Time to winterize

[cdoyal]

I've drained the fuel line and carbs, put in Sta-Bil, fogged each cylinder, and changed the lower unit oil. I also removed the batteries and brought them inside. I'll probably change the plugs in the spring too although they looked pretty good.
I had some fine filings on the upper drain plug and didn't see any visible water in the old lube. I'm using Worst Marine's synthetic. It goes in clear but came out milky but like I said, no visible water and it didn't smell toasted or anything so I guess I'll go another year before redoing the seal/gasket/etc.
Am I missing anything?

[John Jones]

If I see milky I'm finding the water source and fixing it.  O-rings and seals are much cheaper than a lower unit.

[fitz73222]

Does the gearlube look white creamy? Thats water... If looks like a variation of  light yellow brown its not. Whats really weird, I have 4 different Mercs ranging from twin 115`s down to a 9.9. I run exactly the same Mercury High Performance gear oil in all of them. With each one of them the gear oil turns a different color after about 10 hours. Starts off blue and turns yellow brown in the 115`s, the 60 Bigfoot stays blue, the 9.9 turns black in no time. I've been told it has to do with the individual clearances in each gearcase that cause the contamination levels or color change. One way to know for sure if its water. Leave the engine sit for a week or two and crack the bottom screw and see if it has separated. The water will come out ahead of the gearoil.

[John Jones]

My Yamaha 60 just goes a darker brown over time.
The 225 Oceanrunner I had would turn black in 10 hours.  It always worried me but never gave any trouble.

[cdoyal]

One way to know for sure if its water. Leave the engine sit for a week or two and crack the bottom screw and see if it has separated. The water will come out ahead of the gearoil.

That's what I did and there was no water at all. The lube just went from a pale yellow clear to opaque pale yellow.

[Aswaff400]

dont forget about the boat itself, check/drain any hoses that may collect water and burst when frozen...

we use merc high performance gear oil in both our boats...

[cdoyal]

dont forget about the boat itself, check/drain any hoses that may collect water and burst when frozen...

we use merc high performance gear oil in both our boats...

I dump a little RV antifreeze in all those spots. Can't hurt.