Boating In The Winter

[dulouz]

I was picking the brain of a friend who grew up in Wisconsin and would fish the Mississippi all year long, pushing his boat across the ice to get to the main channel. My question was, how do you keep the water from freezing in the motor. First he said he kept the boat in a headed garage. Secondly (and this is what concerns me) he would run the motor for 7 seconds OUT OF THE WATER do run the water out of it. He says it doesn't hurt the motor. What do you guys think?

[Way2slow]

Not no but hell no!!!. Even a couple of seconds will create tons of heat in the water pump. Seven seconds, I would hate to see what his looks like. Plus it's totally unnecessary, once the intake for the water pump clears the surface, it can't pump. Even the smallest amount of air stops it from pumping. Outboard motors have built in bleed holes that lets all the water drain out if you leave the motor down for a little while. If you are towing it a long distance in below freezing temps after loading it, give it several minutes before you tilt it up to haul, just to be sure it's drained.

[freebie]

Not no but hell no!!!. Even a couple of seconds will create tons of heat in the water pump. Seven seconds, I would hate to see what his looks like. Plus it's totally unnecessary, once the intake for the water pump clears the surface, it can't pump. Even the smallest amount of air stops it from pumping. Outboard motors have built in bleed holes that lets all the water drain out if you leave the motor down for a little while. If you are towing it a long distance in below freezing temps after loading it, give it several minutes before you tilt it up to haul, just to be sure it's drained.

this is correct. outboards are designed to drain when out of the water. I would reccommend leaving it tipped down for a while before trying to trailer. the motor should stay warm long enough to get all the water out before it feezes.

[Jig Man]

I fish all winter long. Here is my routine: 1. load the boat and pull it out of the way, 2. trim the motor down and wait for all of the water to drain while I pack up everything else, 3. tilt the motor up, wait a few seconds and trim it back down so it can drain some more, 4. tilt it up again, wait a few seconds and trim it back down, 5. tilt it up, put on the transom saver and go home.

That may sound like overkill but with the price of a new lower unit I can take an extra 2-3 minutes to keep mine from freezing.

[Al Wolbach]

I too fish all winter and my trailer loading is the same in winter as summer. I do lower the motor to allow water to drain a minute or two. But never run the engine without water, ever.

The only freezing problem I remember having is the water line that runs from the engine block to the water pressure gauge. The line did not rupture it just moved the needle of the gauge to about 5 lbs instead of zero(when not running) and stayed that way. May have just been water trapped in the gauge, not sure. I ran it a couple of years that way and it just ran 5 lbs more water pressure all the time before I replaced the gauge...............Al

Came back to add. I have also had water freeze in the threads of the drain plug which had to be cleared prior to installing the plug and launching.