How to Winterize Macgregor 26X (first season owner)

[bkuhn]

This is my first year owning a 26x, and now my first time going into winter with one. I was looking for tips (primarily engine, but maybe others) that I need to consider as winter comes. I live in Portland, OR and so it does get below freezing, and my engine is a Nissan 2 stroke 50hp.

Right now I have the boat stored in a slip on the river. I'd like to keep using it for a few more months, but wondering if the engine is at risk for freezing or if I need to do anything with it with the freezing weather? Should I leave it in the water (rotate it up when I'm done for the day) to keep it from freezing (warmer river water on the lower unit as opposed to rotated up where the whole outboard would freeze)? Or should I pull it up? Or do I need to put antifreeze in after each day out (I can't imagine, but I've seen antifreeze at the boat store). Any opinions?

And in a few months I'll pull it out of the river and put it on the trailer for the remainder of the season. Is that a time when I need to put antifreeze in the engine for the rest of the season?

For the rest of the boat, I figured I should empty the 5 gallon fresh water container and pour some RV antifreeze down the drain of both sinks. Anything else I am not considering for the remaining parts of the boat?

Thank you all as always for the advice!
Brad

[C Buchs]

Brad:
Welcome to the group. I also have a that we've had for 6-7 years now. I sail out of Camas, WA. So I'm about 1-1.5 hours north of you. Last year we left our boat in its slip through the winter, but the rest of the time we've owned it we brought it home.

For the motor: I've been told to leave the motor tilted down so that the water can drain out. I got this information from my father-in-law who keeps his boat on the trailer for the winter. So that's what I did with the Honda 50 that came with the boat and what I've continued to do with the Etec 90 I installed almost 2 years ago. I haven't had any problems. I'd love to hear what others do. Most outboards have a winterization process. We use the boat occasionally through most of November and are usually using it again in March. I think that not winterizing the motor for 3 months is OK, but I'm not sure. It's just what I do.

For the inside: I empty the porta-potty, empty the galley water bag, we don't use the head sink, and clear the washdown pump (it pumps water out of the river). The sink drains are short and flexible, so I've never worried about them. I also bought a dehumidifier from Amazon. The kind with a cup in the bottom to collect water. I drilled a hole in that cup and keep it in the galley sink. So the water it collects drains down the sink. This has been working great to slow mold down.

This is what I do and I haven't had problems yet. If anyone else has better advice, I'd love to hear it.

Jeff

[dlandersson]

Some things:

Disconnect the fuel line and run the outboard until it's out of fuel. Add some fuel stabilizer to any fuel you lave in a tank.
Get some fogging oil, remove the engine top shell and spray the fogging oil on the engine. Some people remove the spark plugs some do not. I don't.
Remove any cloth (cushions, vests, flotation devices, etc. from the boat and put them someplace for the winter. Get some Damp-Rid or equivalent.
Empty out (or remove (I remove) your porta-potty from the boat.
Think about a tarp cover or better. One can argue that it's not essential (it's a boat), but most people do it. PCV pipes make a nice frame, takes less than 1 hour.
On my to-do list: A fan connected to a solar panel, etc. to circulate the air inside the boat.