TO winterize or not to winterize that is the question

[oxbeast1210]

Hello i live in the Florida panhandle and have finally thanks to everyone on this forum my boat is finally ready for the water! I got a late start and wanna continue fishing through some of the winter we have and no it isn't much of a winter . i was just wondering if there is anything special that i have to do to the motor so i can continue running in the colder months? Or is it a bad idea? should i get it winterized and wait till it warms up again? If so what would winterizing it entail for me?
thanks alot everyone!!

 

[patrick4266]

Re: TO winterize or not to winterize that is the question

If your going to be using it I wouldn't even winterise it, especially way down there. I live by st louis and I won't do much winterising here as I fish a little in the winter. I will probaly just add some stabil

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: TO winterize or not to winterize that is the question

Awesome Ill be sure to get some stabil .
last year was a little cold but nothing crazy
i just was not sure how cold is to cold.
I was hoping that as long as i was actually
using it there wouldn't be anything extra i would have to do
Plus i convinced the wife to let me store it in the garage so that should help it stay a little warmer too
thank you for confirming !

 

[Will Bark]

Re: TO winterize or not to winterize that is the question

Since you live in Fl you don't have to do anything to your motor except the normal maintenance. If you were to have below freezing temps make sure you motor is in the down position so any water in the foot is drained out. Frozen water in the foot could crack the gearcase. I assume you are running in either salt or brackish water most of the time so it is very important that you flush the engine on the muffs as soon as you get home.

 

[joebob14]

Re: TO winterize or not to winterize that is the question

I live a bit south of you in Sarasota and I run my boat year round so I dont do anything different in the winter. Realy the term winterising is just something those suckers up north do when they have to park there toys for the winter. HMM I wonder if they sumerise there snow mobiles.

 

[tal]

Re: TO winterize or not to winterize that is the question

I always store my boats with the engines down, summer or not. I usually add some stabil if I know it'll be a while before I get to use it again. If I don't get to go out much during the cooler weather, I make it a point to pull the boats out and fire them up for a while on the muffs every month or 2. While they're not being used their onboard chargers are always plugged in. Walmart batteries seem to last a long time this way and the carbs stay fresh this way too. I'm sure colder/harsher weather conditions affect both the carbs and batteries but this far down south it isn't too bad for real long.

 

[oxbeast1210]

Re: TO winterize or not to winterize that is the question

Thanks for the advise ill be sure to follow it!