Un-winterized and it’s cold

I got off the phone this morning with my brother and I finally remembered to ask him if he ran into any problems winterizing the boats and jet ski back in early October. It turns out he was not able to "get to it" and planned to take care of it over Thanksgiving weekend.

Its been cold the last week or so in western Maryland with a few inches of snow. Temps have been in the 50 days and low 30's at night w/some 20s.

I called the marina and the guy told me not to worry so much b/c problems will only develop only after prolonged exposure to cold weather when un-winterized. Is this right?

Checking out weather.com the temps should remain the same until the weekend when we can get it winterized.

How big of a problem do I have here, aside from an need for a new brother?

87BFN owner wrote: you should not have a problem.

Famous last words. With daytime temps in the 50's, you might be OK- but you wont catch me risking it this time of year. Having someone drain the block is cheap insurance.

Also, I forgot to ask...when will I lose Newbie status???? Is it based on tenure or postings? Just hate being the low man on the pole.

It needs to get down to about 18 degrees for 12 hours to crack a block.

87BFN owner wrote: It takes several days of temps below freezing all day long to cause damage. So you should not have a problem.

Several days? Try it out and let me know your results.

If days are still 40-50 degrees you'll be okay, just get it done sooner than later.

eric lavine wrote: put a glass of water outside in your climate, if it freezes solid your in trouble

    

emccallum wrote: I really dont understand the thought process here....when you are done skiing for season, clean the boat,winterize,and put it away. Why take any risk? Why try and guess the weather or freezing point of the motor? I have friends that do this every year. If you cant find time to winterize it, when are you going to get time to pull the motor?

EM, The thought process is simple: if the lake isn't iced over, you can keep skiing. What risk are you referring too? If done properly there isn't a risk and you don't need to guess any freezing point. Why go through the time of winterizing when it's not required? People do throw some blankets over their dog house and use these all winter long. You can even be the first one out on the lake after ice-out.

Sorry, Here it is:
heater at West
They ave several wattages. I do remember a thread a year ago that someone was putting a plain light bulb under the dog house. Not the safest but it worked!

I put a light bulb in when it starts really getting cold and plug it in during the few nights it actually gets below 32. I'll unplug it during the day. Oh, and drain the plug on the block.

Pete that looks cool, alot easier on the wallet too. That would be something worth getting to prolong the ski season. I worried about a light bulb sparking and making a big boom as well.