boats care after a day use

[nightvision]

Hi all,<br /><br />A couple questions <br /><br />a. After a day of boating, do you typically idle the engine to cool it down before retrieving your boat? If so, at what RPM would you idle at? <br /><br />b. Do you remove the drain plug when you get the boat out of the water and keep it open as you drive home or do you open it at home and raise the trailer jack. <br /><br />c. When I get home, I usually wash my boat down. Today, I remove the ram plugs and lower the stern drive and saw water coming out. Is this a necessary step that I should do every time? I do hear that you should store the boat with the stern drive down. I have an Mercruiser 3L with an Alpha 1. <br /><br /><br />Thanks.

 

[umblecumbuz]

Re: boats care after a day use

Try this old thread<br /> http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=012213#000002

 

[Braxton]

Re: boats care after a day use

Drain plug is removed at the ramp and i wash mine everytime when i get home, more habit now, plus i have my 11 year old son to help so it goes quickly.

 

[milkyway]

Re: boats care after a day use

I do all of those. I idle on a no wake zone for about 10 minutes, and at the same time run the blower. I remove the plug at the wash station AND flush the engine with salt-x. Then flush the trailer brakes, then wash the trailer. Then I wash the inside of the boat when I get home. Since I have good wax, I don't usually wash the exterior. And you can see the benefit from good waxing. The outdrive is down as much as it can. I leave the engine compartment and anchor hatch open to help it dry out. Then comes another weekend...

 

[Scaaty]

Re: boats care after a day use

All correct, but once a motor is shut down, it does in no way create more heat, OR move it about in some way. Only when you might have a heat sink problem with a temperamental starter would do a cool down help

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: boats care after a day use

I doesn't create more but the cooling is shut down. I have a mechanical temp guage on my truck. When the engine is shut down, the temp guage increases for a while.