Okay-
I started winterizing my boat tonight, but was interrupted by rain. I have a 1991 Thompson with the 4.3 Alpha 1 Mercruiser that I've never winterized before (just got it last week). I've done my 1988 Chaparral with the 3.0 Mercruiser successfully a couple times after being shown how by someone that knows what they are doing, so I feel pretty confident, especially with all the advice and expertise available on this forum.
I warmed up the engine for about 10 minutes on the muffs in the driveway, and shot fogging oil down the carb on and off for about 10 seconds until the engine almost died, then shut it down. Turned off the spigot and removed the muffs. Then started looking for the drain plugs. Found the 2 on the block, and 4 on the manifolds (2 each). I hear tell I may have missed one or two near the water pump on the front of the engine, maybe? I'll search for those tomorrow. No big deal there, as long as I find them. I figure the water is diluted enough from filling the hoses with antifreeze even if I don't find them. Anyways, I drained the water & reinstalled the plugs. Then started dumping in antifreeze. Filled the manifolds and block (at least I think the block filled) through the hoses. Not being sure, I briefly removed a few of the plugs to confrim antifreeze here and there. Present and accounted for. Feeling good. Then, I removed the seawater intake line and dumped about a quart down that until the hose filled up then slowly drained out of the lower unit. Then filled it up one more time and reinstalled it (outdrive down, of course). Feel free to chime in with anything I may have missed.
I still have to change the oil & filter, no problems there. I changed & inspected the oil in the lower unit before the maiden voyage/last trip for the year - good there, too. Still don't fully know where the impeller is for the water pump, but I can look that up later. Never did anything with one of them. I do have the service manual for the outdrive, though.
Here's where I went wrong: :redface: Like the newbie idiot that I am, I forgot to add the Sta-Bil to the gas tank before running it. I'm all done with the boat for the year. I know better than to run it without muffs or being in the water. I'm positive (again, like an idiot) that I will get the boat back out late April to early May next year, maybe earlier. Am I going to need to un-do all my winterizing to run Sta-Bil through the carb? Will the gas in the carb and in the fuel line go bad in that amount of time? I can easily add Sta-Bil to the gas tank now, so I'm not worried about that part. My fear is that the fuel line and carb won't be protected.
What do you guys think? How long will that fuel keep? I'm not anticipating more than a 6 month lay-up. Should I de-winterize and start over?
I started winterizing my boat tonight, but was interrupted by rain. I have a 1991 Thompson with the 4.3 Alpha 1 Mercruiser that I've never winterized before (just got it last week). I've done my 1988 Chaparral with the 3.0 Mercruiser successfully a couple times after being shown how by someone that knows what they are doing, so I feel pretty confident, especially with all the advice and expertise available on this forum.
I warmed up the engine for about 10 minutes on the muffs in the driveway, and shot fogging oil down the carb on and off for about 10 seconds until the engine almost died, then shut it down. Turned off the spigot and removed the muffs. Then started looking for the drain plugs. Found the 2 on the block, and 4 on the manifolds (2 each). I hear tell I may have missed one or two near the water pump on the front of the engine, maybe? I'll search for those tomorrow. No big deal there, as long as I find them. I figure the water is diluted enough from filling the hoses with antifreeze even if I don't find them. Anyways, I drained the water & reinstalled the plugs. Then started dumping in antifreeze. Filled the manifolds and block (at least I think the block filled) through the hoses. Not being sure, I briefly removed a few of the plugs to confrim antifreeze here and there. Present and accounted for. Feeling good. Then, I removed the seawater intake line and dumped about a quart down that until the hose filled up then slowly drained out of the lower unit. Then filled it up one more time and reinstalled it (outdrive down, of course). Feel free to chime in with anything I may have missed.
I still have to change the oil & filter, no problems there. I changed & inspected the oil in the lower unit before the maiden voyage/last trip for the year - good there, too. Still don't fully know where the impeller is for the water pump, but I can look that up later. Never did anything with one of them. I do have the service manual for the outdrive, though.
Here's where I went wrong: :redface: Like the newbie idiot that I am, I forgot to add the Sta-Bil to the gas tank before running it. I'm all done with the boat for the year. I know better than to run it without muffs or being in the water. I'm positive (again, like an idiot) that I will get the boat back out late April to early May next year, maybe earlier. Am I going to need to un-do all my winterizing to run Sta-Bil through the carb? Will the gas in the carb and in the fuel line go bad in that amount of time? I can easily add Sta-Bil to the gas tank now, so I'm not worried about that part. My fear is that the fuel line and carb won't be protected.
What do you guys think? How long will that fuel keep? I'm not anticipating more than a 6 month lay-up. Should I de-winterize and start over?
