List how you store your boat over the winter...

[BlunderDownUnder]

I know its early, just looking ahead...

Just want to see how most of you are caring for and storing your boats during those unfortunate months we call winter:

a. SKINNY-DIP STYLE: no cover, no garage... bare britches.
b. Standard cover and kept outside.
c. Shrink wrapped and kept outside.
d. Standard or shrink cover in a cold barn.
e. Standard or Shrink covered in heated garage.
f-u. I'm one of those lucky bastards that gets to keep my boat in the water all year.


Seriously though, this will be my first winter with my mobius... I'm interested in your inputs with any CLEVER ideas to help protect it.

[04OUTBACK]

I keep a fenced/covered storage. 10x25... the lot has electronic gate and I have a lock on the fence. Wintertime I put the cover on AND a Tarp over the cover... Birds poop over the boat... Plus the front of the storage is open so wind can blow rain in...
No heat, but rare is a hard freeze in Mississippi.. I winterize myself in November.

Can't even get mine in my driveway... too steep.. propguard drags in the road...

[BensonWdby]

I get it professionally winterezed and store it in an unheated garage with the standard cover on it (Wisconsin)

[Rugburn]

I winterized myself for the first time last fall with great success. I feel I did a better job than the guy who usually did it, and saved 200 bucks.

I cover mine in my house garage (3rd slot). I make a point of it not being a catch all during the winter months. Some times in February, you might see me behind the wheel making motorboat noises. Wisconsin winters are brutally long.

[cab13367]

This will be my first winter with the boat. I plan to store it in my unheated garage (after wintering it, of course) with the snap in covers on. I may buy a tarp as well to keep the snap in covers from getting too dusty.

When we shopped for a house, one of the "must haves" was that the boat had to fit in the garage. It ruled out 9 of every 10 houses we looked at but we finally found one.

Al

[MasterMind3002]

I'll let the dealer winterize it......... better safe than sorry! 200.00 is cheap insurance, if they screw it up, they pay for it! I'll have them change the fluids and check the bolts on the pylon while they have it. At the current rate, by October my 2007 Outback will have over 100 hours on it

I'll store mine in an unheated garage with the cover on and plastic or a tarp over the cover. I also keep a small fan running inside the boat and a big fan running in the garage to keep everything nice and dry. Indiana has some goofy weather. It can be 70 and sunny one day in February and -30 and blizzard the next. Condensation is common in unheated garages.

I'm planning on going to the boat shows in Feb and possibly trading for an 08. Has anyone heard anything about the 08's or seen any photos?

[Buttafewcoe]

Loosely covered to encourage air circulation (helps prevent mold), unheated garage.
.
B

[jrich23]

I keep mine in the garage, no heat, no cover. Sounds funny, but I haven't had any problems. I guess that's CA, gotta love it.

[JesseC]

I do all of the winterizing myself. I just printed the Moomba Owners manual, the V-Drive manual and the Transmission manual and followed the instructions for winterizing. After the first time, I made myself a check off list as well as a parts list to make it quicker to winterize.

As to storing the boat, well that is a different story. It is stored in my basement that never goes below 65. I just winterize in case we loose power.

Check out the way we load it into the garage though!!!!
http://lisaandjesse.5u.com/MoombaLoad/index.htm

[zabooda]

I winterize myself and there are various sites that have information (Discount Marine). I store outside with the storage cover and blue tarps over that. I have devices to prevent sag in the bow and behind the engine. I remove the swim platform and store inside the boat, I remove the racks and speakers off the tower and lower the tower. I keep the drain plug out and laid across the opening to allow water to drain and keep critters out. I raise the front end and put on blocks for better drainage off the tarp. I block up the engine cover a little for air movement.

I've done this process for my DD for 5 years and my I/O for 15 years with no issues until last winter where I overestimated the ability for the Moomba cover to retard water and the cover and the blue tarps failed and it wasn't until I saw water coming out of the drain hole. I lowered the front and drained the bilge and opened the cover on nice days and dried it out. I never had any mildew or failure in the bilge aft end. I learned to take a better look at the storage cover as that is the main cover for stopping the water. The blue tarps are sacrifical covers to keep the expensive storage cover looking good and keep the sun off of it as much as possible. The blue tarps can last me two years except of course last winter. The issue with being outside is not the boat but the trailer. I have specks of rust on the trailer and the moisture tends to make it worse by the time spring comes around so I have to do some touching up.