"Shakeel" wrote in message
om...




1. I plan on doing some fishing in the winter months. If I use my boat in
the lake, lets say once every month in winter here, do I still need to
winterize my boat ?\

There are two parts to "winterizing". One is to protect against freeze
damage, the other is to treat the motor better during months of inactivity.

It is rare that it gets cold enough around Sacramento to cause freeze
damage, but it does happen (like once every ten years). It will take a
couple of days of the cold spell before freeze damage is likely, so you
could wait until the cold spell was forcast and then do something, either
flush the system, bring the boat into the garage or throw a blanket over the
motor and keep it warm with a light bulb.



2. How long can I go between lake runs before winterizing is needed ?

If you expect to use the boat within a month then I wouldn't bother with the
"inactivity" part of winterizing. The only question is the likelihood of a
freeze.

For the record, I keep my boat in Stockton and I have never winterized the
engine. I know a lot of people in the area who don't even put antifreeze in
their car! There is a risk in not winterizing but it is small.

Rod