Boat Care in Cold Weather

I’m thinking about pulling the boat out for the FYB at Everts tomorrow but am a bit hesitant because I don’t want to damage anything. I’m pretty new to boat ownership and have never had it out until well after the last ‘freeze’.

Any tips on how to care for the boat on the water and especially after its back out of the water would be greatly appreciated. I read in a previous post that you should run the engine for a while after pulling it out of the water (until the engine stops ‘peeing’) to pump out any water in the cooling lines. Anything else as far as engine care? What about the bilge, bilge pump, lines, etc? Live wells?

Thanks in advance!

G

Here is some reading material to get you started. Hope this is helpful

Cold Weather Boat Care

A fishing buddy likes to use his wet/dry shop vac to suck the water out of live well plumbing.

It’s important to talk to your boat, let it know your just as eager to hit the open water as he is. Let them know your thinking about it.

I think I am suffering from “Non-Jigitus”

Too much shoveling lately. Someone tell me I’m not alone on this !

thanks for the tips…

your not alone at all on that….

I think one of the most important things mentioned on that list is to dry fire it when it’s on the trailer for the ride home. I always do this when it’s cold. You don’t want that air hitting it at 60mph on the way home and freezing something up. I just pull the emergency stop button down (pull that red elastic cord) and crank, that way it won’t start. Of course, do this while trimmed all the way down. That’s really the biggest precaution I take, and I’ve had no problems.