Winter is the season to winterize your boat, regardless if it’s stored on water or not. Winterizing is an essential maintenance procedure that protects your boats gas inboard, stern drive engine and outboard by preventing corrosion and damage. The system makes use of biocide (a type of chemical) that kills harmful bacteria which cause deterioration and promotes breakdown of materials. This helps minimize the potential for frozen engines and drive shafts because they are protected from damaging elements such as rust and corrosion.

When left in any part of the boat, water will expand and may cause cracking, bursting, or rupture because of expanded ice. This expansion will cause costly boat repairs and maintenance.

Many things can go wrong with your boat if left unwinterized. Any boat part can develop mildew, mold, and corrosion that can harm, especially the delicate engine parts.

• Why you should winterize your 4 stroke outboard engine:

With the popularity of 4-stroke engines over the past decade, protecting a motor with fogging oil is more important than ever because of the many steel and cast iron parts used in their construction. There are always valves open to the atmosphere where moisture in the air condenses on the finely machined metal parts during temperature changes and causes rust and pits. Unlike the old traditional carbureted 2-strokes whose components normally have an oily residue, the 4-stroke steel and iron parts are subject to corrosion damage, more so in salt water areas. Valves, rings, and cylinder sleeves are the most prone to rust and in some motor designs, a stuck valve can be hit by a piston causing expensive damage when the engine rotates when starting. Rust buildup on the cast iron bores gets scraped away by the piston rings as the engine starts removing small bits of metal that changes the clearances between the pistons and cylinders each time it happens. Problems such as lower compression, poor idle, and/or increased oil consumption with high increases of hydrocarbon emissions are possible as cylinder and ring wear occurs.