Late Season motor care?

[RangerGuy]

So I used to fish walleye/musky quite late in my old ranger. The motor a 89 60hp Johnson stroke was very good at self draining.

 

After pulling the boat out for the day I would leave the motor down for a few minutes and pull the kill switch, turn her over

a few times. It would drain or kick out all the water no problem.

 

It seems to me my new yamaha holds much more water in the passages. I can pull the boat out, leave the motor down while packing everything up and then put the transom support bar and tow it home. When I get home and put the motor down again it dumps a lot

of water out of this little hole in the front facing edge of the lower unit.

 

 

So I'm curious what everybody does late season once ice/snow starts to build up to prevent thier yamaha's from freezing and splitting s over night OR while anchored in sub zero temperatures?

[captpierre]

So I used to fish walleye/musky quite late in my old ranger. The motor a 89 60hp Johnson stroke was very good at self draining.

 

After pulling the boat out for the day I would leave the motor down for a few minutes and pull the kill switch, turn her over

a few times. It would drain or kick out all the water no problem.

 

It seems to me my new yamaha holds much more water in the passages. I can pull the boat out, leave the motor down while packing everything up and then put the transom support bar and tow it home. When I get home and put the motor down again it dumps a lot

of water out of this little hole in the front facing edge of the lower unit.

 

 

So I'm curious what everybody does late season once ice/snow starts to build up to prevent thier yamaha's from freezing and splitting s over night OR while anchored in sub zero temperatures?

I've always been told that a vertical outboard will not be a problem in the winter

[Steve]

i've ran my yamaha 12 months a year for 9 seasons....

 

never had an issue.

 

just pull it out, trim'er down, let it drain....

 

just before i trim it back up to leave, i quickly turn it over to get out anything else...

 

after that, it sits in an unheated garage.

 

thats why you bought a yamaha. they are the best.

[davey buoy]

On a couple of my old outboards I use to put on the ear muffs.Add 2' garden hose with a large funnel.Fill up the funnel with a jug of plumbing antifreeze.Start the motor in idle,and before you know it,antifreeze out the tell tale and exhaust. Shut off before antifreeze runs out. Just a bit of extra insurance.

Usually I would run the motor with water for 5 mins or so" first" to make sure thermostat is wide open if equipped. Done.

Edited October 5, 2012 by davey buoy

[Sinker]

You don't need to do anything. Just run it like normal, and you'll be fine.

 

S.

[bigbuck]

Enjoy it till you store it, then change the oil, the gear oil and stabilise the fuel and that should be about it for an outboard.