Winterizing Your Boat: Part Four

In an early post in this series I said to drain all of the fuel from the tank. This is a necessary procedure, but there are two schools of thought when it comes to what to do after this process. Some manufacturers say to disconnect the fuel hose and run the engine until all of the fuel is gone and leave the boat in that condition for storage. Others say to refill the tank with fuel and add a fuel treatment product to prevent condensation from building in the tank.

If you take the latter route, you will obviously want to make sure you add the proper ratio of outboard motor oil as well. The best way to determine which method to employ is simply to consult your owner’s manual. During the process of preparing the fuel tank, however, you will always want to change the fuel filters and the water separators.