Winterizing Your Boat: Marine Services
As the calendar turns toward the holidays and colder weather, winterizing your boat can help it run smoothly when you get it back on the water next spring or summer.
Here are some of the ways that a marine service can help you winterize your boat.
Flush It Out
Many boat owners fail to appreciate the stress put on critical engine components when fluids freeze, swell, and contract during frigid winter months. Suzuki marine services can flush your boat engine motor, which can prevent dry dock damage during the winter.
- Cleaning: the first winterizing step a marine services professional is likely to take is run clean water through your cooling system. By running clean water through the cooling system of your inboard or outboard motor, you reduce corrosion and contamination of other fluids like oil and fuel. When flushing out a cooling system, a marine services professional will run a steady stream of water through your cooling system until the discharged water is visibly clear.
- Blowing: if you will be storing your boat in a climate that dips into freezing temperatures, you will also want to blow out the remaining moisture in your engine. To get your engine completely dry, a marine services professional will send compressed air through your cooling system until it is completely moisture-free. It is important that you have a tight seal when you blow out your cooling system to make sure that all remaining moisture is cleared from your cooling system.
Top It Off
Before you store your boat for winter can be the perfect time to change your oil, stabilize your fuel supply, and make sure that your boat engine is completely protected.
- Oil: if the oil in your boat engine is low, winter temperatures can cause sensitive internal components to swell and contract when frozen. A marine services professional can change your oil and make sure that it's topped off.
- Fuel: boat fuel, when left to settle, can begin to separate and "spoil." Your marine services professional can pump out your remaining fuel, add new fuel, and add additional stabilization to your fuel supply to prevent it from fouling your filters and spark plugs.
- Greased up: boat motors require lubrication to function optimally. A marine services professional can grease up the bearings on your transom and prop mount. Making sure these areas are greased up before winter can protect the seals when winter temperatures dip below freezing.
Reach out to a marine business, such as Reliable Marine Services, to winterize your boat.
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