Winterizing concern

For the past 3 years I have been able to keep my boats inside of a friends barn, and although not heated, it was protecting it from the elements. This year I have my LSV tucked away at my mother in-laws house, tightly covered up with the batteries out, and all seat cushions sitting in my garage. Up until this point we have not had a terrible winter - no real snow or anything, just temps dipping pretty low for a few days (talking 0 - 10 degrees). I winterized the LSV the same way I did with my Malibu last year, but I keep worrying about it this year (likely since the boat is a decent drive away from me this year). This is what I did -

-Drained the block by removing the plugs
-Drained the water out of the Vdrive by pulling two plugs
-Drained exhaust by separating the hose connecting the manifolds and letting the water run out
-Disconnected the hoses running into the impeller housing
-Pulled hoses from the tstat housing and dumped RV antifreeze through the hoses (to bypass the tstat).


I'd say that pretty much wraps it up. I did have a ton of water drain from the block, and a ton from the manifolds. I also left the Antifreeze in, but I only used about ~2 gallons when pouring into the block. Also, I left the hoses going into the t-stat housing open for ventilation purposes. Do you guys think I have to worry having only used 2 gallons?

no heater or shower?

biggest thing to draining water is to allow room for expansion if there is some left over that can freeze. sounds like you did what needed to be done.

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Originally Posted by sandm

no heater or shower?

biggest thing to draining water is to allow room for expansion if there is some left over that can freeze. sounds like you did what needed to be done.

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Yeah no shower or heater. I removed the transom plug to let additional water that could have possibly seeped in through the cover to drain as well. Also put fuel stabilizer in the tank. I just like to worry...i'm apparently a fan of anxiety:)

You're covered. I haven't even had to put my trouble light in the bilge this year. Coldest night so far was 38.

Sounds solid to me as well. You know... now that you mention it. I never disconnect my bateries. Does it kill them if you don't??? Mine stays in garage.

I pulled mine out and connected them to a tender in my garage. I've lost 4 batteries between 2 boats in the last 2 seasons, 2 of them being optima blues. i'm not sure that its related to leaving them hooked up, or if its more-so related to the cold weather compared to you guys in Texas.

The worst thing you can do for a battery besides overcharging is letting it sit below 12.2 volts for any length of time particularly in cold weather. A battery will lose 50% of its charge in 50days, more in a colder environment. To prolong battery life you should keep it above 70% charge.

I agree. My boat unfortunetely sits outside in my backyard,yearround,and at this moment is buried under a fresh blanket of snow. It is double tarped ,second tarp acting as a tent to keep snow weight off the towing tarp. We just went through a cold snap with temps including windchill hitting -39Celcious. Don't know the conversion for this. All i can say is this is @#$% cold even for us.

Getting back on track this is how i winterize my boat every year including taking batteries out and charge and store them in my basement ,furnace room,topping with a charger a couple times during winter.My primary battery is still good and it came from 07. This year i will serious look at replacing,but i have had it tested and they(battery shop) keep telling me its still fine.

You should be fine...

I leave my batteries in, I just plug in my prosport 20 and forget about it for 3 months lol


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I still have the original battery in mine. It has never seen a battery charger. Again, I do start mine about every 3-4 weeks.

Ok.. I keep a tender on mine. Not gonna worry aboot it I guess.