Engine and Mechanical Systems Winter Maintenance
Every winter we tend to hear at least one non-boater make the comment “You must not have much to do now that the boats are hauled out.” Of course nothing could be further from the truth as we are always quite busy performing maintenance tasks on the fleet of boats in storage. Experienced boaters know that all boats must have regular service performed on engines and mechanical systems to keep them operating smoothly and much of it has to be done when the boat is out of the water. We highly recommend an annual service routine each winter to thoroughly check over the boat and overcome the harsh conditions of a salt water environment, conditions that can paralyze equipment with corrosion.
At Manchester Marine we want to ensure you have a safe and reliable boat, a boat you can depend on. To accomplish this, our mechanics perform detailed inspections to identify both obvious and hidden problems with your particular equipment. We consider it mission critical to get you timely and accurate reports on the issues we find and to let you know why we recommend addressing these issues in the off-season.
By keeping up with annual service recommendations for engines and mechanical systems more costly repairs can generally be avoided. You expect a trouble-free boating experience during the season and the best way to ensure this is for our trained mechanics and Service Managers to partner with you in managing your annual service routine.
With these thoughts in mind here are some of the basic service procedures we follow during winter maintenance to keep your boat in tip-top condition.
- Clean: to remove salt and marine growth to allow full functionality Sea strainers, thru-hull fittings, bilges
- Grease/ lubricate: to protect from corrosion and improve operation Seacocks, steering systems, thrusters
- Inspect and assess: to determine normal or excessive wear or corrosion; Report findings
- Electrical connections, drive systems, all mechanical systems Disassemble/ re-assemble: to assure working condition and fight corrosion
- Outboard lower unit, propellers, seacocks, water pumps, jet drives
- Repair: to fix all broken, missing and badly worn parts
- Belts, engine and bilge pumps, float switches
- Replace: parts designed to provide protection or smooth operation
- Internal and external sacrificial zincs, system filters, pump impellers
- Re-paint: to remove rusted or chipped paint which allows new problems to be visible
- Engine cooling manifolds and mounts, raw water connections
- Test: to assure full operation
- Battery chargers, air conditioning, all mechanical systems
- Scheduled service: to anticipate wear and prevent break downs during the boating season
- Alternators, starters, other original equipment manufacturer recommendations (OEM)