Shedding Old Man Winter
Time to bring your boat out of hibernation and get it ready for springtime.
by Gary Joyce
April 1, 2005
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.