Winter Storage

[LaqueRatt]

First winter owning a boat. Have a couple little aluminum boats with outboards. Do I need to do more than just run the motors out of gas? I already have SeaFoam in the tanks, should I put more in? What fuel I don't use up this week I plan to burn in my truck. I have a cover for the MirroCraft, the AlumaCraft I'm just going to flip upside down. Motors will be stored in an unheated shed for the winter if that makes a difference. Am I missing anything?

 

[nola mike]

Wanna give us a hint on what you're working on?

 

[Scott Danforth]

with just outboards, maybe a bit of fogging spray and change the lower unit oil

 

[roffey]

That's all I did for my 9.9 fishing boat. I took the motor off and stored it upright so the water does not collect in the lower unit. I did not run it out of gas but did fog it. I use premium fuel with no ethanol.

 

[LaqueRatt]

Motors are nothing special. One is a Fastwin 18, the other is a McCulloch 14.
I'm planning on changing lower unit grease in the spring. Is there a compelling reason to do it now? Can fogging be accomplished with a spray bottle of fuel? I've had one been using all summer while bringing my motors back from the dead. Not that I'm overly cheap, I just don't spend money if I don't need to. I'm pretty sure over the last 50 years nobody likely fogged these motors or did anything else to them. Should the final burn off of fuel involve extra oil? Would that maybe serve the same purpose as fogging?

 

[garbageguy]

First winter owning a boat. Have a couple little aluminum boats with outboards. Do I need to do more than just run the motors out of gas?... Am I missing anything?

are you now winterizing a different boat than before? what're you working on?

 

[harringtondav]

Can fogging be accomplished with a spray bottle of fuel?

No. Aerosol fogging oil is available. You could try putting some very light engine oil, maybe even your 2 stoke oil in a spray bottle. Fogging involves accessing the carb intake, starting the motor. W/o the choke plate closed run the engine to about 3000 rpm and start spraying the oil until the motor dies or wants to.
BTW, my new VP 4.3 V5 specs running 50:1 premix through the engine for 15 minutes. Partly to fog the innards, mostly to lube and protect the high pressure fuel injection system.
Based on this I'd assume a 50:1 outboard is always fogged without any more effort during layover.

 

[roffey]

I use fogging oil. You can get it almost anywhere and its not expensive. Fogging helps stop rust and likely a bunch of other things but should be done at the end of the season. Changing or checking the gear lube is end of the year as well. Your checking for water and making sure it is at the right level. If your adding gear lube then its leaking out somewhere and should be investigated.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I'm planning on changing lower unit grease in the spring. Is there a compelling reason to do it now?

if you have a leak and the gearcase has water in it and you wait until after winter. your bearings will be rusted and your case will bust due to freezing.

best to do that prior to winter storage

 

[aspeck]

Fogging will keep the internal parts free from rust and seizing up. Change or at least check your lower gear oil for moisture. You don't want it freezing in the dead of winter and finding out you need a new lower unit in the spring because you wanted to wait till spring to change the oil.

 

[dingbat]

Not sure what fogging accomplishes on a 2 stroke given the internals are constantly covered in fuel and oil mixture?

If you feel the necessity to fog for whatever reason, simply choke and crank the motor over a couple of rotations. The fuel evaporates over time leaving a thick oil coating on the internals.

 

[LaqueRatt]

OK, I see the logic in checking or changing the lower unit oil now, but think Dingbat is on the right track regarding fogging. Those recommending it I think may not be factoring in that I have 2 strokes that are over 50 years old. I'm not even sure fogging oil existed back then, yet these motors are still rocking and rolling all these years later!

 

[airshot]

The other thing you can do is run the OB with the choke on, when it stalls, leave it alone, just drain the water out and drain/ fill the lower unit. Be sure you run fuel stabilizer in that last run.

 

[roffey]

for what's its worth, I've put both boats, a 4.3 Merc and a 9.9 Evinrude away with out stabilizer or fogging and they both started right up in spring.

 

[LaqueRatt]

A few more noob questions. Can I just get defogger at the auto parts or do I need some special marine formula? How much gear oil do I need to refill my two motors? One is a 66 McCulloch 14, the other is a 65 Rude Fastwin 18. I got part of a bottle of Valvoline 80/90W gear oil on the shelf, can I just get another bottle of that? Or do I need some magical marine grade lube? LOL Might as well use it up if I can. It's not something I generally need very often.

One last question: In lieu of a proper gear oil pump would it be OK to use the wife's turkey baster?

 

[LaqueRatt]

for what's its worth, I've put both boats, a 4.3 Merc and a 9.9 Evinrude away with out stabilizer or fogging and they both started right up in spring.

You must live right! I'm not so sure your results are typical. What do I know though...... Thanks for the input.

 

[roscoe]

use marine grade lube

 

[airshot]

I always used fogging oil on my 4 stroke engines, but on the two stroke motors just choke the motor until it stalls, that will leave a good coat of oil on the internals. If you can acess the carb bowl drain screw, drain the carb bowls, but on many more modern engines where the carbs are buried deep within, I just use a good fuel stabilizer, mixed a little heavy and ran thru the engine. Been doing this for well over 25 years with O issues. I know many will frown on spending a few bucks that might not be needed, but I believe in better safe than sorry!! If you have one bad winter where your carbs get gummed up, those rebuild costs could have bought a lot of stabilizer !!!

 

[airshot]

A few more noob questions. Can I just get defogger at the auto parts or do I need some special marine formula? How much gear oil do I need to refill my two motors? One is a 66 McCulloch 14, the other is a 65 Rude Fastwin 18. I got part of a bottle of Valvoline 80/90W gear oil on the shelf, can I just get another bottle of that? Or do I need some magical marine grade lube? LOL Might as well use it up if I can. It's not something I generally need very often.

One last question: In lieu of a proper gear oil pump would it be OK to use the wife's turkey baster?

You can get cheap oil pumps that fit into your oil container for just a few bucks thru Harbor Freight or other discount stores. On my small outboards I use the walmart version of synthetic gear lube 75w-140, in my area it is made by Valvoline. Exceeds all mfgrs requirements. I have had better sucess with the synthetic oils for gear cases and with synthetic lubes the higher weight does not mean the oil is thicker like in Dino lubes. This lube is for marine and all other gear cases calling for 80/90 allvthe way up to 80/140 weights. Been using this stuff since 2000 with 0 issues in all my gear drives.

 

[LaqueRatt]

What is the advantage of synthetic lube? Or special marine lube for that matter? Isn't oil pretty much oil as long as the weight is correct? I run synthetic oil in just one of my cars and see no real difference. I still change it every 2500-3k.