Georgia weather is notoriously unpredictable and a boat not winterized when freezing weather sweeps through can be extremely costly. To winterize is to prepare the boat not only from freeze damage but successful off-season storage for a seamless start in the spring.
Please ask your service advisor about the following services. We naturally assume these are not issues, and will only perform these winterization services when necessary at the request of the customer.
Battery lead removal is a service to prevent discharge if no battery tender is going to be left attached.
Upon request our technician will fog the intake manifold. Some people choose to do this while others do not. The primary candidate for this is someone who plans to really let their boat sit for an extended period. A large amount of our customers opt out of this as it can often cause premature spark plug failure. Our service advisor can help with this decision. Click here for more information.
Upon request our technicians can winterize your additional systems. An additional system is something in addition to a boat motor that needs to be winterized. A sink or toilet for instance. A ballast bag that holds water or maybe your ski boat has a heater for cold weather boating. These are susceptible to damage from freezing and need to be winterized. We charge per system since every single boat is unique and a lot of people choose to never utilize their toilets or sinks, etc therefore do not need to be winterized. We do not assume someone wants us to and instead leave it up to the customer what they want done. Click here for more information.
Commonly referred to as “fluids and filters” on a boat. This would include draining and refilling the lower unit fluid with the proper gear oil. In every drive service we replace both the drain and vent seals/gaskets. This is included in the listed price.
If you have an inboard boat (without lower unit) this same price would apply for a transmission/v-drive drain and fill. The filter can be replaced by request only for the additional cost of the filter and time. See your service advisor for details.
Lakeside Marine and Motorsports offers *OEM fluids and filters in every single oil change. If you have a MerCruiser – you get the manufacturer recommended oil and weight from MerCruiser for that specific engine. Got a Volvo Penta? You guessed it – factory Volvo Penta parts and fluids to protect your engine.
*OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer
Lakeside Marine and Motorsports utilizes a two-step winterize method which starts with adding fuel stabilizer to the fuel tank first. We do this because while most service facilities do this right before they leave our method allows the stabilizer to spreading throughout the entire tank as well as get drawn into the fuel line – stabilizing not only the tank itself but the fuel lines, filters, injector rails, injectors, carburetor bowls – the ENTIRE fuel system. After stabilizing the fuel we start and run the engine(s) bringing them up to operating temperature. This ensures the full cooling system is “open” when the antifreeze is added.
We have discovered over the thousands of engines we have winterized that this method also significantly reduces impeller failure on spring start up. When the system is drained and the rubber impellers sit dry for months without moving the sudden cranking of them in the spring often shears blades off instantly causing overheats on the first moments of the first boat ride – not a way we want to start our boating year! We are proud to stand behind our quality work and ensure our winterizations safely protect your boating investment – both your equipment and your families time on the water!
We offer a few different packages here but remember – all our winterizations are done the same. The packages are just some different service packages to some of the most common things performed at the end of the boating season with some savings built in versus getting these done ala carte. If you need further services we would price them as usual and then apply a discount according to the level of service offered.
After the motor reaches operating temperature, our technicians remove all brass plugs, quick drain / blue plugs, quick drains, etc., (whatever style of drain your engine has) and drains the exhaust, block, manifold, etc. of all the “sea water” – meaning as much as possible that could freeze. Every single engine configuration has a “low” spot that will hold at least some water (another reason we only offer one method of winterization) so we re-install all the plugs and flush from the drive / lower unit intake up with antifreeze until the exhaust discharges the tell-tale pink meaning the antifreeze has backfilled the entire cooling system and is now overflowing out meaning the entire system is now protected.
Our winterization should be considered a full, true, or complete winterization. We do not offer any winterizations that offer more or less protection than another. At Lakeside Marine and Motorsports we want everyone to be 100% comfortable with the work performed and rest assured they made the right choice. For starters, our winterizations do not require a technician returning back to your boat to summarize it for you (incurring additional costs). We leave the boat ready to go back into the water unless the customer requests us to disconnect the battery lead(s). We have seen many instances where a lesser service was provided, resulting in a cooling passage with blockage – creating internal cracking, intake manifolds not being properly drained; “quick drains” getting missed in hard-to-reach locations (i.e. cool fuel locations, impeller housings, etc.) – causing unnecessary and costly repairs – and worse, more down time!