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winterizing
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:32 pm
by rebelrude
My boat is on Lake Sinclair in middle Georgia. The temp in Jan thru Mar averages 30 deg at night and warms to 45 50 during.rhe day. There are times when it may fall to the 20s are colder at night but it doesnt stay there long. The water never freezes. I have a 2009 Yamaha 90 HP 4 stroke motor. Instead of winterizing the motor with draining oil, fogging, etc. What are you'alls opinion of leaving the boat in the water to keep the gear head from freezing and cranking the moter every 4-5 weeks and let run for 5-10 min. As I don't live at the lake, the boat will be in a boat house but lowered to the water.
Re: winterizing
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:46 pm
by gramps
rebelrude wrote:My boat is on Lake Sinclair in middle Georgia. The temp in Jan thru Mar averages 30 deg at night and warms to 45 50 during.rhe day. There are times when it may fall to the 20s are colder at night but it doesnt stay there long. The water never freezes. I have a 2009 Yamaha 90 HP 4 stroke motor. Instead of winterizing the motor with draining oil, fogging, etc. What are you'alls opinion of leaving the boat in the water to keep the gear head from freezing and cranking the moter every 4-5 weeks and let run for 5-10 min. As I don't live at the lake, the boat will be in a boat house but lowered to the water.
I keep ours at Lake Lanier and don't do anything but run the engine every 2 weeks or so for 7 to 10 minutes. It doesn't stay cold long enough here to hurt anything.
Re: winterizing
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:57 pm
by Bamaman
It would really be best if you'd keep the whole boat completely out of the water and completely dry year round. It's nice that you have the luxury of a boathouse.
You'll need to change your oil every year anyway, so you may do it as soon as you finish your Fall leaf looking.
I have not been changing my lower unit grease often enough, and paid the price for a toasted gearbox (with bad seals). I had to buy a new boat. 26 years on the same pontoon boat and engine was long enough, anyway.
Changing the oil/filter and lower unit grease is a 30 minute $50 job if you have the boat on a trailer. If you had a 2 stroke engine, I'd tell you to also spend $10 on new spark plugs when you do the annual maintenance.
If you have electricity year round at the boathouse, a Battery Tender is a nice addition--and will make your battery last much longer.