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RE: Winterize in Nor Cal???
I am sure there are tons of good reasons to winterize but I (nor my father) have never once winterized a boat in the last 36 years living with boats in the east bay (Nautiques since 1973). Last cold winter we had I did some temperature logging and came to the conclusion that I would not worry about freezing until the AVERAGE 24 hour temperature dropped below 25 degrees. I put AVERAGE in all caps because the temperature dropped down into the teens several times but came back up into the upper 30's and the motor compartment did not get get below 30 degrees under the hatch. I do not know anybody in the area who gives freezing a second thought when they keep their boats inside a garage.
My winter ritual is to start the boat once running off the garden hose on Xmas or new years. I let it run for 20 minutes or so just to boil any condensation out of the motor and fill all the tracts back up with lubricant. As a side note my 211 has never even needed a jump start or battery charge after sitting for 2-3 months. I also store my boat with a full tank of gas. Just don't push it first time out in the spring as the gas will have lost a little firepower from sitting for 4-5 months.
I am sure there are tons of good reasons to winterize but I (nor my father) have never once winterized a boat in the last 36 years living with boats in the east bay (Nautiques since 1973). Last cold winter we had I did some temperature logging and came to the conclusion that I would not worry about freezing until the AVERAGE 24 hour temperature dropped below 25 degrees. I put AVERAGE in all caps because the temperature dropped down into the teens several times but came back up into the upper 30's and the motor compartment did not get get below 30 degrees under the hatch. I do not know anybody in the area who gives freezing a second thought when they keep their boats inside a garage.
My winter ritual is to start the boat once running off the garden hose on Xmas or new years. I let it run for 20 minutes or so just to boil any condensation out of the motor and fill all the tracts back up with lubricant. As a side note my 211 has never even needed a jump start or battery charge after sitting for 2-3 months. I also store my boat with a full tank of gas. Just don't push it first time out in the spring as the gas will have lost a little firepower from sitting for 4-5 months.
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