When my father passed away several years ago, he was the person that maintained
the boat and loved doing it. Most of the rest of the family had no idea what to
do or initially that we had to do anything to protect the boat through the
winter months. My brother has worked on cars and engines for years and he knew
that we had to get the water out of the block or it could freeze and crack the
block.
The main thing to stress is do not neglect it or you can
run into serious dollars in repairs.
If you do not know what to do, seek
professional advice. click here for LOTW service facilities
The few
things I did find out are listed here, but do not take these as any sort of a
complete list. Our boat is a 1970s vintage 19ft Fleet Wing Bowrider with a
Mercruiser 140 I/O..
Removing
the water from the engine block is a main item. Water freezing is a powerful
force and can easily crack the engine block.
Prior to
draining the block it is recommended that you run some mixture of fuel and oil
(there are several suggested mixtures) in lieu of fuel alone through the engine
(to protect the carburetor, cylinders and other parts of the engine from
developing corrosion during the winter).
Drain the
outboard leg. This is to drain any water that may have accumulated and the old
gear lube. There are two drain plugs on our leg, one at the top and one at the
bottom. This allows the thick gear lube to drain and allows you to refill the
leg with new gear lube from the bottom. Sounds strange, but filling from the
bottom (requires a special attachment) pushes any remaining water and old lube
out the top hole (the lube is thicker than the water and will lift the water up
and out).
If you
have a head and or galley, you want to investigate what you should do to
displace the water in the pipes and drains that can freeze and crack plumbing.
Again I do
not feel personally qualified to give advice. The type of boat/vessel you have
and the date of the technology on board may define different courses of action.
Most people will likely have a professional either do the work or get
professional advice on what to do for their specific situation. Your boat is an
investment of your time, love and money. I would hate to see anyone suffer the
loss of use of their boat because they simply did not know they needed to
prepare it for winter.
Stephen D.
Langford
Huntsville, AL – but grew up spending weekends with the family on
Guntersville
Lake