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starting my boat after 2 years??

D

Dan Heerts

New member
Hey guys. My first post here. I have been serving overseas for the last 2 years now, and finally returned stateside. My wife and I own a 1990 4 Winns 170 Freedom...in which I put a brand new OMC Cobra engine in about 5 years ago, and the engine has about 20 hours on now. (yeah not alot)....anyway...before I left 2 years ago, I had the boat professionally winterized and put the covers on it, and parked it in a buddies pole shed, and that is where it has sat now until I pulled it out today.

I charged up the battery, and am ready to fire it up..BUT.....just wanted to check to see if there is ANYTHING I should do before I fire it back up?

Any advice, tips, etc from you guys would be great.

Thanks much
Dan
 
Check oil , fresh gas , drive oils , air filter clean , no critters moved in. make sure in water or hose with muffs. Turn water on , cross fingers , turn key
 
Dan, first and formost, if this is raw water cooled, look closely to see if the block/heads were properly drained during the winterizing.
Next..... look to see if the exhaust manifolds were properly drained.

I've seen this too many times where the mechanic did not probe the block drain ports to free them from rust scale.
I just replaced a SBC Marine engine that had been quote> "winterized by a marine mechanic" <unquote.
This engine had 97 original hours on it!
Unfortunately, this boat was stored for 3 years before the owner decided to have me prep it for the season.
This alleged "marine mechanic" used the "single point" drain system, and did not remove all sea water from the engine. :mad:

Don't mean to sound Doom and Gloom.... just a suggestion that may save you some time should you find any cracks.
Hopefully you are OK.


Fuel would be next.
If this old fuel underwent any hot weather, it's likely bad by now.
If not.... you may be able to salvage it by adding to it, the highest octane rated fuel that you can find.... and with ZERO E10 content.


Sea Water pump impeller:
IMO, proper winterizing should NOT have included a sea water pump impeller replacement.
Now is the time to install a new fresh impeller.... not during winter lay up.

Other than those... if carbureted.... prime the carburetor fuel bowl prior to start up.
Proper winterizing should have included a new fuel filter, stabilized fuel, oil change, engine cylinder fogging, etc.

Good luck and have fun. :D



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Thanks for the reply. Rick, to answer your question...this is a great marine mechanic. it's actually 3 guys that run the business called "Team Marine" and They are probably one of the most popular local marine mechanic shops in the area if "you want it done right"....He has winterized my boat now for me going on 10 years. Never had a problem. He changes filters, oil, fogs engine, and disconnects battery etc. in his winterizing process. In my book, they do it right!

I think I'll check the oil, look everything over good, drain the old gas and start with fresh.
The boat is a 1990 Four Winns 10 Freedom..the cooling is a raw water system. Maybe I'll check the impeller just in case as well.

Otherwise, I do have muffs, and can hook it up to the hose, to fire it up.

Dan
 
Dan Heerts said:
Rick, to answer your question...this is a great marine mechanic. it's actually 3 guys that run the business called "Team Marine" and They are probably one of the most popular local marine mechanic shops in the area if "you want it done right"....He has winterized my boat now for me going on 10 years. Never had a problem. He changes filters, oil, fogs engine, and disconnects battery etc. in his winterizing process. In my book, they do it right!
Click to expand...
OK.... then my next question is........ why are you asking here on this forum?
I mean that honestly.... w/ no sarcasm... and w/ no ill intent.



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Rick

I just wasn't sure what I needed to do (if anything) after my boat setting, winterized, the last two years. I didn't want to just start it up and ruin something.

Dan
 
Fair enough.

I'd certainly replace the sea water pump impeller.
Sitting at rest within the pump body, especially after two years, takes it's tole on them.


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Welcome aboard !

First welcome home and thank you for your service, all i got when i return from " out of country " was spit on.

Me i would suck all the fuel and gunk off the bottom of the tank and fill it fresh fuel.

Then i would put water to the drive and start her up.

It will be hard to start at first.

Me i would have run the carb dry for a long lay up some don't.

I copied and pasted a tip:

Post back i'll keep a eye out for your reply to see what happens.

How you running it ?

This is how i run a carbed motor. Cold i pump the throttle 2-3 times leave the throttle down 1/3 of the way and crank it. It starts i leave the throttle alone should run at about 1000-1500 rpm. Choke opens you hear the motor change, put the throttle in neutral for another minute or 2.

Then i slowly give throttle till i'm at say 300-3500 rpm i run 2/3 wot.

I want to stop i slowly back off the throttle till i come to a stop put throttle in neutral and aloow the motor to run at least 4-5 minutes at idle.

Shut off motor. Say i want to start after 30 minutes i try it in neutral no pumping nothing, crank it should start.

No start then a pump or 2 and back into neutral and crank no start then it's 1/3 down the thottle as a cold start.

Why i just write all this cause the idle at warm up and idle before shut down
 
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with all do respect Master don't you think 3500 is a tad high? I would only take it to 1000 to 1200 but not much more than that for the first time. Make sure you have water flow.
 
On the water under power ?

No i don't think so.. i didn't post to take it to wot.

However it would be a good idea on the way in to take it to wot see if recommended wot reach's recommended rpm.

Why i say on the way in less fuel i like to have the tank half full and one other person onboard.
 
My two cents again.

Check the condition of the fuel before you drain it off. If this fuel did not sit through two hot summers, it may be OK. And if it was stabilized properly, your chances are even better of it being OK.
If it's still OK, and if there is room to add more fuel, add the highest octane rated "No E-10" fuel that you can find.

And most definitely install a new sea water pump impeller before you fire it up. Two years of sitting in the pump body has most definitely taken it's tole on it.

When running on the garden hose and water muffs, you can increase RPM for very short durations.
The warnings that you'll read against doing this, are disclaimers by the OEM.

When we run an engine for the purpose of checking the progressive and total ignition advance, we have to take the RPM up to approx 3,500 in order to check/test it.
If we couldn't do this..... we would not be able to check the progressive and total ignition advance.
Key words....... "short durations".
Just make darn sure that the muffs are secure, the garden hose is supported, and the water volume is more than what the engine requires, and more than what the drive can pull in.

You'll be just fine.


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One more thing.

How much old fuel are we talking about?
Are we talking about 30 gallons, or are we talking about 60 gallons?

How much space in the fuel tank above the existing fuel?
IOW, by adding more fuel, would you be able to dilute the existing fuel by 50% or so.
Or would the dilution be much less than that?

Conversely, if there's only 20 gallons of existing fuel, this would be easy to siphon out.
Remove your anti-siphon valve, install a barbed fitting in it's place, and siphon via this fitting.

Also, 20 gallons in a 60 gallon fuel tank (exmaple only) would be very easy to dilute, and at a greater than 50% dilution ratio.... of which would be in your favor.


It's my understanding that old gasoline fuel looses it's octane value, of which is the main concern for Marine engine loads.
Add to this how warm it became during being stored, and the octane value has diminished even further.
The burn value is still there, but the lower octane value can cause detonation issues..... and we don't dare allow our Marine gassers to undergo detonation!

Also, it doesn't necessarily mean that the old fuel has become particle contaminated, any more than fresh fuel would have.
It's more so the chemical break down that reduces the octane value.




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