De-winterizing your boat

[Jon in VA]

Hey fellas, my boats been kept in a garage since October and hasn't been touched. What do I need to do to be ready to get back on the water?

[Siebert Outdoors]

check the connections, charge the batts.  Check all the mechanics like trim, horn, lights and tire pressure.

Hope you used sta bil or something similiar.

Put it in the lake and bring us some pictures of fish. 8-)

[Brian B]

One thing that I think is often overlooked is the trailer.  Check your lights and brakes.  Check the tire pressure and see if they are in good shape.  Re-pack your bearings and grease the heck out of them.  One way to have a disappointng first day of the spring is to not even be able to get the boat to the water.

[ww2farmer]

MAKE SURE THE MOTOR STARTS AND RUNS WHILE STILL ON THE TRAILER!!!!!

Either with a set of muffs and hose at home, or back down the ramp with the boat still attached far enough to get the motor in the water and try it. I have seen and waited for more than my fair share of idiots who launch the boat, go park the truck/trailer only to find the boat won't start. They always claim "it started just fine last summer". Probably because I launch 100+ times a season, but I have no tolerance for boat launch retards.......occasional or unforseen problems are one thing, they happen to every one, but man............not making sure the boat starts on day one out of storage is tops in the dum bass catagory

[Hot Rod]

Posted by: ww2farmer Posted on: Yesterday at 4:23pm

MAKE SURE THE MOTOR STARTS AND RUNS WHILE STILL ON THE TRAILER!!!!!

Amen!!!

Nothing worse than waiting for some inconsiderate person to move.  I had a guy last spring take his cowling off his 1976 motor and work on it right in the middle of the launch on a single lane ramp with about a half dozen boats wating to launch or load boats  >

Also I think there was pre-season checklist here under the article section.