De-winterizing??

[BlatinD]

So, I had my boat winterized by the dealer and they told me when Summer hits, it's good to drop in and go. I hear a lot of you guys saying you "de-winterized" your boat...what exactly does that entail because I put mine in the water, cranked it up, and went...am I missing something?

[mjr119]

Some people leave the engine block/manifold plugs out or a hose unhooked over the winter, so they may have to deal with that. Some people remove impellers and store them in a plastic baggy with oil.

[zabooda]

I would never run old gas through the engine. Especially if it has ethanol.

[trayson]

I would never run old gas through the engine. Especially if it has ethanol.

What exactly is the risk?

[liquid_acid]

Do you drain all the fuel out every fall? What's the harm in using premium fuel with fuel stabilizer and driving it out of the tank in the spring?

[zabooda]

The major issue is phase separation. The second is a loss of performance. The majority of issues are associated with fuel and I'm not an advocate of running varnish and water through my engine.

[drb59]

My dealer did some work and said good to drop in and go. Heading to my cabin from the launch site and bilge kicks in. They had not hooked up one of the hoses and water pouring in. Easy fix but I was not impressed. Check to be sure before you dunk her.

[bergermaister]

So basically the dealer opened up and drained everything, then reinstalled the plugs, hoses, etc. so your engine, heaters, etc is empty/void of water for the winter and is ready to go for summer without anything required besides possibly gas. Some leave the plugs out and the hoses disconnected all winter. No real need to if you are confident that all the water has been removed and you have an empty block, heater core, etc.

The "old" gas thing is a big debate. I leave mine full every winter with marine/ethanol stabilizer put in it. Fires up every spring for the last 9 years without a glitch.

Rather than drop in and go I still prefer the run on the hose in the driveway and double check things first approach.