Is it over?

[Rinker85]

Is the boating season over in Minnesota? I hope not. I have always been able to go boating in October and usually winterize the boat the last weekend of October. 45 degrees and drizzle the last two weekends now.

 

[kaulbr]

Ha! I live in Wisconsin and am wondering the same thing. I'm holding off on getting the boat winterized — hoping for one more time out on the water. It's not looking likely though. This is my first summer with a boat so I'm not sure how far into fall people around here can typically go.

 

[RGrew176]

Each year is different. I hope to pull November 1st or 2nd as long as the weather here in Michigan cooperates.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

The lake association by my house pulled the dock at the boat landing. This is just north of the Twin Cities.

 

[Grub54891]

Boat as long as you want. Ones up north here keep going till the ice no longer lets them. Just be sure to drain the block and oil coolers and such when pulling the boat each time. I see some left in, they put a lightbulb in a safe place in the engine room to keep it warm. I personally would not do that, if the bulb burns out or loss of power, bad things happen....
Washburn/Ashland wi area.

 

[TyeeMan]

For the past number of years we take a fishing trip to Leech Lake in Minnesota 2nd to 3rd week of October. Over the years we've had mixture of anything from T-shirt weather to long handles, bibs, fleece and a shell. Oddly enough we never had snow, , , knock on wood.
More often than not I usually keep my rig going till daylight savings. That being said, this year (personally) has been a really odd year. If the weekend of 20 Oct looks good that might be the last outing.

 

[jkust]

I pulled the boats two weeks ago and my service pulled my dock and lifts the next day. As soon as it gets below 70 degrees, I have no interest in boating any longer. Was 32 when I pulled the waverunner which was the coldest I've ever gone out on one. There's always some holdouts with outboards on the lake. Way too much going on when school starts to run up to the lake to go boating in 40 degree weather.

 

[sphelps]

I feel for you guys .... It’s never to late down here ... I enjoy this time of year and into winter because the summer is just too hot most of the time to enjoy ...

 

[theBrownskull]

It is over for me. If I had an outboard I would still be going, but the cool temps (50F today) and rain are not fun.

 

[TyeeMan]

Wait! It's not over, the weather man has spoken! :lol::blah: I heard it's supposed to be in the upper 50's maybe pushing 60 next weekend. I'll cross my fingers, sure would make for nice end to the boating season.

 

[ahicks]

I pull and winterize our pontoon boat and the pontoon boat next door. SE mi. Memories (from many years ago) of trying to get our boat out and not being able to break the ice because it was too thick haunt me. I had to use the neighbors boat (with a much bigger engine) to break a path to the boat landing first, THEN come back and do ours in the freshly broken channel the first boat opened up. All this done in the freezing drizzle - cuz there was chance it might be nice enough to go for one more ride!

Never again, not after that lesson.... Our boats have been pulled, winterized, and covered for a couple of weeks now. If I missed a ride, I'll just have to make up for it next season!

 

[jkust]

I pull and winterize our pontoon boat and the pontoon boat next door. SE mi. Memories (from many years ago) of trying to get our boat out and not being able to break the ice because it was too thick haunt me. I had to use the neighbors boat (with a much bigger engine) to break a path to the boat landing first, THEN come back and do ours in the freshly broken channel the first boat opened up. All this done in the freezing drizzle - cuz there was chance it might be nice enough to go for one more ride!

Never again, not after that lesson.... Our boats have been pulled, winterized, and covered for a couple of weeks now. If I missed a ride, I'll just have to make up for it next season!

Oh yeah, have heard more than a few stories of late people dealing with ice. Next time I go up it will be to remove the batteries from the boat lift and get them in the heated garage for the winter.

 

[harringtondav]

Just be sure to drain the block and oil coolers and such when pulling the boat each time.
Washburn/Ashland wi area.

This is the critical point in my mind. You want to get your engine drained before the evening temps get too low. How low is too low? Depends. If the day was in the low 40's, your engine mass could stay above freezing in the mid-upper 20's.

I wouldn't push it though. Mine is still on the trailer, ready to go, but I drained it yesterday, 8 Oct in Dubuque IA. I won't be back for a week, and I won't risk it. How long to keep boating? As long as it's worth the cold ride.

 

[5150abf]

I have a camper top for my boat so I can push my season in northern Indiana normally till thanksgiving, after that it is a crap shoot.

We did the last sand bar trip a couple weeks ago but fishing is still good for 6 more weeks then into the icebox.

 

[Blind Date]

This was Nov 2 last year, notice I'm the last one at the city docks on lake Minnetonka. It was a cold ride back to the landing! Think I'll pull Blind Date out today and get it ready during the week to put in storage next weekend.

 

[82rude]

Watched a short news clip of last wed. storm on lake superior taken I believe on Minn. north shore and the waves were 20 feet plus and spray after hitting the shore was exceeding 50 feet!Took me 5 minutes to winterize my etec and the reason it took so long was I checked the lowerunit after 2 years and it was still only medium dark and no shavings or water of course.Put the beast undr the navigloo tarp system which takes a couple of hours by my self .Heres a link in case anybody is curious about what a navigloo system is.http://www.navigloo.com/

 

[poconojoe]

Dipping into the mid 30's here in northeastern PA around October 14, 2018. I winterized our I/O yesterday. It most likely won't be a "hard" freeze, but I'm not taking any chances. If I had an outboard, I would probably wait a while.

 

[Blind Date]

Guess I should have put the cover back on it after I took it for a run to work the fuel stabilizer in yesterday!:blue:

 

[garbageguy]

That looks familiar, and your pic of a lone boat. Yep, camper canvas all up now for the admiral, we'll get a few more little trips in this season and probably out in November - my son is dis-pleased with us every time, but we boat til it hurts, then maybe a bit more... (western NY, Buffalo area)

 

[82rude]

Guess I should have put the cover back on it after I took it for a run to work the fuel stabilizer in yesterday!:blue:


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Did you at least get the winter prop on it???