I recentley purchased a larger boat that will not fit in the heated garage and I was wondering how to store the engine for the winter months. The boat has a fourty gallon tank and I have already treated the gas with Sta-Bill. I was just wondering what other steps to take to take care of the motor. The entire boat in covered inside a shelter. I have been starting the motor up every week or so for a few minutes. But I am not sure what else I should be doing any help would be appreciated.

Outboard or inboard?

If your planning on storing (not using it) for 4-6 months, I would run all the gas out of the motor as well as take the battery out of the boat and put it on a maintainer (battery pal, $30 at Boatersworld/West Marine) this will keep your battery charged without "cooking" it.

I'd fog the motor with storage oil... ya just let a good 15 second spray of the oil into the carbs, then shut her off. Pull the plugs, spray a few seconds into each cylinder, crank the motor a second, and reinstall the plugs.

Not trying to start a flame war here or anything, but I would NOT run the motor dry of gas or drain the carbs. You've already stabilized the fuel so it won't go sour, and draining the carbs would allow residual fuel to evaporate and form deposits. Leaving the carbs full also keeps all the seals from drying out. Also, running the motor dry of gas leaves it running really lean for a while.

I always lube all the zerk fittings and usually change the lower unit fluid before winter storage. Never understood the logic of leaving that till spring, just leaves any water contamination to sit and corrode all winter long.

Finally, store the motor tilted down. It's self draining in that position, so water can't pool in the lower unit and crack it.

The battery maintainer is a good idea... it's NOT a trickle charger, they're sometimes labeled as a "float charger". Harbor Freight sells one that often goes on sale for 6 or 7 bucks.

look back a a couple of pages on this broad, i asked the same question and and recived some good ideas at that time.

make sure you run the boat long enough to get gas that contains the additive into the motor. I know many of us use some kind of stabilizer all the time, but for those that don't putting it in the tank is good for the gas there, but does not do much for the gas in the motor unlsess you run it long enough to get it in the carbs or injectors. I would also fog the motor as described above, change the lower unit oil, and the engine oil if it is a four stroke. Also a good time to grease the prop spines, throw a little wax on, and do any other maintance that you may need (impellers, new plugs, etc..).

Don't forget the Salt Away,if you don't already use it... give the motor a good dose every time you run it, your thermostats will love you for it...

-N.