Hi Fellows,

 

Sure hope everyone has had fun and been successful on the waters so far this year.  Here goes my question but keep in mind that I am a 67 year old retired fishing and hunting product manufacturer's sales rep, but I am pretty good with minor mechanical jobs.

 

I just bought a very nice used '96 Ranger 364V with a '96 Johnson 150 Fast Strike engine and was wondering how to winterize both and if it is something I can do myself and save a few bucks (always helps to do it yourself if you can when your only income is social security)?  The boat will be sitting outside in my driveway with its nice custom cover during the winter.  Please let me know and thanks a million for your help.  Have a wonderful and blessed day.

 

Rick

The way I have done it is pretty simple. I put fuel stabilizer in the tank per it's instructions. I fill the tank all the way up to minimize air in it. I run the engine on the hose until I'm confident that the stabilized fuel has filled the carb bowls. I get fogging oil and fog the cylinders. Then I make sure all the water is drained from the outboard. I change the lower unit oil (at the very least make sure no water has infiltrated the oil), I hit all the grease fittings, and then I lower the motor so no water can stand in it. As far as the boat I just take everything out of it, charge the batteries, and remove the hose to the water pressure gauge and blow any water out of it. Make sure the plug is left out and get any water that might be in the live wells out. Also I like to periodically make sure all three batteries remain fully charged.

I feel like I'm forgetting something for some reason but that's most of what I do.

I do just the opposite with the fuel tank. The old metal tanks used to sweat but never seen that to be a problem with the plastic ones and I don't want deal with the bad gas next spring so I pump all the gas out of mine by taking the hose loose from the primer bulb and connecting an electric fuel pump, and put the gas in one of my vehicles. If the motor us stored under some kind of shelter, I wouldn't worry about fogging it. I run mine every couple of months so I don't have to worry about the carbs and fuel lines having old gas. I do this with a gallon jug with a little gas and SeaFoam, I take the hose loose from the tank side of the primer bulb, put a short piece of hose on it and stick it in the jug I just sit in the splash well. I've done this for at least the last 30 years and have never had a carburetor issue. I run all my gas motors every month or two, pressure washer, chain saws, weed eaters, mowers etc.

If you don't want to go through the trouble of running it, pull the plugs out of the carbs and drain those, then use compressed air (low pressure) and purge the whole fuel system buy taking the primer bulb loose and blowing though it. After a good purge, put the plugs back in the carbs. If you don't, it doesn't take long before you learn why this junk we have for gas is cursed so much.

Also blow out all the hoses to your live wells, just be sure the drain valve is open. Some people just pour antifreeze in them but I just blow them out.

The water pressure gauge was mention, but you will probably want to blow the speedometer hose out also. I would leave the hoses off both until the next time you use them so the gauges will drain. Just don't forget or you might get peed when you use it.