[Rhodes22-list] winterizing- help please

[Julie Thorndycraft]

Phyllis,
We have the Yamaha 9.9 electric start motor and we cheated due to lack of 
time. We dropped the boat off at a Yamaha dealer for a few days and they 
took care of the winterizing of the motor. Cost was $130 but when you don't 
have time to do it yourself..... We also had them do a little prop repair 
while they were at it.

As for the batteries, I think whether you leave them in the boat or not 
depends upon what type they are. You are best checking with someone who 
sells batteries to see what is best - some batteries will last longer when 
they are recharged periodically throughout the season. We were also told to 
never store the batteries on cement - they need to be on something like a 
piece of wood. Note: the first year we left our batteries on the boat 
through the winter. They had been working fine through the previous season 
but when we went to charge them in the spring we found that they would not 
hold the charge and when we put a 'load' on them they dropped off way too 
fast and did not recover. We ended up buying new batteries. It's cheaper to 
find out the proper method of storing your type of batteries - wet cell, 
closed cell, AGM, etc.

I would also agree with Slim as to the spreaders. We don't remove ours but 
then we store our boat in a large pole barn so we don't have to cover it. If 
you are in an environment that gets snow, the weight of the tarp plus snow 
weight may bend the spreaders. If you're not in snow country, then you might 
not need to worry about it. Slim is up here with us in Minnesota and if I 
stored my boat outside with a cover - I'd be taking them off.

Looking forward to spring,
Julie
s/v Blue Loon

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <R22RumRunner at aol.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 5:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] winterizing- help please


> Phyllis,
> Even though you didn't use the fresh water system, there probably is 
> water
> in the lines and pump. Pick up a gallon of nontoxic RV anti-refreeze at
> Walmart, a RV store or a marine store and add it to the water tank. Open 
> the  faucet
> and run some through until the pink of the antifreeze shows up.
> Another method I prefer is to put a couple of liters of Vodka in the water
> system and then add some orange juice in the spring.
> The marine head or porta-potti also needs to be dealt with.
> Spreaders should be fine. I don't know why the previous owner removed 
> them.
> If you are going to top off the gas tanks, purchase some Sta=Bil (gasoline
> stabilizer) and add it to the gas. It prevents varnishing.
> Check your motors owners manual on winterizing. Or, take it to a dealer to
> be winterized. My experience has been that if the motor has a thermostat, 
> it
> must be removed to drain the water from the cooling jacket to prevent 
> freezing
> and ruptures.
>
> Rummy
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