Tonight it is supposed to get in the high 20's and my boat is not winterized. I pumped the system out with the hand pump but understand that water is probably still in the motor. I also plan on lowering it in the water tonight. Is this over cautious or necessary? Thanks for any comments, I am holding out for a couple more weekends of boating.

Put a metal clamp on spot light in the bilge.One 100 watt bulb will keep the bilge about 15 to 20 degrees warmer then the outside air temp.I do this every year and It has worked out great for late season boating.I leave the plug tail of the light hanging outside the cover so when I leave in the morning I just unplug for the day.

Nordic95

Take a cup with about an inch of water in it and set it on your swim platform if it doesn't freeze you're fine. The lake water is still in the upper 60's so that moderates the temp w/in close proximity a bit as well.

Last spring I put in easter weekend and it got down to 22 degrees that saturday morning. I put one lamp in the bilge and it stayed toasty. I also did the cup on the swim platform and it didn't freeze at all. However I did a cup on my deck and it froze solid. To really be concerned it needs to be below 25 degrees for several hours.

I am coming down either tomorrow or Saturday to fetch my boat and take her home for winter. The season sure went quick!!

Weather channel says its only going to get down to 35* tonight. If you're worried though, shoot me an email and I can run give you a hand draining it. I live in sunrise Beach also.
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Brandon

It needs to be in low to mid 20's for the entire night for anything to freeze. Don't even worry about it. It would take 24+ hours in the high 20's to freeze.

Plus if he is lowering it into the water like he said, it will take alot longer than that with the warm water temps.

Thanks for the input, I'm just very cautious with this boat since it's my first year with two motors to maintain. I couldn't be happier with the 496HO motors. See ya on the lake next year.

32... fully winterize it....youve got two to worry about

any one have thru hull pickups? Im curious how to fully winterize and add antifreeze with thru hull pick ups. My boat has both the drive pick up and then thru hulls.

After you close the hatch how do you know if the light is on????