In my opinion, putting Stabil in the fuel is a good idea then run the engine
on the earmuffs long enough to get the fuel circulated into all parts of the
system. I'd also check the lower unit oil to be certain it is at the right
level and has not got any water in it. Monofilament fishing line around a
prop shaft is death to the seals. A frozen and cracked lower unit is an
very expensive replacement item.

My only concern about storage in a warm garage is the threat of a power
failure, and the resulting damage if the outage last very long. I live
rural and we are the last to get power restored, it has been out for over 2
weeks at a spell.

Obviously fogging the engine is just added protection but unless there is a
VERY humid environment, over the winter should be of no concern.

From the "For what it's worth Dept"!

Don Dando




"ran007" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hey guys, I recently bought a fun little Sea Ray 180 with the i/o Merc
130 - I only put about 5 hours on it so far. I've got a question about
winterizing. Would you suppose it would be better to take it to the
Merc dealer and have them stabilize the fuel, fog the engine, drain the
block, etc... or could I just pull it out of the garage every two
weeks, crank it up and let it run for 5 or 10 minutes out of the water?

And if it's better to run it every other week or so, what's the best
method to keeping the engine cooled? Direct connection, or the ear
muffs? I have the earmuffs. I put them on turned on the hose and ran
it yesterday for about 10 minutes. Seemed to run fine, but the temp
guage would sit at around 180 degrees.

I'm not scared to do it myself, but I just trying to find good advice
on the best way to run it out of the water, if I can and if it won't
damage the boat. I mean, will the water damage the motor if the engine
isn't on? Am I asking too many questions in one post?

Thanks for all of your help in advance!!