winter boat storage (outside

[mike chip]

hey guys,

a friend of mine is storing his boat this winter out side, its a 17.5 tracker.he was told the basics to do, plus one thing i had never heard of. He was told to pull the plug and pour some antifreeze, 50/50 mix into the bottom of the boat in case water gets in there it wont freeze. has anybody heard of this. its new to me? but on the other hand, if the antifreeze is designed for alum, how could it hurt the hull if dilluted.

mike c

 

[Bruce Freeman]

If you pull the plug what will hold the anti-freeze in?



BF

 

[Bill Hamilton]

Bruce - You are one sick puppy! Why didn't I think of that. LOL :blink::blink::blink:

 

[ray emons]

i put rv antifreeze thru the live well to protect the lines and pumps car antifreeze is toxic to fish and can harm aluminum either by corrosion or coating it ( the new antifreezes will turn aluminun yellow )

if you tilt up the front of the boat and leave the plug out water (and the antifreeze) will run out and it will not build up. a sugesstion - go to pep boys and get a 12' x 20' tent for $229 to cover the boat.put it up over the boat and use (4)1" x 10' straps to hold the tent to the boat trailer. i've stored my boat this way for 5 years w/o a problem.take the tent down in the spring and store.beats the $350 a season they get to store a boat around here.



good luck

 

[Rick Cohoon]

Stored a Nitro 700XL outside in the winter for years. Gravity will drain all the water out of the live well system. Pull the plug and leave it be, no need fo rthe antifreeze. If water gets in it will drain, never had a problem. Stor the boat nose high and you are fine, raiseing the nose will also help snow to run off the tarp. Oh and if you ar ein snow country do not let it build on the tarp, brush it off. The weight can accumulate and bend/crack/break things. Also a good idea to lift the boat trailer and put it on stands or blocks to get the weight off the tires. Last lesson learned the hard way, make sure all liquids fish attractant and such are out of the boat.



Store a 27 ft Sundancer outside now and do the same for the hull.

 

[mike chip]

how will it hold water? well the drain plug is slightly elavated and it holds about a 1/4 to 1/2 an inch with out the plug out, in total about a quart or so will always be left in the boat with trailer tilted all the way up. i suggested he tarp it like i do.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

That's just HOGWASH !

Keep the front of the rig up and plug out...how will hold water?:blink:

 

[Jim B]

Thats totaly not hogwash TEE. The plug is slightly elevated and yes it will hold some water all the time. I know for sure that mine does even when parked on a hill with the bow up. If the plug was flush to the bottom that would be another story but its not flush. The plug housing also sticks in a little bit as well so it traps some water to the back of the hull too.



I also learned first hand that gravity will not drain all of the water out of the livewell system. A few years back i didnt use any pink antifreeze in mine and there was some remaining water in the valve(yes it was open) and the valve froze and cracked and i had a huge leak when i put it back in the water the following year. A little pink RV antifreeze cures that problem quickly and cheaply. Personally i would rather spend the 3 bucks on a bottle of rv antifreeze then 50 to have to replace another valve...



Mike some other things to do, yank the water lines off of the speedo and water pressure guage( if you have one). They can freeze and wreck the guage if there is any water in them( also learned from first hand experience)



I also like to get my boat shrinkwrapped for the winter months. it offers two benefits over a tarp. First its much more effective at keeping moisture out then a tarp is. In the past when i used a tarp i always had moisture in the boat no matter what i did, with the wrap i get none. And its also much better with snow. With the wrap i dont have to worry one bit about snow buildup. The wrap is builtup high enough that the snow just slides off so i sont have to clean it off.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Well your 175 must be different from my 185 becuase it doesn't hold water.

As far as the wrap...I wouldn't do it....that's one of the reasons I got a new boat.

It held moisture inside and stained all the aluminum with waterspots.

Of course...mines garaged.

 

[Jim B]

Tee, i dont have a 175, i have a 882 glass boat. Id bet if you poured some water in the bilge and took a look down there you would see some trapped water. I have never seen a boat that didnt hold some, the placement of the plug makes it imposible to get rid of it 100%.



As far as the wrap goes. I have been getting my boats wrapped for the last 10 years and i have never seen a drop of moisture in/on them when i cut the wrap off in the spring. No damage, no mold or mildew etc.. With a tarp, id have standing water, ice etc in there. not good....

 

[TOMMY RICH]

My bad...that's Mike's friend who has the tin rig.

When I purchased my first 185 (replaced by Tracker) it had been setting on the dealer lot for almost a year and of course all the aluminum was stained to the point where I pointed it out first thing. Of course that could have been condensation from the wrap and it still there thru the summer and extremely hot.

I wouldn't think that a small amount of water would cause damage on a tin rig but, again I don't glass either:unsure:

 

[Jim B]

The winter shrinkwrap is a whole different deal then then shipping wrap from the factory.



Its vented not sealed up tight and designed to keep the boat totally dry. The way my boat is setup i can craul up into it with the wrap on between the hull and the motor, my 8" plate makes a nice hole i can crawl up into. I have in the past and every compartment in the boat is dry as a bone and its actually a little warm inside in the sun. Its very good stuff, and the only way to fly if you store outside like i do.



I doubt it was the wrap that stined the boat per se too, a good friend of mine had a 185 for years and always had it wrapped for the winter and never had any staining problems...



Who knows if a little water will hurt anything or not but why take the risk? A bottle of RV antifreeze is under $3, a couple cups in the livewell drain and down the bilge will help prevent any problems from happening. Cheap easy insurance....

 

[chris jeroue]

I store my boat outside and before I put the shipping cover on it I take all my "stuff" out of the boat and then raise the boat as high as it will go and use my shop wet/dry vac to vacuum out any water in the bilge. I also use my air compressor with about 10 lbs of pressure and blow out my livewell lines, bilge pump lines, ect. My towing cover that came with the boat is vented and yes I do keep the snow broomed off it.



Minnow.