pulled my boat yesterday. did i miss anything?

[boatman37]

pulled my 1986 sundancer 250 yesterday. brought it home and drained everything (260 merc alpha 1 gen 1).

i pulled both lower block drain plugs and both manifold drain plugs. also pulled the large hose on the water pump starboard side and both hoses off the bottom of the manifolds. also pulled the hose off the p/s cooler. this was all referenced in the original factory manual for my boat. i have not done anything to the outdrive yet but will be working on it today. for now my only plan is to lower the drive to make sure it is drained then next weekend change the drive oil but i still need to buy the oil and the pump. the engine oil was recently changed and only about 7 hours on it so i was planning to leave it alone.
drained my fresh water tank too. i have not blown out any lines anywhere yet and still need to get the bilge drained. my driveway is uphill so having trouble getting the front of the boat high enough. may just shop vac it out for now if i have to.

i also plan to bring the batteries in the garage and keep them on a maintenance charger

am i missing anything? anything i should do different or add to the list. i have read lots of horror stories of cracked engines that were improperly winterized. this seems to easy to screw up so far? i thought it was a huge deal and had planned to have it done professionally but we were supposed to hit about 30* here last night so decided to at least do what i could myself first then take it to the shop later but if this is all there is to it then i'll save the $$$ and do it myself from now on

FWIW-i spoke to the PO last night (he bought the boat new) and always winterized it himself. i told him what i had done and he said thats all he ever did and that i should be good. just want to be safe. a cracked block would not be a good way to start our second year boating

 

[Strecker25]

push a stiff wire or coathanger through the drain holes in the block. You'd be amazed at how much crap can accumulate and not allow the water to drain. Do you plan on fogging the motor?

 

[boatman37]

wasn't planning to fog it. should i?

 

[boatman37]

running non-ethanol from the marina if it makes a difference. can't fog it now without starting it back up? i already drained everything

 

[Strecker25]

I would fog it, given the only thing you will lose is the couple gallons of AF and an hour or two of your time.

Also, did you treat your fuel with a stabilizer? Even non-ethanol should be treated for winter storage.

 

[scoflaw]

I don't fog for a 6 or 7 month layup and never had an issue, but if your hell bent on fogging, pull your drive off, start it up and run the engine for 4 or 5 min. Shoot some fogging fluid into the carb. No water needed

 

[Air O'Nautical]

I've never trusted draining only.

I'd run it on a 5 gallon jug of AF to ensure water is displaced and you can fog it then.
You can buy a ready made kit for like $40 and the AF for another $25 + $3.50 for a can of fogging oil.

Each there own but, I've always used AF.

 

[boatman37]

talked to the underground storage place today. taking it there saturday. maintains constant 55* (no climate control, just the underground temps). higher humidity so they sell 2 big buckets of humid-dry for $15. about 28' from coupler to tip of outdrive is $285 for 5 months of storage. hard to beat that i think. no winterization required but i already drained everything anyway.

i plan to leave a few snaps loose on the mooring cover for airflow. maybe a few small blocks to prop the cover up in a few places a little? leave the side windows cracked slightly? or closed tight?

 

[Strecker25]

I'd probably tighten it up and use the damprid to keep humidity down. Will you have access to the boat to change out the bags? if it's that humid you may need to check on them a couple times over the winter

I'll admit I would still winterize the water systems and block but I'm just paranoid. Underground temps are a lot more reliable than heated storage though, so either way you should be fine.

That's a good price for indoor storage

 

[boatman37]

not sure about winter access but i would think so. either way i think it will be fine. i will ask more questions when i get there. not far from my house at all so a couple trips there this winter is no problem

 

[CliffA]

I don't think this was mentioned but be sure to use a piece of stiff wire to push into the block and manifold drains to insure there is not a clog that is preventing the water from draining out.....the first time I winterized a 215EC we used to own I did not use a wire....then I read about using a wire on CSR and went back and used a wire on the drains a day or so later....I had one drain that was clogged and a lot of water drained out when the clog was broken up with the wire.....I feel sure that if I had left that water in the block it would have frozen and done some damage.....

cliff

 

[boatman37]

thanks cliff. i did hear about the wire. haven't done it yet. i left the plugs out from the other day but will be putting it all back together before i take it to storage saturday. i will use the wire then