We hope that you had a good boating season and that the boating bumps were not to harsh along the road, as we very well know they can be. Boating should be enjoyable and relaxing, to enjoy what life’s little pleasures has to bring.

Well folks we’re sorry to say that the boating season in our part of the country is very quickly coming to an end. You should really consider having your boat and motor winterized by a professional company if you are not sure how to do it yourself.

Today we are going to look at winterizing your outboard.

When considering winterizing your outboard you will need to buy a few things depending if you have a 4 stroke outboard or a 2 stroke outboard.

Things to buy before you start; grease (preferably water proof grease), gear oil (good grade gear oil), motor oil (if you have a 4 stroke), fogging oil, fuel conditioner and anti-corrosion spray (rust inhibitor), and gaskets for the gear oil screws.

You will also need a set of ear muffs and/or a barrel to run the outboard in.

You will want to grease everywhere there is access to greasing on the outboard to keep it from seizing up over the long winter months or storage period.

First ;
You want to add the fuel conditioner in your gas to run the motor while winterizing your motor. You want to read what it says on the fuel conditioner bottle to know what amount you want to put in the fuel.

Second ;
Gear oil for both types of motors is the oil that goes in the gear housing at the propeller. Make sure you always empty the lower unit oil at the end of each season to check for water in the gears. If there is water in the gear case over the winter it can freeze and crack you gear case. This will result in a big expense that you would rather want to stay way from. The other problem that you might have, even if you keep your motor in a warm place, if water does get into the gear-case during the summer period; is rusted gears over a long period of time.

To empty the gear case there will be 2 screws you will want to undo, one at the top (sometimes you will have 2 at the top they are vent screws) and one at the bottom, if you don’t take the 2 screws (bottom and top) out, all the oil will not be drained out of the gear case. To fill the gear case back up you will need to introduce the oil from the bottom of the gear case until you see the oil coming out of the top screw. You should also change the gaskets that are on the oil screws to avoid problems (water infiltration at those areas).

Third ;
You want to do the fogging of the motor. Never run your motor out of the water at any time!!! It take 15 seconds to burn your impeller. “You should also read the instructions on the storage oil can.” Run the motor for 10, 15 minutes to warm it up (this will also help to change the oil in a 4 stroke motor, warm oil flows better). Then unplug the fuel line let run until it starts to run out of gas, at this point you start spraying oil into the carburetor (if there are more than one carburetor spray a little in each carb.) until the engine starts to smoke a lot. At this point let the motor die on its own. You will to have access to the carburetor to do this technique. So you will have to take the air breather of the carburetor. You are done for the fogging part.

You should change the oil for your 4 stroke engine (in the block). A 4 stroke engine is like a car engine it has oil inside the motor that lubricates the inside gears of your motor. The oil looses its viscosity over time because of heat and wear of the motor. Because of the weather changes there will be moisture that will be created inside the motor. This is why you want to change the oil in the motor.

Fourth ;
You should spray the motor (the block) with anti corrosion spay. This will help prevent mechanical parts on the motor to stay lubricated and avoid rust from settling in.

PS; You should consider changing your impeller every 2 to 3 years to make sure the your motor always runs at the proper temperature.

On this page “Putting your boat away for the winter” you will find interesting tips on putting your boat to bed for the winter.

We hope that this was helpful and that we will have the opportunity to help you in the coming summer season. Happy winter and everything else that comes with it. Thank you for reading our post.

Today we are talking about the importance of “Anti-Fouling” paints.

Depending on if you leave your boat in the water for the summer you should consider anti-fouling paint or you can decide to take your boat out of the water every 2 to 3 weeks to clean it with bottom cleaner. If you decide to put your boat in the water without anti-fouling paint, after 2 to 3 weeks the under neat of the boat will start to grow algae, small under water crustaceans start to develop and after a while they are very, very, difficult to remove from under the boat.

Deciding to use bottom cleaner you have to be careful, if it is a galvanized trailer, that you cover your trailer because there is acid in the bottom cleaner product. This acid will eat away at the galvanize on the trailer, after a while your galvanized trailer will start to rust.

If you have a aluminum hull on your boat it is even more important to protect the aluminum, because the aluminum has a small coating to protect the aluminum from corrosion, when algae starts to form it eats away at the protection on the aluminum, it is preferable to protect the aluminum before this starts to develop.

There are different sort of anti-fouling paints;

• You can consider a polishing type paint, meaning that as you use your boat the paint rubs of as the season goes along, this paint is a little more expensive at the beginning but in the long run it is a lot less work because you only have to redo the complete boat every 5 years. Each year you will see where the paint is rubbed off and you only have to do those patches. You want to put 2, coats the first a different color than the one that you want to be shown on the bottom, so that when it does rub on you will see the change.
• From http://www.yachtpaint.com:

“Uses Micron® Technology to provide excellent, long lasting antifouling protection against all types of fouling. Controlled polishing rate reduces build-up of old coatings and minimizes sanding.. Haul and re-launch without repainting. Micron Technology uses less copper more efficiently than old fashioned high copper bottom paints.
• Suitable for all power and sail, in all waters
• Proven performance for over 20 years
• Lloyds Register certified as TBT-free.”

• You can use a self ablative paint, this paint is sort of similar to the polishing paint but it has to be applied more often than the polishing paints. It also rub off during the season when your boat is underway. Reducing the paint build-up that forms with the other paints.
• From http://www.yachtpaint.com:

“ACT uses Ablative Technology to provide excellent season-to-season protection. Ablative Technology enables it to erode away with use and eliminates the build-up of old spent coatings and the heavy sanding needed to remove them. ACT provides excellent protection against all forms of marine fouling in waters with moderate to heavy fouling and can be used in fresh, salt and brackish waters.
• Best value ablative antifouling protection
• Eliminates paint buildup and sanding
• Flexible application schedule, paint in the fall and launch in the spring”

• If you have an aluminum boat you can get what is called “Tri-lux” paint especially formulated for aluminum hull but it is also compatible for fibreglass hulls.
• From http://www.yachtpaint.com:

“A unique copolymer paint specifically formulated for aluminum crafts and related surfaces. It is equally compatible with fiberglass, wood, steel and lead.
• Available in bright colors including white
• Developed for aluminum, compatible with fiberglass
Tri-Lux II is ideal for aluminum outdrive and outboard motor lower units, provided application instructions are followed.”

• You can get regular “Bottomkote” paint, this paint with every year of application make a layer. This layer will grow thicker every time that it is applied. After a while it becomes a very thick layer that you will want to remove because pieces of old anti-fouling paint fall of with its thickness growing every year. But it has it advantages that it can be applied and launched the same day because of its fast drying abilities.
• From http://www.yachtpaint.com:

“Fiberglass Bottomkote is a hard modified epoxy, fast dry antifouling paint with clean stable colors that has been developed to provide effective season-long protection on all power and sailboats. The fast dry formula allows the boat to be painted and launched in the same day. Fiberglass Bottomkote® is recommended for use on the underwater areas of fiberglass, wood, and properly primed metal (except aluminum) boat hulls. It can be used in fresh, salt and brackish waters.
• Proven all purpose antifouling protection.
• Fast dry, paint and launch the same day.
• Overcoats any existing bottompaint.”

• You can get “Botomkote XXX” for those of you that are cost conscientious. It will protect your boat all season long. It also can be applied and launched the same day. It will also build up after a while to the point that you may want to consider removing it.
• From http://www.yachtpaint.com:

“Bottomkote® XXX is specially formulated for the cost concious boat owner requiring a good general purpose antifouling paint.
• Traditional Antifouling Protection for Most Areas
• Soft Eroding Bottom Paint for Cruising Boats
• Fast dry allows recoating between the tides
Particularly suited for fiberglass, wood or steel boats with displacement hulls.”

• Some anti-fouling paint manufactures have also developed a water based anti-fouling paint for those of you that are more environmental conscientious.
You will want to consider putting the anti-fouling paint on before you put your boat in the water for the season.

There is great variety of anti-fouling paints out there you have to do your research to find the one that will suit your needs.

Hope this will help you chose the right paint.

If you are interested you can go to our http://romeosmarine.com/RM-Specials.html page grab the coupon to get a 10% on our anti-fouling paint that we have in stock.

Thank you for reading our blog posts …

Good Day Fellow Boaters;

We’ed like to welcome you to our new blog for Romeo’s Marine

As summer is fast approaching the boating season is soon upon us.

Here we want to discuss how to help get through a trouble free boating season.

The best way to have a trouble free boating season is through preventative maintenance. Make sure that you bring your boat to a shop to have it checked out and get all the winter bugs out of it. Or you can do it your self if you prefer we have a little page on our site that can help you get your boat ready for the summer season. You can check it out at http://www.romeosmarine.com/SPRINGCOMMISSIONING.html on this page there great tips on how to prepare you boat for the water.

Please leave us a comment we would love to hear from you. Tell us whats on your mind.

Thank you for your support and hope to see you on the water this summer.

Michel Leger

http://www.romeosmarine.com