What motor? My dads 4.3L merc has blue knobs on everything that needs to be turned to drain the water from the engine. You can also run antifreeze for a bit to replace the water with antifreeze.
Lower the leg to drain the water out
Fog the cylinders
Stabilizer in your fuel.
Antifreeze ran through your washdown pump if you have one.
Batteries on a trickle charger.
Dehumidifier pellets in the cuddy. I use a bucket style in my camper called Damprid that you can get at Walmart. It's better than replacing pellets every 6 weeks or so.
Find your leak in your cuddy. You probably have one if you got lots of moisture.
Do an oil change in the spring time. Run it for a bit to get the fogging oil out of the cylinders and replace the spark plugs. New impeller in spring time if you haven't done it in a while.
buy a pod, remove inboard from boat and install an outboard. run the outboard on muffs at idle with the fuel line pulled out until it stops running. drop the outboard to the lowest possible position to let it drain completely. then cover with tarp. done.
buy a pod, remove inboard from boat and install an outboard. run the outboard on muffs at idle with the fuel line pulled out until it stops running. drop the outboard to the lowest possible position to let it drain completely. then cover with tarp. done.
Drain manifold, and crack open the front cover of the fresh water cooling system/drain water side. If you want to you can put a heater in in motor bay but it usually isn't needed unless your in very cold area. that is basically it.
If it going sit for some time just do leg oil before put it away.
For the cuddy get one those RV air circulation fans. Moisture will be gone.
What motor? My dads 4.3L merc has blue knobs on everything that needs to be turned to drain the water from the engine. You can also run antifreeze for a bit to replace the water with antifreeze.
Lower the leg to drain the water out
Fog the cylinders
Stabilizer in your fuel.
Antifreeze ran through your washdown pump if you have one.
Batteries on a trickle charger.
Dehumidifier pellets in the cuddy. I use a bucket style in my camper called Damprid that you can get at Walmart. It's better than replacing pellets every 6 weeks or so.
Find your leak in your cuddy. You probably have one if you got lots of moisture.
Do an oil change in the spring time. Run it for a bit to get the fogging oil out of the cylinders and replace the spark plugs. New impeller in spring time if you haven't done it in a while.
Most people - but not all - remove batteries to an indoor location for winter. Takes some serious cold to damage them since freeze point is far below zero for the acid solution they contain. If your boat doesn't have easy access to power, then it makes sense to charge them inside before reinstalling in the spring.
buy a pod, remove inboard from boat and install an outboard. run the outboard on muffs at idle with the fuel line pulled out until it stops running. drop the outboard to the lowest possible position to let it drain completely. then cover with tarp. done.
Are your manifolds raw water cooled or have coolant in them? I would put a 100watt lightbulb in dog house as it will be enough to stop freezing and keeps moisture off engine.
You don't need to worry about the coolant for your engine provided it has some antifreeze in it. Take the radiator cap off from heat exchanger and test it.
You should find some way to run RV antifreeze through the fresh water side of your cooling system. I used to disconnect hose from the raw water strainer and had fashioned a container and connector hose to suck antifreeze into fresh water side. Just start engine for a few seconds. Doesn't take much antifreeze. You can dilute the antifreeze 50% water and it will be fine.
As for batteries, I left them in and disconnected them. If you have the boat where you can put an incandescent (not fluorescent) light in there, that is a good suggestion. Otherwise just tickle charge them halfway through the winter and they should be fine.
Are your manifolds raw water cooled or have coolant in them? I would put a 100watt lightbulb in dog house as it will be enough to stop freezing and keeps moisture off engine.
if you use 100 watt lightbulb to heat, make sure it is not LED since they do not produce much heat. I think you would use an Incandescent Light Bulb, but this is only as good as you have electricity, and sometimes when it is sub freezing you loose power and you could have a very cold engine block that cracks...... ouch!
Most inboards have a thru-hull with shutoff valve leading to a raw water strainer, leading to your engine. If yours is such, 1) run engine until warm to ensure thermostat opens and all cooling passageways are open, 2) shut down engine, 3) close thru-hull leading to raw water strainer, 4) open up raw water strainer from top, 5) start engine and begin pouring 3-5 gallons of RV antifreeze (pink) into raw water strainer until your assistant who is looking keenly at your exhaust, sees evidence of RV antifreeze exiting with exhaust, 6) shut down engine. You have now successfully winterized your inboard engine, and can sleep well if it is freezing temperatures
for moisture in cabin, a good dehumidifier is best, but a 100 watt Incandescent Light Bulb will also help.
I wouldn't use a 100 watt dont need it a 40 or 60 will work and whatever you do make damn sure it doesnt touch ANYTHING !!! as it will melt it, also replace the manifold zincs open up the distributor cap and if there is any moisture clean it out and spray down with a electrical safe base, add sta bill to your fuel and run it up and flush entire system . make sure the leg is down or cover the leg with a bag and tape up very good if you want to leave leg up(this applies to outboards too) as you dont want any water filling up from rain and then freezing later on and potentially cracking the housing (if we get a real cold snap)
Good luck wolf
Good advice from others and probably mentioned many times in past posts but the Davis air dryer has been my go to.
A couple years ago they were in the $60-70 range but now probably over a $100 with the way things are going.
Look after your wash down pump as well as easy enough to neglect.
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