taking care of a boat in cold weather?

[Greenjello]

Ok so I live in florida and plan to boat year around and don't want to winterize my boat. I don't have a garage and am curious on how to take care of my boat. Temps have been getting down to the upper 30s at night. I don't plan to keep my boat in the water during this time but is there something I should be doing to take care of the motor or other parts of the boat.

Thanks

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

inboard, inboard/outboard, outboard, more about the boat. not enough info. where in Florida?

 

[Greenjello]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

Its a 25hp 4 stroke outboard on a bass boat. I live In Deland, FL just west of Daytona, with the weather we will be getting I just didn't know what to do with the boat, I would love to be able to fish through the winter is that possible or maybe not because I don't have a garage.



(I'll never understand why unhelpful smart asses continue comment on people who are new and learning posts...way to promote the site)

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

I'm not the expert on this board but here is/are my recommendations.

1. Lower the motor to drain all the water from the motor.

2. Make sure your lower unit grease is not contaminated with water. Drain and refill with correct lower unit lube oil.

3. Keep batteries fully charged.

4. Continue to fish and use your boat in the cool weather.

Also read this post from Tashasdaddy http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=158078

I'm heading out fishing tomorrow with the forecast of 29 degrees here in Southern Indiana.

 

[Greenjello]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

thanks, I am thinking of trying to find an old wool blanket and bungi cording it around the motor. I charged the batteries today and going to change the lower oil tomorrow and going to top of the gas as well. Hoping to fish this weekend some

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

bow as high as possible, so bilge drains, live wells drained, motor in the normal running position, so the water drains out of the cylinder head. change your lower unit oil, using new seals on screws. this is incase there is water in the lower unit. that's it for your area.

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

Hey greenjello welcome to the forum it's nice to see someone local to me.

Where's your handle from? is it the band?

Don't be bothered by some of the people that have to make dumb posts it's not the majority. There are a lot of real cool people on here that are here to offer what ever help they can. You just have to weed through a couple of (insert whatever you want here).

As far as your question- yeah like everyone said just store it like you normally should bow up motor down. Always keep your battery charged, always stabilize your gas (remember we use ethanol blend now) and always make sure you don't have a leaking lower end.

Glad to meet you.

 

[Greenjello]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

thanks, I am just pretty excited about the new boat and want to go out but between work and the weather just really haven't as much as I wanted.

My name its a long story but the short version is I run summer camps and when I started several years ago everyone had nicknames, I had 2 friends orangejello and lemonjello I don't really know how it started just kinda stuck I always thought I should have been limonjello.

Currently I am saving up for a new deep cycle battery and trolling motor and am working on turning a bow live well into a battery storage area to move some wieght forward

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

Moving the batteries to the forward livewell is a good move, use the gel type batteries they can be mounted at all different angles even upsidedown.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: taking care of a boat in cold weather?

Welcome to the forum! I am located due West of you on the other coast. We boat all year round and never have to winterize our outboards. Our biggest problem is dodging the fronts that roar thru this time of the year. Went out last Tuesday and loaded up on sea bass and grouper. With the cooler weather we get the grouper in a little closer and don't have to travel so far to get them. You're living in the right place!