There's a direct correlation between how much effort you put into taking your boat out of the water for the season and how much effort you're going to have to put in before you put it back in the water in the spring. And remember, as reluctant as you were to cover your boat for the winter, you'll be that much more frantic to get it back in the water come that first really nice day.

Remember also, that doing all this while your boat is on a trailer or otherwise laid up near an electrical source, running water, etc., is much easier than doing it while it's in the water or on the trailer in the parking lot at your favorite ramp. The only thing to worry about when you're working hard? Never, ever start your motor unless water is running through the cooling system. Oh, and all that smoke is supposed to be coming out. You did pickle it last winter, didn't you?

MECHANICAL
Some of this applies to outboard owners, some to I/O and IB owners. You'll want to check your entire engine system. Pull the outboard cover, and clean it of any critters or dust that have taken residence. Check spark plugs for tightness (don't replace sparkplugs at winter haulout; do so in the spring), and check sparkplug wires for visible cracking or wear. Take a close look at the steering system, and check that it's functioning smoothly; if you have hydraulic steering, make sure the hydraulic fluid level is correct.

Moving down to the lower unit, check that the prop looks like a prop and not like Mad Max-looking weaponry; a chipped and bent prop is not an efficient one. Check your zincs; zincs that are nasty looking (sacrificial zincs look like a miniature moonscape when they corrode) should be replaced; if they're nearly destroyed, you'll want to check the grounding/bonding of your electrical system, or the docks where your boat is kept, for something wrong electrically. Check the unit's oil level; nice clear oil should flow. If it has a gray hue, you've got water in the system, and it's off to the boatyard you go. Make sure your motor's or outdrive's tilt system is operating the way it should be; lube if necessary. And if you've pulled your lower end (I/Os) on takeout, replace all gaskets with new ones (they come in engine specific kits) when you put the drive back on.

Hotspots to check that are engine-type specific include the drive belts; check for proper tension, as well as wear and tear. Check fluid hoses; soft spots in hoses indicate a weak spot in the hose, so replace them. Unhook the alternator/generator and starter connections, spray them with something like CRC's QD Electronics Cleaner (this stuff is good for just about anything having to do with the transmission of electricity) and give them a brush up, then refasten the wiring. Check out all your through-hulls; make sure hoses are good, and attachments are solid (a little tug on them won't hurt, unless a second tug pulls them off!). Replace rusted or slightly corroded clamps, especially below the waterline.
If your boat has them, check the screening on your raw-water intakes.
If you can't scrub off what's on them, then replace them.

RISERS
Risers and manifolds ' of interest to I/O and IB owners ' get a separate entry, because if they fail your engine is toast. The exhaust manifolds (which tend to last a bit longer than the risers) can be changed from raw-water to freshwater systems, but risers will always be using raw water. And in the case of marine raw water, we're talking salt and corrosion.

Risers carry hot exhaust gas away from the engines. They're usually inverted U-shaped cast iron pipes (about three or four inches in diameter) attached to your exhaust manifold. V8 engines will have two, four-cylinder engines one, etc. An exhaust hose is attached to the riser and exits outside the boat. Without going into how a riser is constructed, suffice it to say that it's a jacket within a jacket, the purpose being for the outer jacket to have cool water in it (and be cool to the touch), while the inner jacket contains hot exhaust. A mixture of the two forms is what comes out your exhaust. The big problem lies in when (not if) the two mix before exiting. A leak in the water jacket usually means a detonation of at least one cylinder, if not the entire motor. And the problem? There's no surefire way to determine that except by visually inspecting the riser for rust and oxidation. Set up a regular schedule for this checkup, folks. It's a good idea to pull the risers (not a major job) at least at every third preseason in salt water.

ELECTRONICS
It would be rather silly to have some equipment on board that doesn't work and have its malfunction be the cause of an accident, fire, etc. Before getting out on the water, check out your electronic gear. Make sure navigation lights, interior lights, horn, etc. (a good time to check your trailer lights, as well) are working, and if not, find out why. Check that sonar, radar, VHF, etc., are all operational. It will prove to be a lot easier to chase down faults in the system while the boat is on land. Tracing down electrical faults is a pain no matter where it's done. It may be as simple as a blown fuse or dirty or corroded contacts, or as difficult to find as a broken wire. A voltage meter is an invaluable time saver, enabling you to see where the current is no longer flowing, and thus narrowing down any problem.

Clean your battery terminals. Hurth Battery Terminal Cleaner works well, and has an added plus of turning blue (from pink) if there's a battery acid leak. Check battery switch and/or isolator contacts as you would all other contacts.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT
Are the PFDs serviceable, or do they look like they were issued for the landing on Omaha Beach? Check ground tackle. Look for frays in anchor lines, rusted eyes, bad shackles, etc. How is the signal equipment? If the flares are out of date, now's the time to replace them. Check your boat's compass no matter how much electronic equipment you have aboard; a compass can lose fluid, and the fluid can be replaced.
Make sure windshield wipers are working, and that the throttle's kill switch is functioning.

COMFORT
This is also the time to make sure the amenities (heads, showers, stoves, etc.) on your craft are operational. If you've got a bad taste coming from your potable water tank, first drain the tank, then try and get a high-pressure nozzle in the tank to clean the interior, then flush with fresh water again. Next add some chlorine ' one milliliter of chlorine for every five liters of water capacity ... or about a teaspoon of chlorine per five gallons, then top off with fresh water. Next, open all the taps until you can smell chlorine, then shut them, and top off your water tank again. Ideally, to kill anything growing in there, you should let the mixture stand for four or five hours or even overnight. The final step is to drain the tank, then fill with potable water and run through the entire system until no chlorine can be smelled. Conversely, douching out the tank with a baking soda/water mix should be done every season regardless of whether the water tastes 'funny.'

Baking soda is also good for dealing with refrigerator smells. Scrub the interior with a baking soda and water mix, and that should take care of the aromatic scent of last year's fish dinners. Keeping an open box of baking soda in the refrigerator isn't a bad idea either.

And speaking of smells: You'll want to clean out your bilge. There are environmentally friendly (biodegradable) cleaners on the market; most of these require absolutely no work other than being poured into the bilge and sloshed around (by trailering or boating), then drained.

HULL
A fiberglass hull requires cleaning and waxing to maintain its looks (and resale value) and also to cut through the water more efficiently. Whether or not you'll pick up more than 1 mph's worth of speed is unlikely, but waxing does serve to keep the porous (it's not a sieve, but microscopically, water can enter) outer layer of gel coat non-porous.

You can either apply a cleaner to your hull to remove any oxidation (that white stuff) before waxing (go with Carnauba wax), or you can try Garry's Royal Satin Premium One-Step Cleaner Wax. Spelling and similarity to this writer's name not withstanding, it's a one-shot deal that cleans light oxidation and then waxes with one application. If the hull has never been waxed, however, you'll probably want to use a separate hull cleaner and then a wax.

Then there's that ugly looking brown/black stripe that forms at the waterline and defies all efforts to remove it. There are several products on the market that are intended to address this while requiring a minimal amount of elbow grease. Strong solutions may harm other materials on your boat. So read the directions. Star brite and Heller Glanz make good products, but are by no means the only ones available.

BOTTOM PAINT
Argh. This can be a horror story for the do-it-yourselfer, and with all but small craft, is probably worth having done by a shipyard. Many, if not most states, have environmental requirements, rules and regs about bottom paint removal nowadays, so you'll have to deal with that as well.
Essentially old bottom paint has to come off before new bottom paint goes on. There are a lot of different brands with different chemical makeups, but one of the better ways to figure out which type to use is to see what your local boat yard recommends.

There's no easy way, no short cut to bottom painting. It requires personal safety equipment, tarps to collect up what scrapes off, proper disposal residue, and an interest in working in either a squatting position or on your back to get the entire job done. Bottom painting is the fiberglass boater's version of recaulking a wooden hull.

One last item to consider: Any and all work on boats tends to generate junk and trash. Whether it's the shrink-wrap cover or bottom-paint chips or old motor oil, dispose of it in an environmentally safe manner.
Much of this should've already been done when you hauled out. Of course, if that were the case, you wouldn't need to read this article; you'd be one step ahead and out on the water. But as for practicing what you preach? Let's just say we're all on the same page: this one.

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April 2005