Proper Winterizing
 

I have two Sonic 28ss that I'm looking at, one North of Boston the other in mid-state NY. Being from Texas, the thought of whether either one of these boats were properly winterized took about 2 weeks to surface. I just read Wally's post on how to do it right. I have a friend doing a pre-survey on the one in north of Boston. Two questions, is there anyway for him to tell whether this boat was winterized properly for all the years? He knows car engines well, not sure about boats. If my friend indicates that the boat looks clean and well taken care of, I'm gonna order a survey. Would a survey discover such maintenance? If not, if I pay extra to the surveyor is there way for him to tell?

thanx

one thing to look for is proper winterization is not only draining all water from block and exhaust but also filling the system with an RV antifreeze. without it you have no corosion protection. and getting a survey is a good idea as i see you already plan on it, its money well spent.

dp

but is there anyway for my buddy to check to see if he did it, I guess he could pull a plug and see what comes out at the very least??? Hopefully there is indicators on how well of a winterization he did. If he did a ****ty job at it, I won't bother dropping $500 on the the survey.

If nothing in the engine cracked from a poor winterization, then its fine.

Definetly do a sea trial.

if i was looking at a boat, first thing i would do is yank a drain plug or disconnect a hose and see what its winterised with...then if it checks out take it for a sea-trial and let everything get good and warmed up...if it all passes then go for the survey and at the same time do an engine oil analysis...that should cover all you bases short of ripping into the engines or having the drives torn down......

Since I'm in Texas, I'm assuming that the surveyor can order the oil analysis? BTW, thanks Wally for putting that list together, learned ALOT.

your welcome...and im sure if you talk to the surveyors they could do it for ya...probably not a freebe as its not part of their normal routine...

Yeah I know, it's like everything else relating to a boat, $$$$.