Dewinterizing Your Boat for Spring

After dealing with the many aspects of winterizing your boat, you may think that the complexities are over with. Truth be told, much of what you did to winterize your boat has to be performed in reverse order, when you’re ready to finally take your boat out on the water during the spring season. The list is extensive, so we’ll focus on a few of the crucial things you’ll need to do in order to dewinterize your boat for spring.

Batteries

It’s important to charge or change any batteries that you need to successfully operate your boat. Before you turn them on and connect them to power, polish them and clean the connector cables and connector ports on the batteries.

Antifreeze

Flush out any antifreeze that may be present in your boat’s water system or engine. Use a pump to flush out any antifreeze in these systems then run them until water runs out. You may have to purchase commercial disinfectants to properly clean water systems such as drain pipes that have been lying vacant for months.

Check Fluids

Check all fluid levels and fill/replace them as they’re needed. Oil will need to be replaced as well as other forms of fluid essential to your boat’s function. Regarding fluids, you’ll also want to ensure that any connections running from your engine are free of leaks.

The Final Startup

This is one of the final steps to dewinterizing your boat. The startup of boats varies by model, so you’ll want to consult the owner’s manual for the exact startup process you’ll need to follow. Don’t worry if a small amount of exhaust leaves your boat – this is most likely from the fogging oil that you coated a large part of your engine with before winterizing it.

Although this is a snapshot of all the things needed to be done for total dewinterization of your boat, you’ll be well on your way to completing the process with these steps. Dewinterizing is time-consuming but necessary to the overall performance of your boat during the spring season.