How long is to long

[SanMarzano]

To let a boat sit? I never winterized (dont need to in CA).....Basically the boat has been siting in my garage for about 3 months. I put stable in the gas tank last time I took it out, but I didnt drain the block fog the engine or change the oil.......Any thoughts?

[rmckenney]

If the boat is kept indoors and the temperature doesn't get too low in the garage, you probably won't have too many problems. I live in a Sacramento suburb and store my boat inside as well, but I give it the works because I get paranoid. I'll put in fuel stabilizer, change the oil/oil filter, fuel water separator and drain the blocks and v-drive cooler...etc. I feel doing all of this will keep mechanical problems to a minimum.

I would suggest, if you have ballast bags, to remove the bags from the boat and put maybe a cup of bleach in each bag to keep down mildew. If you have a second battery and perko switch, make sure the switch is to off. If not, disconnect the battery so if any critters get inside the boat and accidentally switch on the blower or bilge pump, you don't drain the battery.

Essentially, at the end of the season, I try to prepare my boat for the winter season, as well as do maintenance and cleaning for the up coming summer season.

Good luck!

[SanMarzano]

Ryan

I live in Sacramento also. I was going to get it done but I dont think American Power Sports is a dealer anymore. Good call on the bleach......I dont think I ever cleaned my ballast bags

[RobertJ]

I would be careful putting a cup of straight bleach in the ballast bag. I would mix a 90% water 10% bleach solution, about a gallon, put it in the bag and slosh it around and then dump it out, rinse and then dry the bags out. I use and air compressor to dry the bags. I blow air through the bags with the caps out.

[mmandley]

To let a boat sit? I never winterized (dont need to in CA).....Basically the boat has been siting in my garage for about 3 months. I put stable in the gas tank last time I took it out, but I didnt drain the block fog the engine or change the oil.......Any thoughts?

My thoughts are, Ive had numerous classic cars and all of them, I talking about the cars we all own and don't drive to often sit outside unattended for months sometimes. We don't put fuel stability on them, we don't drain fluids, we barly change the oil on them unless that magical 3k miles is there.

I've had plenty of cars sit 6 months, to a year and they fired right up, pump the gas a few times and veroooom smokes a bit for a few mInutes, doesn't have the best throttle response but it runs dam fine.

Boat, I put stabile in it only because it's fuel injected, i'll clean and regal my plugs in the spring, I'll change my oil in the spring ( tons of debate on oil changes ). Frankly not to worried about the oil sitting as I'm more worried puttng new oil n and it sitting, my dealer even said it doesn't matter it realy up to the customer.

For sure take the batteries out or leave them in but at the very least keep trickle chargers on them.

Water, absolutly drain it all. After 2 months procrastinating I drained my heater, ballast pumps, lines, trans all fairly clear no issues. Drained the block and it was nasty brown looking, typical of river water bug gross non the less.

I did remove my bags and dry them as after a summer in the boat and the ski locker never being dry, the outsides of the bags were nasty so I don't want that inside. Besides Claudia insists I drain the ballast so she can use that little bit of water in the yard lol.

Your boat will be fine as long as you stabil the fuel, fill the tank all the way, drain all the water, keep batteries charged. It no different then a car in those respects, a cast iron engine is a cast iron engine just the same.

[rmckenney]

Ryan

I live in Sacramento also. I was going to get it done but I dont think American Power Sports is a dealer anymore. Good call on the bleach......I dont think I ever cleaned my ballast bags

American Power Sports is still there off of I-50. I had contact with the dealer about a month ago. I think they are currently on winter store hours but check out their website at: www.sacboats.com.

I don't know if you remember, but they used to carry Supra as well, but they are just selling Moomba now... Last time I was in there they had maybe 6 boats there, plus there is a huge storage warehouse just down the street from them...god only knows how many they keep in there.

[DOCDRS]

some good advice here - I don't plan on winterizing next year - I've got a an old mustang sitting next to my boat in the garage - I don't know if it's bad or good but -I use my boat more then the mustang... I'll fire off the boat pretty regular- but it's simply too much work to fire up the car and pull it out... far as the answer to your question - it's all a matter of money... the more you neglect the more you can expect to pay to keep it going...

?????? hope it doesn't freeze there

[drewsky]

They are still there, Off sunrise and 50.. They are Scaling down operations, but their Mechanic's a pretty good guy. I just picked up my 07 XLV from them after having the underside fixed... New Skegs, New rudder, Scratches, Dents, Holes in the fiberglass, ETC... Looks perfecto Again! Stupid Wing Dam, and Drunk friends borrowing the boat... :) It happens.

I keep my boat in covered storage, and I haven't winterized it either year, and it hasn't had a problem come summer time... Of course it's still relatively new-ish, and I do clean out and Drain all the water after every weekend... So I suppose part of it could be how anal I am about the boat...

But our winters are pretty mild here in Sac... I would empty out the block and all that cooling water... just my 2 cents.

[iwakeboard]

Do you all do anything with your trailers to prepare them to sit for a long time? I'm trying to figure out if it'll hurt the tires to sit in the same spot for several months. I've moved it once and will be moving it this week, but it's still quite a long time.

[deerfield]

Do you all do anything with your trailers to prepare them to sit for a long time? I'm trying to figure out if it'll hurt the tires to sit in the same spot for several months. I've moved it once and will be moving it this week, but it's still quite a long time.

jwakeboard - I don't do anything to prepare my trailer to sit for a long time. The boat gets winterized. Then, I back trailer w/ boat into the garage. Trailer sits in the garage from October - May. Come spring, I pull the trailer from the garage and drive to the local gas station to check tire pressure and inflate if necessary. That's it. Same routine since 2007. - Deerfield

[iwakeboard]

I have a shop air compressor and checked my levels friday, all 4 of the tires were a little low. I was trying to figure out if it's a good idea to put them to 50psi capacity or to leave them a little low for a long sit.

[Hillbilly]

Don't let it sit for 3 months Jay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Use that son of a @%$#* !
I'm ready when you are, Got the dry suit fixed and ready to go.

On another note I think the building is empty where AMS used to be, Looks pretty bare and a for lease sign up !

[viking]

some good advice here - I don't plan on winterizing next year - I've got a an old mustang sitting next to my boat in the garage - I don't know if it's bad or good but -I use my boat more then the mustang... I'll fire off the boat pretty regular- but it's simply too much work to fire up the car and pull it out... far as the answer to your question - it's all a matter of money... the more you neglect the more you can expect to pay to keep it going...

FLATH2O - I've got a mustang roomate for my boat too :) I don't think I took it out but once in 2009. Isnt' that sad?? I love it and it's "my baby" but with 2 kids it's not very practical. Was fine when I was single. Now whenver I have a minute to spare we are off to find water. Of course this time of year we just long for May to arrive :( Can't do anything with either of them. Just taking up space in the garage...........

[LSV_Flying]

Up North we are deathly afraid of water in the engine when we store (ice kills blocks, etc.) The only thing I can think of that you may want to consider is that your oil can gain a high moisture content. If all your oil sit in the pan then the metal above gets the moisture for rust time. This is the reason i've always changed all my boat fluids going into storage 1. dont want anything freezing and cracking 2. don't want stuff to deteriorate faster than need be.