I'm new to boating...so if this is a dumb question please forgive me.

I bought my boat 2 weeks ago. 84 McKee Craft with 115 hp Yamaha.
Boat is stored in my garage.

Before pulling it out of the garage today, I went to raise the motor.
It whined for about 5 - 10 seconds before anything actually moved.
Seemed a little stiff at first, and then moved up and down as normal.

After washing the boat all day, I went to raise it again and it was
again slow to resopnd.

I'm wondering if this is attributable to:

1) cold weather: about 50 degrees
2) sitting for a while
3) possible low battery power - I need to charge the batteries
4) some bigger problem?