I've heard your suppose to put a capful of Clorox bleach in each fat sac to prevent mold and mildew from forming.
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I pay $225 in Salem at my local boat shop, Dave Power Marine and Automotive. This includes, heater, ballast fluid changes and de-winterizing.
I would have no trouble going to AWS in Portland but I like to keep a relationship with a local guy and he has been great to me over the years.
my first one was $300-which covered all inspections, winterization of boat/ballast/heater and oil change. did not include impeller or vdrive/tranny change. dealer here makes them "summer ready" so that all you have to do is hook up battery and drop in water. they offer a summerization service, but they don't like to do it, so they encourage you to do it yourself. they recommend impellers every other year so they don't feel bad about leaving them in the housing all winter. they do pull and coat, then reinstall.
in it $120 this year for impeller/winterization and buying a pela6000 pump. next year should be under $100 :)
At the local moomba dealer
Inside $840
Outside $650
Winterize $280
Holy crap!!!
Well, I'm in the camp of doing it myself, but I can see the pluses to having a dealer do the work. I like getting to know my engines, so, no biggie here. But, I am curious about this winterizing of the ballast. You just put a cap full of bleach in each bag, and just leave it in there till spring? I put my sacks in the basement during the winter, do you guys keep them in the boat??
I pay a little over $1,000 to have my boat winterized, wraped, acid washed, stored and have the battery charged in the spring.
I wish I lived in a house so that I could do my own work at my own pace and store it in my garage but that is not my reality.
Wow Goose, that sounds like a great deal!! All of that bundled into one shot, and having a place to keep it for the cold months - sounds like a win/win to me. I wish I was lucky enough to have a bigger garage opening so my darn trailer could fit thru... then I'd be in heaven. I get to store in a barn, but all the work I do on her is just in the driveway... fun, but can be chilly. And seems to be getting colder by the day.
OK I was holding off on posting here due to not wanting people to be offended by "some" of us Florida folk (not displaced yankees) having it pretty easy.
I fill her up with 89 octane, pour Stabil in, back her near the garage, unhook her, take the Z5 bimini off and hang it in the back of the garage, lift the engine cover and hang the drop light under the motor (if it gets really cold, I will plug it in, maybe 5 to 8 days total), remove the drain plugs on the blocks (don't forget to grease the threads on the block here) and remove the inlet water hose, put the cover on the boat ,swing the hitch over, drop the tower, take off the Beautiful Teak deck (and spend 5 minutes heavily coating it with oil) and then by hand push the boat back into her spot. Grab the drop light cord and place it near an outlet so it is ready if needed. So I guess the total cost is the cost of the Stabil, what about 8 dollars cause you can't count the gasoline and the teak oil has nothing to do with winter time. :D There she will sit for about 3 to 4 LONG months!
I pump the gas tank and lines dry, replace it with a gallon of gas with stabil and run that through the engine and fog the engine. I drain the engine block, the exhauster risers, blow out the heater and shower with compressed air, pull the hoses to both water pumps and blow air through them. I disconnect the coil wire, raise the boat up and turn the engine over to seat the impeller correctly and to blow out any remaining water in the exhaust pipes.
I know draining the gas tank is unconventional but I have had no problems. I do pump out the remaining gas and any other crud in the tank in the spring and replace with fresh gas. I leave the impeller as is and do a periodic inspection during the boating season. I change the oil in the spring as I have more enthusiasm in the spring to do stuff. It still takes about 1.5 hours to do all that.