Question for owners in the Wilmington NC area

[allamerican149]

Do you all winterize your boats living in this area. Weather here is usually pretty nice even during the winter months however the overnight lows can get into the teens and twenties. It would be nice to be out on the water on these 70+ degree days but don't want to risk anything with it being stored outdoors overnight when it gets cold. Should I just keep the boat winterized until around march to be safe or have it serviced and enjoy the nice days ahead. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[Marvin willis]

I’m in Morehead. I never winterize.

 

[Neutron]

New bern, never winterize, i just take out toilet and liquid cleaners

 

[suke]

I'm in the Raleigh area and never winterize. I use stabil all year long in my tank for every fill up, so I don't even fill it full at the end of the season if it isn't already. End of the season for the last outting I'll toss a full bottle of stabil in. That's about the extent of winterizing for me. Rev the motors when I take it out to clear out any water. Make sure my ballasts are as empty as I can get them. Granted there's always some water left in my hard tanks. There was ice in there when I cut them out recently. LOL! Not enough to crack them, obviously.

 

[212s]

Do you all winterize your boats living in this area.

The Yamaha engines are self-draining so very little needs to be done. When I winterize up here in Canada where it can hit -30 or colder, all I do is start the engines and let them idle for 10 seconds to push out any extra water. Add fuel stabilizer to the tank on the last outing to ensure it gets through the fuel system to the injectors, and that's it. This way if a warm fall day comes along, we can still go out, just need to blow out the extra water at the end of the day again.

When it gets too cold to go out, I also remove the normal stuff like porta-potti, vests, etc., spray down the pump surfaces with silicone spary, and ensure the batteries are on the charger ready for storage, but that applies to all boats.

 

[Joshua Miller]

Jacksonville… not much winterization for me either. Blow out motors and put damp rid containers throughout the boat. You’re fine—enjoy the boat whenever the weather is nice.

 

[Julian]

Rev the engines gently, stabil in the gas, I pull the batteries and put them on tenders. Last year I left it on the lift all winter.

So no....don't have to. I do also drain the ballast system as best I can.

 

[Alfred58]

I’m in Hampstead and i also never winterise. Got to enjoy those 70’s days when they come in winter. Enjoy your boat ?

 

[tpspeier]

The answer seem fairly unanimous so far, but I'll add one more data point. We've owned two 2006 FXHO waverunners since 2006 and a 2008 AR230 since 2021 (all kept at Lake Gaston). We simply rev the engines (do this every time we pull from the water) and sometimes fill the gas tank. Never had any issues with this approach.

 

[Michal]

So nice to see that our boats are getting more popular in our area. makes me happy in a strange way.

 

[212s]

So nice to see that our boats are getting more popular in our area. makes me happy in a strange way.

Never saw a Yamaha boat on the water around here since moving here 10 years ago. We buy one and we're the only Yamaha boat in our area for two seasons. Then this past summer some dick with a 212x and another with a 242LS showed up in the area. We're no longer unique dang it!
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[Michal]

Never saw a Yamaha boat on the water around here. We buy one and were the only Yamaha boat in our area for two seasons. Then this past summer some dick with a 212x and another with a 242LS showed up in the area. We're no longer unique dang it!
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Hahaha that's funny. Over in the Hampstead side for the last 4 years I've seen maybe 2.

 

[allamerican149]

Never saw a Yamaha boat on the water around here since moving here 10 years ago. We buy one and we're the only Yamaha boat in our area for two seasons. Then this past summer some dick with a 212x and another with a 242LS showed up in the area. We're no longer unique dang it!
?

Gonna be fun running into some of you! We head to Jersey to pick up our 2017 212 limited S on Friday! Can't wait to get it home!