necessary to winterize?

[Larry E]

I have a 2017 AR240 with 40 hours on it now, I did the 10 hour/breakin service around 20 hours (mid-summer) at the dealership. So the oil in the boat is only a few months old with 20 hours on it. If I pull the boat out (with some stabil in the gas I run-thru beforehand) and blow out the water in the jets, is it necessary to take the boat in to have it "winterized" at the dealership? From what I am reading, all the winterization really entails is for them to change the oil (again) and fog the engines, which I don't really understand why that is important anyway.
Just gauging the importance here from people way smarter about this stuff than I am. Aside from the cost of the winterization, the dealership here is always super busy and such the boat would be sitting out in their lot for a few weeks vs in the barn where I will be keeping it over the winter, and it is just a hassle if unnecessary. Next year it would be due for an oil change, and such a different story, just seems silly to change oil that was just put in 2-3 months ago.

Thanks!

 

[Whisky]

Hey Larry,

I'm in pretty much the exact same situation as you. so I'll tell you what I did. I know that there are those that will disagree, and I respect and understand the reasons for doing so, but here's what I did.

I have a new 2017 212X with about 30 hours on it. It went in for it's break in oil change mid august, and has had 15-20 hours put on since then. I waxed it up, treated the vinyl, blew out the water, added YamaLube Fuel Stabilizer, filled the ballast system with antifreeze, flipped the battery switches, disconnected the amp (seems to bypass the switches for some reason...), removed the tower speaker bar, and tucked her in under her shipping cover for the winter.

I checked the oil and laboured over whether to change it again or not (last year, with my new AR190 in a similar situation I did have it changed), but the oil still looks clean and new so all things considered, I just couldn't justify it.

Now, if you wanted, it's not a big job to change it yourself, so that is an option too, but even with that, I just couldn't convince myself it was worth it.

I hope this helps, and I hope you had a GREAT season with your new boat! Welcome to the forum!

 

[2kwik4u]

IMO, It depends where you are in the country as to what precautions to take. Where you store your boat has a lot to do with it as well.

Here is what I do. Your level of risk might be higher or lower than mine.

I'm somewhat south in the country, the winters are not terribly bad here (plenty of cold, but they are not very long). My boat lives in my attached garage as well during the winter. SO, I start running some stabil through the engines/fuel tank starting in late August/Early September. This is just to control water/moisture accumulation in the tank due to ethanol content in the fuel. When the expected last outing of the year comes around I try to dry the boat out as well as I can, which includes a couple of blasts to get water out of the exhaust. Then stuff it in the garage. That's it. I don't change the oil, I don't change the plugs, I don't fog the engine. Plugs and oil are changed at recommended intervals, or once a season whichever comes first. Engine is never fogged as I don't see the need for it with years of experience storing boats in this climate.

I've also been known to take my boats out in January if we get a nice warm day (60deg+). With the old I/O that meant putting plugs back in, boating, then draining the thing when we got home. With the Yamaha, I just blow the exhaust dry again and call it good. Again, your mileage may vary.