Winterizing a 90 HP 4 Stroke Merc outboard and boat

[AKIQPilot]

1 hour ago, irv said:

LOL. I am the opposite. This will be my first year in 14 yrs that I haven't shrunk wrap it nor paid others to do the mtce work and store it. I figure this year I should save approximately $400-$500 dollars by doing everything myself.

With the selling marina 11 km's away from our summer trailer, I just had them do it year after year but with me being retired now and the amount they charged me last year, it's a no brainer for me to do it myself. 

For the first 3 yrs, while under warranty, it made sense, and comparing to what other friends were paying for winterization/storage, I couldn't go wrong. I was, on average, paying about $450 a year. Those friends were paying double that, which I found hard to believe, but I verified it by calling them. I thought $450 was bad but when the guy told me $800 for my boat, I just stuck with the marina I purchased it at.

Last year, after doing the regular, plus changing the plugs and replacing a trim/tilt solenoid that had gone bad, they charged me $750! They upgraded my engine oil to semi syn and charged me an extra $60 just for that. After last years bill and knowing I was retiring this year, I said no more, I'll do everything from here on out. 

I got a quote of $13 per foot from the marina to shrink wrap my toon.  That works out to $280.  After thinking about it a little I may do it on my own.  There are several youtube videos out there that show how easy it is.  I can buy a roll of 16' wide, 7mil material for about $1 per foot.  I already have a decent torch that will work perfect.  

I've always done the rest of the winter prep myself but thought I would have the marina do the shrink wrap.  After seeing how easy it is I will probably order the material and do it myself.  Being semi-unemployed I have to watch where I spend the few bucks I have.  If it works out I may offer to do my buddies boats for a couple of $$$ per foot.  

Edited September 11, 2019 by AKIQPilot

[smokin george]

17 minutes ago, AKIQPilot said:

I got a quote of $13 per foot from the marina to shrink wrap my toon.  That works out to $280.  After thinking about it a little I may do it on my own.  There are several youtube videos out there that show how easy it is.  I can but a roll of 16' wide, 7mil material for about $1 per foot.  I already have a decent torch that will work perfect.  

I've always done the rest of the winter prep myself but thought I would have the marina do the shrink wrap.  After seeing how easy it is I will probably order the material and do it myself.  Being semi-unemployed I have to watch where I spend the few bucks I have.  If it works out I may offer to do my buddies boats for a couple of $$$ per foot.  

We bought the Navigloo last year for $400 and it worked pretty slick. T he boat was completely dry inside and easy to install and reuseable

[AKIQPilot]

2 minutes ago, smokin george said:

We bought the Navigloo last year for $400 and it worked pretty slick. T he boat was completely dry inside and easy to install and reuseable

Looks good George.  I plan to build something similar out of 3/4" EMT conduit.  My nephew is an electrician and he dropped off the bundle of conduit today.  A pontoon boat is relatively square so building an overstructure should prove to be relatively simple.  

[ArcticCrusher]

11 minutes ago, smokin george said:

We bought the Navigloo last year for $400 and it worked pretty slick. T he boat was completely dry inside and easy to install and reuseable

Looks good George.

[irv]

27 minutes ago, AKIQPilot said:

I got a quote of $13 per foot from the marina to shrink wrap my toon.  That works out to $280.  After thinking about it a little I may do it on my own.  There are several youtube videos out there that show how easy it is.  I can but a roll of 16' wide, 7mil material for about $1 per foot.  I already have a decent torch that will work perfect.  

I've always done the rest of the winter prep myself but thought I would have the marina do the shrink wrap.  After seeing how easy it is I will probably order the material and do it myself.  Being semi-unemployed I have to watch where I spend the few bucks I have.  If it works out I may offer to do my buddies boats for a couple of $$$ per foot.  

Up here and local to a place I was going to store it at, (if I didn't get indoor storage this year) was charging $17 bucks a foot. The marina installed shrink wrap, that was done by a mobile guy, was a top shelf job, imo. I have no idea what he charged the marina but I am sure it was much cheaper as I believe he likely shrunk wrapped about 300+ boats for them every fall.

He used cut 2 x 4's with plastic pads specially made for 2 x 4's (looked like 4 leaf clovers) and place one in the front and 2 in the back. I know this as a previous employee there allowed me to take the boat like this in the fall so I was able to check out his handy work as I unwrapped the boat myself. He would place a yellow corded rope around the perimeter of the boat/shrink wrap then just tie it off tightly then melt the rope together at the back of the boat/engine. I hated him doing the melting but it was likely necessary so it wouldn't come undone but once the rope was cut, the shrink wrap couldn't be reused again. I always wondered if that was the real reason?

 

5 minutes ago, smokin george said:

We bought the Navigloo last year for $400 and it worked pretty slick. T he boat was completely dry inside and easy to install and reuseable

I was going to buy/build something similar George if I didn't go the shrink warp route. At my bud's place where I was going to store it, he just tarps the boats in and tucks them behind his shop. I was a little leery of doing that only as it gets pretty breezy at his place but he says he hasn't had a problem yet.

Personally, I'm real glad, and lucky, that I got indoor storage this year. No need to worry about shrink wrap, the wind or the other elements being inside but I honestly don't know how long this will be an option? Hopefully, if everything goes well this year, I'll be able to use this for years to come?

On a side note, how is the water level up your way? Most in my neck of the woods are all talking about how low the water is. Belmont, Cordova, Round and of course Crowe to name a few.

[smokin george]

The water level is prettywell normal up here. 

[Big Crappie]

1 hour ago, AKIQPilot said:

I got a quote of $13 per foot from the marina to shrink wrap my toon.  That works out to $280.  After thinking about it a little I may do it on my own.  There are several youtube videos out there that show how easy it is.  I can buy a roll of 16' wide, 7mil material for about $1 per foot.  I already have a decent torch that will work perfect.  

I've always done the rest of the winter prep myself but thought I would have the marina do the shrink wrap.  After seeing how easy it is I will probably order the material and do it myself.  Being semi-unemployed I have to watch where I spend the few bucks I have.  If it works out I may offer to do my buddies boats for a couple of $$$ per foot.  

It doesn't have to be that hard Tom..............Aframe built with 2x4s, basically a big saw horse and a heavy duty black poly tarp. I've used that same tarp for 7 years.

 

[AKIQPilot]

Just now, Big Crappie said:

It doesn't have to be that hard Tom..............Aframe built with 2x4s, basically a big saw horse and a heavy duty black poly tarp. I've used that same tarp for 7 years.

 

You're right, it doesn't have to be that hard.  A good tarp is pretty spendy these days.  Almost $3/ft for a medium duty tarp.  The framework costs the same regardless of whether you use 7mm film or a tarp.  I'm gonna try the shrink wrap method this year and see how it goes.  I will probably have about $50 into the whole thing including the framework.  I may end up covering the whole thing with a tarp on top of the shrink wrap just to keep tree limbs and such from poking a hole through the film.  I'm getting my plan together right now.  

[irv]

1 hour ago, smokin george said:

The water level is prettywell normal up here. 

I don't get it? Lake Ontario is still high and they don't want the water yet twice now this year Crowe and others have been way low. Like our park owners says, who has been on Crowe her entire life (she is almost 60) it is bad water management and nothing else. 

She and others complained earlier this summer so they held more back/put another log in and it came back up in a short period. This time, however, it just keeps getting lower and lower. 

[Reevester]

9 hours ago, irv said:

No choice this year, Reevester as the water is way too low to continue using it. I am not sure if its more flooding they are worried about but letting water out this early is just bad water management. Prior years, which most are aware of, once Thanksgiving comes around, that is when it's time to remove boats from the water but they jumped the gun this year by at least 6 weeks.

On Thursday, when I went to my trailer, I was hoping to burn a bit of fuel and keep it in until at least Sunday/Monday but when I arrived and seen they let even more out compared to the previous weekend, despite getting some decent rain, I had no choice but to pull it then and there. 

In order to get my boat off the lift, I had to stand on the dock and physically push my boat off the lift. I tried from inside the boat and it was a no go as I added too much weight to get it off the lift.

In the 1st pic, that was taken Thursday after I pulled my boat. The next was on Sunday after a decent rain/storm came through and the water level was down another inch at least. The water is normally, easily, half way up those rocks/shore and quite often above that mark. I don't recall, in 14 yrs, the water ever being this low this early.

Ahh that's shitty. What lake? Simcoe is getting a bit low but not to bad.

[irv]

1 hour ago, Reevester said:

Ahh that's shitty. What lake? Simcoe is getting a bit low but not to bad.

Crowe, in Marmora ON. Reevster.

[irv]

Well, due to the weather and not wanting to take a chance, no oil change yet but I decided to compound and wax my engine as it had gotten pretty scuffed up over the years from the shrink wrap likely buffeting/rubbing in the wind and where they tie the rope off at the back.

I used Meguiar's Ultimate compound by hand on a small wax/polish pad and went at it. Surprisingly, not an over abundance of work was needed to remove years of damage. After I was done, I gave it a quick wash/dry and applied my favorite go to wax in Collinite 845 Insulator wax and, imo, it turned out great. 

In hindsight, I could have done the oil/filter change as it never did rain but I am also glad I got this done as well.

 

 

[AKIQPilot]

21 minutes ago, irv said:

Well, due to the weather and not wanting to take a chance, no oil change yet but I decided to compound and wax my engine as it had gotten pretty scuffed up over the years from the shrink wrap likely buffeting/rubbing in the wind and where they tie the rope off at the back.

I used Meguiar's Ultimate compound by hand on a small wax/polish pad and went at it. Surprisingly, not an over abundance of work was needed to remove years of damage. After I was done, I gave it a quick wash/dry and applied my favorite go to wax in Collinite 845 Insulator wax and, imo, it turned out great. 

In hindsight, I could have done the oil/filter change as it never did rain but I am also glad I got this done as well.

 

 

Wow, that thing looks good.  

[awful knawful]

On 9/10/2019 at 11:00 PM, smokin george said:

The water level is prettywell normal up here. 

The small run was dug out by my bud, it feeds the pumphouse to the mill i work at.

That's my dock. My boat is the outter one.

Been a bad year. Water levels are low.

[awful knawful]

High tide. 

I took it out 5 days ago.