Didn't winterize - how to get ready for spring?

F

FireDrill

New Member
Jun 1, 2013
39
Washington, D.C.
Boat Info
290 Sundancer 1994
Engines
Mercruiser 4.3L
Due to a miscommunication with the marina, my 1994 SunDancer was never winterized. :( I keep it in the water in DC, and we had a seriously crappy winter. I've been to the boat, and it appears to be in okay shape (that is, it hasn't flooded, or sunk...), but I have no idea how to be sure it's ready to fire up.

Unfortunately, the marina service department is really overloaded right now, and it might be a couple of weeks before they can get me fully inspected and ready to go. But we're having such beautiful weather right now, and I'm anxious to get out on the boat!

So, any advice for a relatively newbie boat owner, who is only kind of mechanically inclined, on what to do to get the boat ready? I have a couple of friends with a little more mechanical knowledge who are willing to help out, but they're not boat experts.

Please feel free to dumb it down - I haven't really done any work on the boat myself, but I'd like to. Just need to know where to start. Or if this is a fool's errand, and I should just wait for a profession to take care of it!
 
Due to a miscommunication with the marina, my 1994 SunDancer was never winterized. :( I keep it in the water in DC, and we had a seriously crappy winter. I've been to the boat, and it appears to be in okay shape (that is, it hasn't flooded, or sunk...), but I have no idea how to be sure it's ready to fire up.

Unfortunately, the marina service department is really overloaded right now, and it might be a couple of weeks before they can get me fully inspected and ready to go. But we're having such beautiful weather right now, and I'm anxious to get out on the boat!

So, any advice for a relatively newbie boat owner, who is only kind of mechanically inclined, on what to do to get the boat ready? I have a couple of friends with a little more mechanical knowledge who are willing to help out, but they're not boat experts. I found some "spring checklists" online, but I guess I'm looking for something a little more descriptive, even if it's just links to diagrams or whatever.

Please feel free to dumb it down - I haven't really done any work on the boat myself, but I'd like to. Just need to know where to start. Or if this is a fool's errand, and I should just wait for a professional to take care of it!
 
Add some fuel stabilizer. Charge the batteries and start her up.
 
If your boat(engines) was not winterized, there is going to be problems! Check your oil to see what color it is first. Man I hope I am wrong but i would repost this in gas engine section and wait for the experts to chime in. I hope this works out for you but the blocks, etc will need to be checked/inspected. Good news is there are several very, very good boat guys on this forun that will help you. Good luck, JC
 
After sustained cold temps for weeks at a time below freezing you may have serious problems. Not trying to be a downer but I know a guy who didn't winterize his 5.7 in Fairfax and he cracked the block. If you choose to try to start it I would reconsider until your certain the manifolds and block are intact. I'm really sorry it didn't get winterized for the coldest weather winter we have had in 25 years. I hope it works out without major issues.
 
Did you happen to have engine room heaters of any sort?

I am worried for you that with the winter we had here and I am sure it was below 32°F there for several days that if there was water left in your engine blocks this could be very bad (= expensive) if it was able to freeze solid. Everything with water in it water pump, engine block, impeller housings, strainers, and hoses would have had solid ice inside of them. Did you happen to pull and freeze plugs? What exactly was the miscommunication with the yard? Did they pull the plugs and not put in antifreeze or was no service preformed at all?

Subscribed and hoping for the best possible outlook for you.
 
Check your strainers.. We had several days below zero and marina frozen in for days. We had a guy didn't winterize his and he had no issues. :huh: My slip neighbor had a heater failure in his er and he suffered a ruptured strainer. Your mileage will vary.....
 
Did you pump dry/drain all the water tanks on the boat before winter? Fresh water tank, water heater, holding tank.
 
Well,
Heck turn the keys while looking in the engine room and see where all the waters coming from....That will give you an idea of what to fix.

At this point I can't see what you've got to loose.

Good luck,
 
Figure I'll be optimistic and give you some hope that you may in fact be OK. You only had one bad spell of below freezing temps this winter, in late January. See chart below.

The engine block is what I'd be worried about most but anything with constricted water will be at risk.

December and February were OK -- no long stretches below freezing from what I saw in the history reports for DC.

Good luck and report back with what happened. (And please don't let it happen again :smt101 lol)


ScreenHunter_05 Apr. 13 22.03.jpg
 
Check your bilge and see if there are any round metal discs laying about under the engines. They are called freeze plugs. I had 2 under Old Skools engine after missing just one drain cock the first year I had her. Otherwise fire it up and check for water leaks though out the boat. Make sure your bilge pump is operating first. If you do have leaks you'll want to be able to pump out.

One thing you want to check is cracks in the lower unit. Since it's in the water this will be hard to do. If water was in the drive from last season then it's possible the unit can be cracked. Fire it up and let it run in gear to warm the unit. Once it's warm raise it up and see if there are any grease leaks from the bottom plug area up to where the lower bolts to the upper unit. Pull the upper plug and see if oil comes out or if you can touch the oil with a small straw bent into a 90 degree. Run it for awhile and recheck it to make sure you are not losing grease.

Others may have a better way to do this.
 
Make sure batteries are charged, then Turn Key and look for water leaks. My guess is you are going to have some. If none, then go play lotto.
 
Thanks for the tips and the good luck wishes. I'll be spending Thursday tempting to get this sorted, and will let you know what happens.


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I am north of Baltimore and our marina was iced in during January (so much so that they were concerned it would lift the pilings). I think you are in for a very unhappy resolution but maybe you are extremely lucky? I do know that tonight it is supposed to be 27 and I am on the way to the boat after work to put a space heater in the bilge....just in case.
 
FireDrill said:
Thanks for the tips and the good luck wishes. I'll be spending Thursday tempting to get this sorted, and will let you know what happens.


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While every posting here is very correct, I must ask this as well. How cold did the water get in your marina and for how long? We did have ice here but the water temps never got below freezing just the surface water. You may have dodged a bullet
 
FireDrill said:
Thanks for the tips and the good luck wishes. I'll be spending Thursday tempting to get this sorted, and will let you know what happens.


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Any word on potential damage? Weather is finally turning around. I hope everything works out for the best.
 
Okay, here's my belated update:

First, the water in the marina did not freeze; they had bubblers running, and the only ice to ever form was a paper-thin layer in a few spots around the edge (but not near my boat).

I took my dad and nephew down there, and we ran a full check on everything. Water system did not freeze, and I took that as a good sign. Bottled water I had on board, and had forgotten about, appeared not to have frozen as well. Batteries were charged (I keep it connected to shore power). So, I was cautiously optimistic about the engine.

We opened the engine hatch, and didn't see any of the freeze plugs y'all mentioned. We looked at hoses and whatnot, and (to my totally inexperienced eye), nothing looked obviously effed up. Finally, I figured - hell, give it a shot! I had my 10-year-old nephew positioned to watch and listen as I tried to fire her up (Dad was also watching, but we let the nephew think it was his show - it was kind of cute). Please forgive my non-technical language on these next descriptions - First time I turned the key, there was a rapid click-click-click sound, but nothing else. Waited a few, tried again. Repeated. After a few minutes, the engine sounded like it was trying to turn over, but wouldn't catch; after three or four "vroom, vroom, vroom"s, nothing. The battery indicator showed a low charge. Waited a few more minutes, battery charge showed close to 14, and it sounded like it was trying to start again, but then petered out. We hung out for an hour or so, periodically trying, and while each time it sounded like the engine was closer to catching or really turning over, it never did. The fan (?) started spinning, but the engine never caught, and it gave up trying after just a few seconds.

A week later, I went back down to the marina. Tried starting again, with same results. So, it sounds like the engine really, really, really wants to start, but something's wrong. Not sure if it's a screwed up connection, or a starter, or a bigger problem. The service guys at the marina have been super busy, and we've had a lot of rain lately, and so I haven't been able to get someone to get in there to really figure out what the problem is. But, knock wood, I'm hopeful that it's a more run of the mill problem than a frozen engine.

The batteries, not surprisingly, do drain after several failed attempts to start, but they charge back up pretty quickly, and so I think all is good there. I just don't know enough about engines to have any real idea about what else might be going on. Any thoughts? Any suggestions on what else to try?
 
If u left the batteries plugged in all winter have a checked the water levels inside the battery. U may have fried the batteries. .. I would go down with gloves and eye protection and unscrew all the caps ontop of the batteries and top off each one with water. (If u don't have maintsnence free batteries that is) after u top them off let them charge for a day and then turn the key. When you say the engine turns like vroom vroom does that mean the engine is turning over and just not fireing or....
 
Batteries are weak or cooked. See if you can borrow a jump pack from the marina and try again. If it jumps and starts then you will know to change out the batteries. They maybe so dead that the pack won't work ether.
 
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