Winter down time

[Mike Schmidt]

I don’t use my boat much in the winter… sometimes it sits for a few months without being run at all. Is it bad for the engines if they don’t run for a few months or should I make a special trip to the boat every so often, at least to fire it up? This is in the PNW, so it’s not winterized… but I do have dehumidifiers and a heater in the engine room.

Topic

[firehoser75]

Hi Mike,
I am located in the PNW as well. I don’t use my boat during the winter, as I do winterize (just in case) putting freshwater antifreeze in the plumbing (not engine), I run a dehumidifier, and a couple of small heaters, as well as an oil pan heater. I store the engine with a mixture of freshwater and “salt away” in the raw water side.
Being as my marina shuts off the dock water, I don’t run the engine or gen set during this storage time at the dock. However, once per month, I “bump” the starter to ensure that the impeller gets moved and does not take a “set”. I have done this for the last 4 winters and it seems to work OK.
If I didn’t want to keep the freshwater and salt away in the system, I would start the engine up at least monthly and run it up to operating temps (preferrably away from the dock) under load (as opposed to neutral).
However, I figure with a warm, dry engine room and bumping the impeller, that is enough. I also run the engine during the season for over 200 hours per year.
Tom

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