Winterize Your Boat for a Trouble-Free Spring with Sierra Marine

When you put your boat in the water next spring, the last thing you want is trouble due to poor  winterization and storage this fall.

Here are some of the most common maintenance issues the experts at Sierra Marine have seen—and the products to fix them.

Ethanol Fuel
Running E10 or other ethanol-blend fuel in your boat’s engine is fine. Two things you need to keep in mind—ethanol loves to absorb corrosion-causing water and does a great job at scrubbing fuel lines clean, which releases particles that can choke carburetors and fuel injectors.

Here are a couple of things you can do to prevent those issues:
Add a Sierra Marine Fuel Water Separator Kit. It will keep water out of the fuel and can filter out particles as small as 10 microns. The filters flow 90 gph so you won’t starve your engine of gas.

Add Sierra Marine eGuard Ethanol Treatment. It stabilizes E10 gasoline for up to 12 months, has a non-alcohol water remover to prevent fuel system corrosion, and prevents gum and varnish from forming. 

Water in the Sterndrive/Lower Unit
Water can sneak into your inboard/outboard motor’s sterndrive or outboard motor’s lower unit during boating season. It can mix with the gear oil, reducing its ability to lubricate components and promoting rust and corrosion. If your gear oil is milky or discolored, you have a water intrusion issue. If you don’t get rid of that water during winter storage, it can expand in cold weather and crack the gear case, causing money to fly out of your wallet.

That’s why inspection is so important before storing your boat. If you have water intrusion, check for leaking prop shaft seals (thanks, tangled fishing line), drain plug gaskets, and drain taps. Summit Racing has Sierra Marine drain plug gaskets, drain taps, and outdrive gaskets and oil seals to fix what’s leaking.

Once the sterndrive/lower unit is watertight, drain that waterlogged gear oil and refill it with the proper gear oil. Summit Racing carries Sierra Marine dinosaur-based and synthetic gear oil that will keep components lubricated and reduce friction.

Cooling System
Both inboard/outboard engines and outboard motors have water pumps. And like any water pump, they can suffer from corrosion and leaks that can lead to failure and overheating. Before storing your boat for the winter, inspect that water pump and either rebuild or replace it.

Summit Racing has Sierra Marine circulating water pumps for GM, Ford, and Chrysler-based I/O engines. The pump have new powdercoated castings and feature bi-directional brass impellers, brass plugs and fittings, a stainless steel seal cup and spring, and a stainless steel backplate (most applications).

Summit Racing also has Sierra Marine water pump impellers and impeller kits for Mercury Marine, Johnson/Evinrude, Yamaha, and other outboard motors. The kits include a new impeller, gaskets and seals, and housing to make that pump as good as new.

Summit Racing carries a big selection of Sierra Marine maintenance items including these:
• Hoses for fuel, engine cooling, water/exhaust, bilge, and other systems
• Power steering fluid for Volvo Penta hydraulic steering and power trim systems
• Shift cables and cable kits for Mercury Marine Mercruiser including Alpha and Bravo
• Accessory drive serpentine and V-belts
• Electrical switches
• Thermostats

Sierra Marine has a very thorough winterization guide on their website. Follow it and you’ll be a very happy skipper come next year’s boating season.

CHECK OUT SIERRA MARINE MAINTENANCE, REPAIR, AND UPGRADE PRODUCTS