Didn't wiinterize my boat

mlbjs5

I live in Northern New York which has very cold temperatures in the winter. I had the boat stored inside but do not believe it was heated. I had them service the lower unit prior to storage. What do I need to do before I take the boat out? 2013 201 I/O Sundeck sport

omar174

Sorry to say but if it's an inboard/outboard there is a very high likelihood that your motor is toast. If the water inside the motor froze (most likely), if obviously expanded and cracked the water jackets. 

At this point you might as well change the oil, and start it up. Check the oil again after its been running. If its milky white, start shopping for a new engine $$$$$.  

cjjjdeck

Did you store the boat at a Upstate NY dealer?  If so, they absolutely should have drained the engine, especially if they serviced the lower unit.  Servicing the lower unit is appropriate before storage to make sure there is no water leaking into the drive.  They should also have put non-toxic antifreeze (it's pink in color) in your fresh water tank and run it through all the lines.

I would do what omar174 suggests and charge the battery(ies).  Clean out the antifreeze in the fresh water tank by running a few tanks of clean water through all the lines.  On the last water fill add 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of standard household chlorine bleach (non-detergent) to keep the tank fresh and prevent things growing in there.  Make sure all electrical accessories are working properly (bilge pump, blower. navigation lights, stereo (very important!) etc.).

mlbjs5

Thanks for the responses. I had actually had the storage place winterize my boat but it was so long ago I forgot about the winterization part. I am glad that I didn't forget buying an engine would have sucked and I would have been in the dog house for a long time.

omar174

Good to hear you had it winterized! I've seen two boats with I/Os ruined because they weren't winterized. One of them, the guy owed around $25k on it  :-O.