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Posts: 91
Location: Oshawa, Ontario | Have heard a few theories about storage and thought I should get some opinions.
First, I have always put fuel stabilizer in the tank over the winter, but have heard differing views on whether the gas tank should be full or near empty - what do you think??
Second, some guys have mentioned they support the trailer with jack stands to take the weight off of the springs. Is this helpful/necessary??
Any other ideas/comments before putting our boats to "bed" for the winter?? |
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Posts: 33
| I think your gas tank should be full, half tank may be prone to water condesation as the temps change over the storage season thus adding water to your gas. As far as jack stands...if it's outside in the elements, maybe. Otherwise I wouldn't bother. It will withstand interstate speeds...should be able to sleep OK over the winter on her wheels. |
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Location: Minneapolis, MN | My mechanic told me to try to get the tank near empty as possible which contradicts a lot of what you read. His logic behind it is that the tank is sealed and won't condensate as bad as I might think and more importantly, Octane has a relatively short shelf life. He said if I put my boat away in December with 87 in it (which I have to run becuase its a PoptiMax) that by the time I get it out in February I might have a tank full of 78+/-. By the time I burn up 43 galons of gas I might be down to the low 70's. Running low 70's gas is not a good idea. He suggested I dump the contents of my water seperator 2x in the spring which is designed to capture the condensation that may have ocurred over winter. |
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Posts: 492
Location: Lindenhurst, Illinois | I have been told by the guys that winterize my boat that it doesn't matter. They dump some stabilizer in there and tell me to top off the tank in the spring. I had it winterized last year with about 1/2 a tank and didn't have any problems in the spring.
Any experts out there? |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | All my tips are for 2 strokes for winterizing(don't know if 4 strokes need different attention). Fog it, stabilize the fuel, change the lower unit fluid. I don't run anything less then premium unleaded in my boat. Suprised to here opti's require 87.. (As a motor gets older its needs for higher octane increase.) A full tank is reccomended but if you have a 43 gallon tank that is a ton of stabilizer, I've used stabilizer for as little as 2 gallons without condensation. If you use stabilizer you should not loose much octane if any at all. I use OMC 2X4 and reccomend only using brands with the engine names.. Merc, OMC etc.. Never liked stabil when used for the lawn mower, it seemed to run worse with stabil then it did with no stabilizer. Depending on how much you use your boat during the year putting a stabilizer like 2X4 in at every filling is not a bad thing. If you are out multiple days a week(like a guide) maybe just every couple fillups put some in. |
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Winter Storage??