Boat Winterization
 

New to boating, I'm looking for the best place to have my 18' Sea Ray Bowrider winterized. The closer to Meredith the better but if I have to go a distance, I'm willing to do that for good service.

I bring mine to Getty Shine in Gilford for detailing, shrink wrap and winterization.

https://www.facebook.com/GettyShineMobileDetailingLlc/

If you're reasonably mechanical, the job is very easy to perform.

When I was learning about boat winterization, everything I read made it sound like voodoo magic. Turns out it isn't.

Fog engine, drain water and pour in propylene glycol. Add a gallon on Sea Foam to the fuel tank (or drain the tank). Grease out drive and power steering fittings.

Mechanical... and a contortionist! Most 18 foot boats don't give you much room to work with!

I use Independent Marine in Moultonborough.

Self winterizing is not for everyone but here's how I used to do it on my V-6 equipped Sea Ray 182:

Put fuel stabiler in last tank of gas for the season.
Run the boat around on the water to thoroughly heat up oil and get stabilizer into carburetor.
Pull boat home on trailer.
Put water ear muffs on out drive and start the motor to get hot oil moving around a bit.
Turn off boat.
Change oil and filter.
Use a pump that screws onto the oil dipstick tube for this.
The pump with a small diameter tube that is pushed down the dipstick tube was a failure from me.
Restart boat (with water flowing) and run it for about ten minutes to circulate new oil.
Turn off boat.
Set up anti freeze bucket with hose from bucket to ear muffs.
Fill bucket with three to five gallons of pink -50° antifreeze.
Remove spark arrester from engine.
Start antifreeze flow through ear muffs.
Start engine.
Observe coolant as it leaves engine.
Once it is fully pink, start sprayong fogging oil into carburetor intake.
DON'T LET THE ENGINE RUN OUT OF ANTIFREEZE AND RUN DRY.
If you are fast you will only need three gallons.
Fog until the engine quits.
Remove blue cooling system plugs. Look carefully all around the engine so you
don't miss any.
Replace spark arrester.

Replace spin-on fuel filter/water separater if equipped.

Using Vise-Grip needle nose pliers pinch closed the tube feeding oil to the outdrive from the oil reservoir.
Drain outdrive oil.
Observe quantity and color as it drains. Tan and milky means you have a bad seal allowing water into the gear case. So does any visible water coming out. No oil coming out is bad too!
Refill gear case using correct oil and the manufacturer's instructions.
Remove pinch pliers.

Pull boat drain plug.
Pull prop.
Grease prop shaft
Replace prop and cover it to prevent mice from nesting in it.
Lowes and HD sell a rubber plumbing cap with clamp that fits the prop perfectly.

Put boat in its storage location.
Trim drive down to almost touch the floor or ground.
Pull battery.
Put battery on battery maintainer for the winter.

All of the required items can be bought at WalMart, Parafunalia or any marine store.

I'll bet there are some additional or differing opinions on this that will be posted soon.

It is an advantage to have your boat on a trailer so you can do this yourself. My current boat is too big for that and as a result, I can only change the oil.

True.

OP - It's time for a bigger boat so you can save some money winterizing yourself.


;)

My procedure
 

1) Bring boat to marina
2) Leave marina and go to favorite pub for a beer :cheers:
3) Relax and let marina deal with the winterizing

That's is an awesome plan.

Now that's what I'm talking about!! :)

Dan

Hows this...
 

Step 1. Once I am done for the year I call the marina and tell them the slip number I am in.
Step 2. May 1 I call and tell them what slip # I want to be in.
Done & done.
I have become quite lazy in my old age.

Time vs money! Right now I have less time! $100 bucks and the peace of mind knowing that the shop carries insurance in the event of a bad winterization.

Luckily, my winterizing screwup 15 years ago was on a 350 chevy (mercruiser) that was tired anyway- at least that is what I keep telling myself. 1500 long block and a weekend to swap it out. If it happens to my 6.2 MPI, it would be very costly!

Although I realized that some folks could easily do the work but prefer not to...

Sometimes I think being handy can be a curse!

Consider this equation:



Mechanical ability to do the task.

PLUS

A frugal, somewhat cheap, nature.

EQUALS

I do my own work even when I have better things to do.

:rolleye1:

Batteries
 

For those on the frugal side, who leaves their batteries in the boat for the winter with the cables detached? Seems the Marina's must do this, as it seems like a logistical nightmare to remove all those batteries and store them inside. I rationalize that car batteries are outside in all kinds of cold weather, so why not leave the boat battery outside? I may have to put the charger on them n spring, but I would like your thoughts and comments....
Thanks

My battery stays in the boat all winter.


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Mine stay in the boat also.

My questions was (and is) WHICH marina?

WHICH Marina?

I do the exact same thing. I use Irwin and I am not charged for the pick up and drop off, its included in winterization costs.

I go to Shep Brown's - and have for decades. I really like their service department. I don't know how their prices compare to others because I have never felt the need to shop around. Everyone is professional, attentive, nice, and I have never had an issue with any of the work they have done.

We use Melvin Village Marina--it's where we bought our new boat, and they've done everything right to keep our business.

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Trexlers, right next door.

Lakeport Landing

So here my take and 2 cents....

A Marina has insurance and if they screw up the winterization it is on them...I allow them to take on that responsibility.... They come to my house pick the trailer and boat up, and in the spring, after I put the dock in, I tell them when I want to see the boat back... I arrive Friday night, its there at the dock and I am ready to have fun.... I never worry about where to store the boat, how much snow is on it, etc. etc. etc.....

What does this equate too... me being able to spend my spring and fall doing maintence to the property that I want to do in the summer... and not loosing a day twice a year to prep the boat, and put it to bed.

It sounds like the OP trailers his boat and I would assume that he has a place to store the boat for the winter. Winterizing and shrink wrapping seem to be the only thing he needs. If that is the case, everyone seems to have a relationship with a marina on the lake that they have used for years.

Miles Marine in Gilford will do it and they do good work at a fair price. I have used them for many things over the last 20 years and I have always been more than satisfied with the quality of the work and the price.

Awesome point on liability. Never thought of that but just another reason to sleep easy when the marina handles winterization.