Wannabe's semi-annual maintenance list for ya'll to ignore
Trips are getting fewer these days with the cold temps and short days, but the one thing you don't want to happen is get out in the freezing temps for a quick trip and have a nightmare failure on the water or put the boat down for the winter and when the spring hits, turns out you've got some problem that delays you from getting to the fish when it gets time.
When's the last time ya'll checked the pressure in your trailer tires? - Cold weather and rapidly changing temps will cause the tire to shrink and expand letting air pressure leach. Check with a good gauge and Inflate to max pressure.
Bearings - The only way to check to see if your bearings and seals are in good shape is to pull them, clean them and reinstall with new seals. About 1 out of 30 will actually do that. But that's the right way and should be done once a year. Barring that, pull your dust caps and take a look for grease bypassing the seal on the front and rear of the axle. Give it some grease, but not so much that it pushes past your seals and oozes out. That turns the lip of the seal and will eventually lead to a failure.
Lights - Nows the time to find that bad ground or replace a bad marker light. 106% of us will have or have had light problems and 211% of the time, it's a bad ground. Surest way to solve light problems is to rewire the trailer. It's also the least time consuming and the least frustrating. When you ground the wire to the trailer, take the extra time to sand to clean metal, then waterproof the screw/bolt with something. I usually spray paint it with a little Krylon then waterproof over the top of that with a silicone.
Motor
Drain and change your LU oil. Most are intimidated by this, but you can have the mechanicing skilz of DD and do it yourself. This is your only shot at protecting against a LU failure if you have a leaking seal and water in your LU. If you have water in there, the first hard freeze we get will expand in the LU to make your seals fail. What will happen is that first trip out in the spring about 150 yards from the landing your LU will fail and crunch...You're down until you can afford a LU rebuild. LU seals today do not fail often, but it does happen and changing your LU oil is the only check you get to prevent it. As a bonus, you get to inspect for chips and chunks of metal on the magnetized drain plug. If you've got 'em, you need service.
Spark plugs - pull 'em and inspect for fouling and replace as needed. If you have one that is particularly fouled compared to others, this may indicate a developing problem and ya probably need to seek advice or a mechanic.
Decarb - If you believe in the procedure, now is a good time. Carbon buildup on the cylinder walls and rings are the leading cause of kablooies. Kablooies are high dollar, painful affairs.
Filters - Change 'em.
Prop - Pull and inspect for any line around the prop shaft and visualy inspect the shaft seals. It ain't hard and it's a money saver. Do the same for the TM prop.
Storage - Not many of us put the boat up till spring, but if you do, consider fogging the cylinders, topping off the gas tank to avoid condensation buildup and a fuel treatment.
Tilt the motor down. It's a good idea when you get home from a trip during the cold weather to store the boat with the motor trimmed down lever rather than up. This allows any remaining water in the water jacket to drain completely out and also when tilted up, water can accumulate in the exhaust at the prop and thaw, refreeze, thaw, refreeze, which is not good if it can be avoided.
Batteries. There's several schools of thought here on whether to leave them hooked up indefinitely. Personally, I top off when I get home and disconnect charger. When I'm not fishing for extended periods, I'll plug the charger back up and let it run for a day. Do as you see fit, but ALWAYS charge to 100% as soon as you get off the water. DO NOT store batteries at anything less than 100%. Also, now is a good time to pull you caps and make sure they are not low on water. If needed, add ONLY distilled water. No tap water.
Hoses, lines, belts. Give them all a look and a touch. Anything that looks amis, replace it. Especially your fuel lines. Cheap and easy, but will put you down quick....also might get you a cowling upside the head with a failure. Ain't that right Triton? As an aside, if you don't have a fuel/water seperator on your boat, you're ignernt.
If you've got something that needs repairing like a pump, hose or what not, what are you waiting on?
That's about it, but I'm sure I left some stuff off the list. Add your own iffen ya like.
One last thing....it's cold. The water is cold. People sink in cold water all the time. I don't want you to sink in cold water. Chances are, if you're like me, you've got that one person who's always asking you "what do you want for Christmas?" And, if you're like me, you never really have a good answer. Do yourself and them a favor and when they ask you this year, tell 'em a ladder for your boat.
Wannabe...
