How To Winterize A Boat

For many of us, fall marks the time we get our boat ready for the long cold winter.

Winterizing a boat is not a complicated task. First, make sure to remove anything in your boat that could freeze and store it in a warm place. Don’t forget items like the suntan lotion and the half empty bottle of water that ended up in your storage compartment. Also make sure you haven’t stowed food items anywhere in the boat; an old Snickers bar or sandwich could invite a visit from a member of the rodent family that might decide your boat is a fine place to stay and rear its young.

Fogging your engine is necessary, and I like to change my lower unit oil and put in a new set of spark plugs for the upcoming year. I make sure that all my live wells are drained and that the bilge area is free from any water. If you don’t store the boat inside, you should tarp the boat down and find a secure spot in the backyard for it.

Two most overlooked parts of the boat are the battery and the trailer. On the trailer, the first thing I check are the connections. Does the trailer rest on the hitch ball correctly? Can the safety chains be crossed and do they have any weak links? What conditions are the electrical connections in?

Then I go along the frame of the trailer and check to see that the boat is resting on the keel rollers or skid plates. I inspect the winch and strap to see if they are in need of repair. Finally, I spend a great deal of time on the tire and axle area. If my trailer is sitting outside all winter I want to make an inspection of the tires, checking to see if they are weather checked or if they need inflation.

The most important items on a trailer to check and maintain are the bearings, the leading cause of trailer breakdowns. If you have bearing buddies installed on your trailer, you have an advantage; you can easily use a grease gun and check to see if the bearings are properly lubricated. If you don’t have the spring loaded device, you have to remove the dust cover and check the amount of grease on your bearings. A word of caution: make sure that you get your dust covers back on properly and don’t smash the bearings as you reattach the cover.

Don’t forget to check out your lights on the trailer. Check brake lights, signal lights, and the brightness of the lights. By the way, it pays to unplug those lights when you arrive at the lake; most new trailers have the lights sealed, but they do get cracks in the housing and if you get a cold blast of water on a hot bulb, the bulb can break.

Yet another area that is overlooked are the batteries. Remove the batteries, recharge them, and store them in a cool, dry place. If the old batteries don’t hold a charge, dispose of them properly and be prepared to replace them in the spring.

If you are interested in batteries that you can leave in the boat all winter, you might want to check out a new battery on the market called Trolling Thunder. I contacted the makers of this new battery–Hawker Energy Products in Warrensburg, Missouri– and talked with Dwayne Dady about it.

Dady explained that conventional batteries are referred to as “flooded batteries.” These batteries contain plates made mostly of lead that are surrounded by an electrolyte with sulfuric acid as its main ingredient. Batteries produce power as the acid leaves the electrolyte and enters the plates.

The plates are coated with an active paste-like material that does most of the work. When all of the acid in the electrolyte has entered the plates, power production stops. The battery must go through a recharging process that forces the acid out of the plates back into the electrolyte before it can produce power again.

The difference between the “flooded batteries” and Trolling Thunder batteries is that the Trolling Thunder batteries are an absorbed glass matt or AGM battery. According to Dady, these batteries use 99.9 percent pure virgin lead and medical-grade acid. Conventional batteries use lead alimony which contains impurities and this lessens the life of the battery. The other difference is when you take a flooded 105-amp battery and draw it down below 10 volts it is considered 100 percent discharged. When you recharge that battery you will smell the battery acid as it is being vented. This venting actually decreases the life of the battery.

Trolling Thunder batteries have internal vents and will not allow dangerous gases to build inside the case. The conventional battery will loose about 40 percent of its amps after anywhere from 1 to 10 charges. This means that the 105-amp battery can quickly become a 40-amp battery. With the AGM batteries there is no loss due to venting. The AGM batteries will last three to four times longer, and they weigh less because they don’t have to have all the extra electrolyte.

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