I've recently got a new boat with Mercruiser 3.0L and Alpha One sterndrive. The engine has now only 14 hours: I'm a low-mileage weekend boater, so please take it into consideration when answering my questions.
I live in WI and would like to winterize my boat (it'll spend winter in my non-heated garage). Since I have no experience with I/Os (I used outboards before), I'd like to make sure that I'm doing things right, yet not excessively. I guess my goal is to hear suggestions based on real life experience rather than strictly on the books.
Here is a list of the questions that still remain after reading the service manuals and multiple Internet resources:
1. Do I really need to remove the sterndrive every year to winterize my boat? How often would you say the U-joint shaft splines and cross bearings need to be lubricated/ how often engine alignment needs to be checked?
How often do you and your friends do it? How long is your experience with sterndrives?
2. What's the proper procedure to lubricate gimbal bearing? I know where the fitting is, but I don't know how to do it (how many pumps, etc.)How often it shall be done in real life? How often do you do it?
3. Is it really necessary to use antifreeze in my climate? What do you think about leaving it in over the winter vs. flashing with it and draining?
4. Is it necessary to lubricate the prop shaft every year?
5. How do you judge if the prop has a serious enough damage to warrant its refinishing? Where do you do it and how much does it cost (I have the basic aluminum prop that came with the boat)?
6. When you fog the engine with a spray, how long do you do it, and much liguid gets spent? The manuals suggest about 10oz of the fogging oil. Do you really use the full can or 10sec or so of spraying is enough?
P.S. Please don't tell me to fog till the engine shuts down. If I spray gently, the motor will run forever; yet it's easy for me to stall it at any time by slight increase of spray.
7. I'm thinking about leaving the battery in the boat and attaching a float charger through the cigarette lighter jack. The charger heats significantly, and I wouldn't like to keep it on constantly. So I decided to put it on a timer. In your opinion, how many times a week and for how long the charger should be on?
Thank you!
I live in WI and would like to winterize my boat (it'll spend winter in my non-heated garage). Since I have no experience with I/Os (I used outboards before), I'd like to make sure that I'm doing things right, yet not excessively. I guess my goal is to hear suggestions based on real life experience rather than strictly on the books.
Here is a list of the questions that still remain after reading the service manuals and multiple Internet resources:
1. Do I really need to remove the sterndrive every year to winterize my boat? How often would you say the U-joint shaft splines and cross bearings need to be lubricated/ how often engine alignment needs to be checked?
How often do you and your friends do it? How long is your experience with sterndrives?
2. What's the proper procedure to lubricate gimbal bearing? I know where the fitting is, but I don't know how to do it (how many pumps, etc.)How often it shall be done in real life? How often do you do it?
3. Is it really necessary to use antifreeze in my climate? What do you think about leaving it in over the winter vs. flashing with it and draining?
4. Is it necessary to lubricate the prop shaft every year?
5. How do you judge if the prop has a serious enough damage to warrant its refinishing? Where do you do it and how much does it cost (I have the basic aluminum prop that came with the boat)?
6. When you fog the engine with a spray, how long do you do it, and much liguid gets spent? The manuals suggest about 10oz of the fogging oil. Do you really use the full can or 10sec or so of spraying is enough?
P.S. Please don't tell me to fog till the engine shuts down. If I spray gently, the motor will run forever; yet it's easy for me to stall it at any time by slight increase of spray.
7. I'm thinking about leaving the battery in the boat and attaching a float charger through the cigarette lighter jack. The charger heats significantly, and I wouldn't like to keep it on constantly. So I decided to put it on a timer. In your opinion, how many times a week and for how long the charger should be on?
Thank you!