Things to remember when using the boat in winter:
Many of you have already put your boats away for the winter. Hopefully you put them away properly with fresh gear lube and engine oil, if needed, and of course stabilized the fuel system and fogged the engine. But for those guys that like to use their boats from time to time (or all winter), what should you do?
I would recommend stabilizing your fuel just incase we get a long stretch of really cold, bone-chilling weather and you don’t get it out for a month or so. This is mainly because fuel life is really only between 30 and 90 days before it starts to break down. This is typically not as big of an issue on the fuel injected engines as it is on the carbureted engines. Fuel that is old starts to loose its Pump Octane Number (PON). This can become a problem because it can cause severe engine damage due to detonation.
One other thing I would suggest is to check, if not change, your gear lube before it starts freezing hard. The reason you need to do this is to make sure that you don’t have any water intrusion in your gear case which could freeze and cause significant gear case damage.
For most of you that have spent time fishing open water in the cold months, you probably all know that you need to trim your engine up and down all the way two or three times once you make it back on the trailer and pull the boat out. There is no need to start the engine when on the trailer just leave it down long enough to drain out. The reason for this is many of the new engines have fuel coolers or rectifiers and other electrical components that are cooled with water. If water is left in them it can cause them to be damaged as the water freezes. Another thing to remember when you take your boat out, is to get the live wells and pumps free of water.
I would also suggest, that if possible, plug your battery charger in to keep the batteries ready to go. Cold weather is the ultimate test, for even the best batteries. If your batteries are borderline, chances are, your next winter fishing trip might just show a battery failure.
Hopefully these tips can prevent a few headaches and help keep you on the water all winter.
