Removing out drive for winterization?
 

I live in Iowa so winterizing is a must. This is my first boat of my own and I havent decided for sure if I am going to do this myself or not. I have been researching the all over the forum and net but a little scared of destroying my new to me boat.

I saw where someone was recomending removing the outdrive for the winter. Is this neccesary? Does the outdrive need pulled and resealed each season?

Can't hurt, I would at the very least do a complete service on it, drain all the oil and change. If theres some water in there it could crack the housing if it freezes.

I pull my engines and drives every winter. I keep them indoors and it also gives me a chance each season to freshen up the bilges. Costs me twice as much but worth the investment. Cheaper that replacing a cracked block or drive.

The drive should not need to be pulled for resealing each season. However the maintenance schedule may say to pull the drive to grease the coupler splines, gimble bearing and u-joints and to re align the engine with the gimbal bearing every season. Some have sealed gimble and u-joint bearings which don't require greasing. When properly winterized you should not have to worry about the drive.

The older the boat the more chance u joints & gimble need greased plus you can check for any water in the bellows while your there. Also good time to check splines on the input shaft. cost of mount kit 7-10.00 cost of tube of grease 5.00 cost of a blown ujoint A LOT

The outdrive definately does not need to come off for the winter. I have never even heard of anyone doing it. The only reason to pull it would be to check the alignment as part of preventative maintenance and then reinstall the drive. Put the drive all the way down for winter storage.

Winterizing is not difficult, but paying somebody to do it could save you a lot of $$ in the long run if it does not get done correctly.

x2 here. The cost of winterizing is nothing compared to the cost of fixing an improper winterization.

i pull mine every winter, but mainly to grease/check the ujoints, and check alignment. Pretty easy to do really.

I keep mine in heated storage but still drain the block, headers, oil cooler, etc. I usually pull the plugs, and shoot a little fogging oil in cylinders too.