didnt winterize my boat

[lordblitzalot]

well long story short
i didnt winterize my boat at the end of last summer, and today i had a mechanic friend look at the engine and noticed that one of the freeze plugs popped out.
he knows alot about cars but not too much about boats.

my questions are:
can anything go wrong with the outdrive by not winterizing it?
and will a ford 302 motor just bolt right up?

it is a 19' 1977 bayliner with an omc outdrive and the current motor is a ford 351 windsor.

 

[Don S]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

will a ford 302 motor just bolt right up?

Not without some modifications. Carbs, fuel pumps, starters, alternators, cam, distributors, core plugs, circulation pumps, etc. all have to be marine. Not only for safety, but to keep the engine running properly. Automotive is a lot different than marine.

can anything go wrong with the outdrive by not winterizing it?

It's possible, if there was water in it.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

T'would help to know the extent of the winter that your boat was exposed to. It would also help, in many cases, if you bothered to note what area you lived in. This of course can be done in the User CP at the top of each page.

That all being said, you will not know about the extent of the damage until you run the motor. Replace the plug, run the motor and keep checking on the oil for any signs of water mixture.

The other area of concern are your exhaust manifold. Often they will go first.

 

[lordblitzalot]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

i live in portland oregon we had a good week of snow not too long ago and it has been pretty cold

 

[chiefalen]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

Was the drive in the full down position?

The motor is another story popped casting plug ain't good.

 

[lordblitzalot]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

it was 3/4 of the way down the tilt motor is out on it so i couldnt lower it all the way

 

[WizeOne]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

i live in portland oregon we had a good week of snow not too long ago and it has been pretty cold

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, lba. I live in the same area. I could predict with a certainty that your 351w is toast. I know, I've been there, done that, in a lot less extreme weather that we had in December.

Mine cracked across the #'s 1 and 2 cylinder and took out both exhaust manifolds. And I had drained them all before winter set in. Problem was, I pulled all the plugs and never stayed around to watch them drain or stick a little screwdriver up the holes to remove any debris that prevented total draining.

Best thing you can do at this point is to replace the freeze plug, fire it up and keep pulling the dipstick to watch for the dreaded milkshake. If you get it, shut it down and drain the oil so that you can save all the innards of the motor. The good news is that 351w blocks are plentiful and cheap.

 

[lordblitzalot]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

mostly im just trying to figure out if this is gonna cost me a fortune to fix, cause if it was i would just go ahead and get rid of this boat and get something else.
i can get engines cheap because one of my friends owns a wrecking yard and has quite a few ford 302's

im mostly worried about the outdrive because that would be alot more to fix from what i understand (but im a newbie)

 

[WizeOne]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

mostly im just trying to figure out if this is gonna cost me a fortune to fix, cause if it was i would just go ahead and get rid of this boat and get something else.
i can get engines cheap because one of my friends owns a wrecking yard and has quite a few ford 302's

im mostly worried about the outdrive because that would be alot more to fix from what i understand (but im a newbie)

If your outdrive was 3/4's of the way down, you are probably safe. I always keep my OMC outdrive in the full up position but I bungee a trashbag over the prop exhaust so it gets no rain in it.

If your motor is broke, it would be a lot cheaper to replace the 351 block than to convert to a 302. I just wouldn't go there for the least cost alternative. Many of your 351 components will not transfer over. It would even give you a chance to freshen things up a bit. There is a place out near Troutdale that you could get a block from and you may be able to use all of your internals with a hone job and a new set of rings.

It's gonna cost you something, one way or another. You Blew it!!!

I also deal with a good shop, up in Vancouver, that could do a lot of the swapping and machine work for you. They are honest and reasonable. You'd still have to get the motor pulled and transported.

 

[tmh]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

A 19' 1977 Bayliner with an OMC drive and a blown engine ...... sure doesn't sound like something worth putting $.05 into to repair. Fix/replace the engine and you have a boat worth $200 anyhow. Likely you can buy a different old boat that works for the price you'll pay getting this one fixed.

But, if it's an old family friend with sentimental value then that's different.

 

[lordblitzalot]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

A 19' 1977 Bayliner with an OMC drive and a blown engine ...... sure doesn't sound like something worth putting $.05 into to repair. Fix/replace the engine and you have a boat worth $200 anyhow. Likely you can buy a different old boat that works for the price you'll pay getting this one fixed.

But, if it's an old family friend with sentimental value then that's different.

thats pretty much what i was thinking.
i am most likely gonna sell it and find something with an outboard instead, that way during the winter i can just pull the motor off and put it in my garage plus if the motor goes out or has some major problem that i dont care to take the time to fix it, it would be alot easier to just slap another outboard on.
especially when i have little to no exp in boat engines

plus i have seen quite a few fairly nice boats on portlands craigslist for under 3500

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

I would at least replace the freeze plug, start it up and see just what has happened. Monitor the oil closely let it warm up enough to open thermostat and continue to watch everything. You don't have too much to lose at this point, you wont get anything out of it selling it as a possibly freeze damaged engine/drive. If you do end up selling it and replacing with an outboard powered boat OB's are very easy to winterize I wouldnt worry about taking it into the garage. Unless it is a 25 hp or under I would leave it on the boat, as it would take less time to winterize it than remove elec,steering,fuel etc. to put it in garage. You would still want to do 1/2 of the winterization just to lay it up in the garage for 4-6 months. I live in SLC Utah most winters are easily cold enough to trash ANYTHING that isn't winterized well. I did my own winterization on my outboard for many years and it was about a two hour deal. Always started right up in spring and never an issue one winter it was -20 for over a week... Good luck with the bayliner who knows you may have gotten lucky wont know till you try it out..

 

[lordblitzalot]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

thanks for all the help.
i am gonna check it out because i would like to keep this boat and slowly fix it up, but i think in the meantime for now im gonna get a smaller boat with an outboard.
because once it warms up a little in a month or so i want to start sturgeon fishing again, and its not too much fun doing that from the shore while im waiting for my boat to be fixed

 

[chiefalen]

Re: didnt winterize my boat

WizeOne, you store it with the drive up??

How do you winterize it? All drives should be stored all the way down so water don't freeze in the water pump and crack the upper.

Some even pull the drive, mercs that is. And store them indoors.

When i come off the water and it's freezing out, i put the drive all the way down and let it drain for 2 minutes than put it back up, and drive home flush and then drain the block and the manifold.

But i live less then 15 minutes from the dock or i would drain the manifold and the block at the dock on the trailer, and then reinstall the plugs flush and drain it again.

But when it's freezing i never leave the drive up.

To the original poster never run the boat without the drive fully down, and store the boat over the winter with the drive anywhere but fully down.

Reinstall a plug in the casting hole. And try running it. With water going to it.

If you discover a cracked block, head, or manifold then post and we can go from there.

Good luck !