978.

Hope this helps others in some way.

[fishassasin]

thanks very much ...very helpful.... also one small question is how long does a boat need to sit to actually winterize it? cause mine will probably sit for about 2 months before i use it again?

[Moveon]

To be honest I really don't know. I forget to winterize mine one time and it still runs ok. I mean I didn't put the fogging oil in the spark plug holes until well into the winter months.

If it gets cold the moisture in the air can condense on the inside metal of the engine and start to form rust. We have a lot of acid in our air due to the burning of coal and the fuel that we burn in our cars. Nitrogen Dioxide and Nitrogen Monoxide can form Nitric Acid in the Air and Sulfuric Acid is formed when coal with high sulfur is burned and SO2 is released into the air.

So the quicker you protect the engine the better I guess.

When you are using the engine you keep the cylinders oil with the oil in the fuel or the oil injection if you have that type of engine. But the worst thing you can do with an engine is not run it for a long time. When it sits it will rust eventually. The fogging oil just slows this rusting process down.

Also it depends on what the water quality is on the lake you fish. I fish strip pits which have a higher pH than some other lakes. pH of around 8 something. That's ten times more basic than water with a pH of 7.0

Also the waters that I fish have a lot of iron in them that's dissolved in the water.

If you leave any water in the engine it can freeze if it gets cold enough and water expands when it freezed and can do damage to the lower unit if it expands and breaks metal. So it's very important to drain all the water out of the engine before it gets cold enough to freeze.

I just would not leave the engine unprotected for 4 months during the winter. Remember that we are talking about something that can take years to happen. It's not like it's going to rust and fail next year or anything. But the rust can accumulate over time and pit the engine inner pistons and cylinder walls over time.

I believe in the old saying: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

thanks very much ...very helpful.... also one small question is how long does a boat need to sit to actually winterize it? cause mine will probably sit for about 2 months before i use it again?

[Embrey]

I put the Stabil in the gas tank . One ounce per two gallons. Since I have a six gallon tank I put about 3 ounces in the gas tank with new gas and new oil Oil is 50 to 1 ratio. I also added some SeaFoam to the gas tank. Just a couple of ounces of Sea Foam.

The motor puts out white smoke when I added Sea Foam to the gas and at first I get a gooy light brown oil like substance coming out of the exhaust ports by the propeller. I have a 35 HP old Johnson Motor with a long shaft. It scared the heck out of me the first time I saw this stuff as I thought my engine was runined. Once I blew up an engine in my Pontiac Firebird when the accellerator got stuck and I threw the gears into neutral to stop. But I forgot to turn the key off and the engine got so hot so fast that it cracked and oil got into the radiator's water. That's basically what the Sea Foam produced, It dissolved the carbon inside the engine and it comes out the exhaust as a oil water mixture that's colored light brown or tan. But that's a good thing for the Outboard Motor as it's getting rid of all the carbon inside the engine that built up over the last 30+ years.

Now my Johnson 35 HP engine purs like a kitten and will idle nicely. I can go about 1.5 mph or so when heading into a wind at idle speed, which is perfect for trolling for crappie.

I don't actually drain the carb bowl as that would be hard to do. There's going to be some gas left in the carb bowl even after you run the gas out of the engine. I just unplug the gas line at the engine and run the engine until it stops. Then I take out the spark plugs and spray Fogging Oil into each spark plug hole. That coats the top of the pistons and the cylinder walls with some oil to keep any moiture from rusting the metal inside the pistons etc. I'll turn the engine over a couple of times to spread the oil around inside the piston and cylinders.

I've done these two things for 30+ years now ever since I bought my boat brand new back in 1978.

Hope this helps others in some way.

draining most carbs is easy and a good thing to do. keeping fuel off the jets will keep them from gumming up

[fishassasin]

i run a small honda 10hp four stroke. im gonna get some stabil and put in the tank and try to spray some in the carp if possible

[Moveon]

Don't spray fogging oil inside the carb or it will gum it up. Sray fogging oil ONLY inside the Spark Plug Holes. Spraying Stabil into the Carb won't hurt anything though. But that's not necessary if you run the Stabil in the gas as the gasoline/stabil mixture will already be inside the carb.

If your engine is older and has carbon built up inside the engine then some Sea Foam will help dissolve the carbon and clean out the carb and other engine components that get exposed to the gas/stabil/sea foam mixture.

i run a small honda 10hp four stroke. im gonna get some stabil and put in the tank and try to spray some in the carp if possible

[GeoFisher]

Get them ready for winter...........Hell NO boys...............keep gas in it, and FISH DALE hollow 1-2 times a month from November - March, and then start fishing KY lake again in march........BOOYA.

[Moveon]

This thread was created for the 98% of the fishermen who like to fish when it's above freezing and to help them winterize their boats. Besides when it's below freezing it doesn't take long for any water vapor inside your engine to rust the pistons or cylinder walls or water in the lower unit to freeze up and expand and then break the lower unit that was not properly drained of water and winterized.