Winterize a boat ?
 

Anyone have good knowledge of 2-stroke boat motors.

I have a '91 Mercury 175 and live in Central Texas... so it may dip below freezing 3 or 4 times a winter, but likely not much below 25 degrees. I have not run it since Sept and do not plan to run it until March or maybe April.
It is stored outdoors in my driveway.

Should I perform any sort of winterization ? If so please elaborate...

THANKS

Not so much knowledge about 2 stroke boat motors, but as far as motorcycles go, I drain the gas tank and run the engine out of gas. The reason is that the fuel gets sticky over the winter and makes for more frequent carb adjustments and cleaning.

How is the motor cooled? Is it air or water? If water cooled, make sure the appropriate mixture of anti-freeze/water is in the radiator.

I wouldn't worry about winterizing it. It doesn't get that cold down there for long enough periods of time to do any damage to the engine. You can buy a additive for the gas so it doesn't get gummy. Hope this helps

A '91 175 Merc should be self draining in the upright position. If it's been parked since Sept, it is most likely dry already. It wouldn't hurt to trim it all the way down to make sure though.

Of course, if I have an engine that's going to be sitting for more then a month or so, I always fog it. You'd have to get a muff system to do that now though, but then again they aren't expensive.

Do you change the lower gear oil often? That wouldn't hurt either, and if you discover a leak now it will be easier to track down the appropriate gasket or whatever fix is needed. Not something you want to be doing Friday night before you hit the water Saturday morning.

Yes drain the gas then get a cover for the boat......If you got a garage it might be best to take the engine off(if you can) and store it in a warm place.

Bossnass, thanks for the insight... but can you please elaborat on "muff system" .... I have no idea what that means...

Most outboards are watercooled. As long as the engine is running and the engine is in the water, water is pulled in and pumped out. This implies that if the lower portion of the engine is not in the water, its not being cooled, which clearly is bad.

When storing any motor or engine for extended periods of time, but in particular 2-strokes and very much in particular if you run it in salt water, you want to 'fog' the engine. I don't know the offical term, I've just always called it 'fogging'. But its just storage spray, bought at your local all purpose hardware type store.

Now, to 'fog' an engine it needs to be running for a few minutes, longer then it is safe to run without cooling. So you get a muff system, which is a cheap little gadget that hooks up to your garden hose. Two rubber discs, one with a female hose coupler, attached by a length of flexible aluminum tubing. They look somewhat like a pair of earmuffs, but a little straighter. They slide onto your the lower end of your leg and fit pretty firmly. Then you can turn on the hose as strong as possible without blowing off the muffs, and you can run your engine as long as you need to fog the carbs (your 175 should have 2) untill it stalls out.

I've assumed from that start that we are talking about a regular outboard. Just wanted to confirm that.

i made the mistake of not winterizing my 91 150 merc and i tons of trouble out of it. i just put it on muffs now before real cold weather and run sta-bil in the gas. you should be good to go come march.

I've tried fuel stabilizers on my bikes and don't find them to be worth it. Nice, fresh fuel is always preferable to me.

We've got a SeaRay 310, and the first thing when the boat goes into storage is to get that gas outta there. We live in Az, so it doesn't get below freezing hardly ever, but the twin outboards came off and are hibernating in the garage awaiting some part replacements, as well as general maintenance. Take the winter as a chance to do a thorough inspection of everything, especially stuff that is normally under water.

@bobw,
Bossnass has covered pretty much everything you might want to do for winter storage. Obviously, you probably dont have to worry much about freeze damage in your particular region but I certainly would either drain or treat the fuel. If your uncorfortable or not sure using the ear muffs and running the engine, you could pull the cowling off and remove the spark plugs, and spray a little fogging oil into the cylinders and reinstall the plugs (careful not to spray too much as to hydro-lock the engine, after spraying into the cylinders, turn the engine over a couple of revs to coat the cylinder walls, this will also help expel any residual water that may be trapped in water passages).
You might also consider at least checking if not replace the lower unit oil. A little water in the lower unit could cause some serious problems if left sitting over the winter.
If anyone needs any help on boat repairs, feel free to email me, thats what I do for a living (17 years exp., Mercruiser and OMC Master Technician as well as Volvo Penta Certified.) Primarily working on Stern Drives (Mercruiser, Volvo Penta, OMC Cobra).

gng

GREAT STUFF... THANKS.

I guess I will buy some fogging oil, and fuel stabilizer this weekend.

I think I will opt for the pulling out the plugs system as opposed to running it with the muffs.... I did get down to about 20 degrees last year and I am kind of happy that the engine is likely completely dry this year. I think I will keep it that way. I feel like running fresh water in there this late is a risk if it gets that cold again.

LOWER UNIT OIL... I will consult my manual... probably covered in there....

THANKS AGAIN to all...