2 year storage

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Snowshoe

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Does anyone do anything different for storage for 2 years? Boat and motor were prepped last fall for storage over the winter and I haven't had a chance to pull it out of the garage this year and won't until next spring. Boat is a 1600 Lund Fury with a 25 hp EFI Mercury on it.
 
If you winterized it, it will probably be fine, the gas on the other hand will not be any good and I would drain the tank dry. it is in a garage it will be fine.
 
surfman said:
If you winterized it, it will probably be fine, the gas on the other hand will not be any good and I would drain the tank dry. it is in a garage it will be fine.


^^^What surfman said.
 
Ethanol fuel? Did you disconnect the fuel line (assuming fuel was treated w/ Sta-Bil or similar) and run the motor dry?

If you didn't ... I would. Today's E10 fuels are CRAP and degrade in< 30-days. The only way I've had success in re-starting and have avoided clogged injector or carb issues, on seasonal tools or equipment, has been to dose tank WELL w/ stabilizer, run through to ensure throughout entire system, then run dry ....
 
Tank had Sta-Bil in it, fuel was non-ethonol premium gas. It's the only stuff I'll use. Engine was run and fuel line disconnected. After it died, filter was pulled and drained, and engine fuel that remained was drained. Thanks for the replies. Gear box was also drained and refilled. Tank is empty and not hooked to engine, The rest of the fuel was used up in my snow blowers.
 
The only thing I can add is to turn the engine over (not start it) a few revs. Less likely the rings will stick that way. Just rotate by hand, don't bother hooking up the battery.
 
I've not had the ethanol issues others report.

I use my tiller once a year. I do nothing special and it starts on the first pull on the old gas every time.
 
Older motor owners had a number of issues as soon as we put ethanol in. In my case, it rotted out the inside of my fuel line and made the bulb too soft. Replacing those items are the only things that I had to do. Others have had more serious problems.

richg99
 
It is not so much the ethanol...we all want to place the blame there, but it's not the root cause of the problems. I see this stuff day in and day out. Most people know about 'ethanol problems' and most have compensated by buying 'non ethanol' fuel.

The government doesn't require fuel to be labeled 10% ethanol until it's 7% or more. IIRC if the content is below 5%, it can be labeled non ethanol. Not that it makes much difference.

The fuel itself...even without ethanol...has changed over the last 10 years or so. I'm seeing older stuff with shrunken o-rings, diaphragms, fuel lines falling apart, all the normal problems that are usually blamed on ethanol...but the problem is, those people that have those problems are telling me that they have been using non-ethanol fuel?

OE manufacturers have dealt with this stuff...at least Yamaha has. Their old fuel lines are NLA, if you replace a line, you get the new part number, which is about $100, but it does not get hard or deteriorate. I have one of the first ones and it's as soft today as it was when I bought it I think in 2007 or 8. The bulbs don't get hard. I replaced the lines from the motor connector to the fuel pump, and from the pump to the carb, and the new ones are of a different material. The bowl gasket is also a different material, and so are the pump diaphragm and gaskets. I don't know if Sierra and the others have changed their materials to cope with new fuel blends or not. That's all I have dealt with is Yamaha.

If there is absolutely no fuel in the carb, lines, and pump, then there is nothing to worry about, unless the lines are already old and starting to dry crack from the inside.
 
One suggestion regarding charging the battery. I've tried, over the years, all sorts of Automatic chargers. Some work and some don't.

The best thing I've done is added a small lamp timer into the circuit. I can set it to charge for as little as an hour every day, or as much as all day long. A trickle helps.

When it is time to actually pull the boat out and go fishing, a thorough charge is all that I do.

richg99
 

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