Why winterize:

So any water in your boat motor will not freeze and expand when it thaws and crack your block and heads.  Also so your boat will be easier to start when you take it out of storage.  (When you run your inboard boat motor, the water impeller sucks water into the block and manifolds which does not drain when you turn the motor off.  If you do not drain the water out of the block and manifolds and there is a harshly cold winter with extended freeze periods, this water will turn to ice, and, when it thaws, will expand and crack your motor and you will be spending thousands to put a new motor in.)

 

Why winterizations are so important:

Almost the worst thing you can do to any boat motor or any other motor for that matter is go months if not years without starting it.  Yet this is what many boaters do with their boats over the fall, winter and early spring.   Others sadly leave boats idle for years which requires massive amounts of repair and maintenance to make waterworthy again (old stale/bad gas drained, carb rebuild, water impeller change, fogging cylinders with oil and checking compression, lubing all points, replacing dry rotted hoses, belts, etc.)  Often these are costly repairs.

If you correctly winterize your boat every year, you will increase the life of your boat, its components, and its resale value and avoid expensive repairs.  Let us give your boat the care it requires before being put into storage.

We can do the winterizing at your home, dock, or at a slip/marina or you can bring it in to our repair facility.

Inboard and inboard/outboard engine winterization work performed:

  • Add fuel stabilizer to your gas tank and start your boat to get the engine to operating temperature for at least fifteen minutes to get fuel stabilizer throughout the fuel line system so carburetors and fuel injectors do not get gummed up when non-fuel treated gas dries in them over storage time
  • Check all components for correct operation and carefully inspect all wear points for damage
  • Drain and replace the lower unit gear lube when necessary
  • Top off fluids
  • Fog the cylinders with special oils to insure no corrosion, rust, nor moisture damage occurs
  • Drain the engine block, manifold and power steering cooler system of water to insure no freeze damage occurs
  • Lube all regular maintenance points
  • Disconnect all batteries or turn the battery switch off so your battery maintains charge longer while being stored without use

We also winterize outboard motors both two and four stroke in a similar manner.

Winterizing is important for three very great reasons:

  1. It keeps the value and appearance of your boat at high levels
  2. It makes your boat much easier to start in the springtime or whenever you take it out of storage
  3. It stops freeze damage from occurring and you from having to spend thousands of dollars to get a new motor like the below customer had to do - see the picture.  This is what you DO NOT want to happen!  If this customer had simply paid us to drain the water out using the brass drain plug you see in the bottom middle of the picture, he'd have saved about $6000!

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