Storing boat during winter

[re-tyred]

Yeah I just keep using mine. Some really nice days during winter, afternoon easterlies are rare so a fine day is very calm. Stop for a week to do an impeller change and gearbox oil change around August. Always worth a go for pinkies and Salmon around here.

[skronkman]

Those that are getting better results from using higher octane fuels comes as a surprise to me. There is technically not supposed to be any performance advantage to running it in a an engine that can't take advantage of it. I know my old xr6 falcon could get an extra 50 odd km out of a tank when I used premium over regular and run a lot smoother but that was because it wasn't meant to be run on regular! Using regular (cheaper) in an engine that isn't designed for it is false economy when you take into account the lower mileage/performance/smooth running.

My 115 Mercury EFI 4 stroke requires a minimum octane level of 87 (from owners manual). So regular fuel (91 RON) in Australia has a minimum octane rating of 91 and is fine. I havent personally come across an outboard that is rated to use fuel with a minimum octane level above 91. I believe this is due to outboards requiring reliability over performance and the variation in fuel quality around the world In which these motors are distributed.

Many of the premium fuels have fancy additives to help with longevity, engine cleaning, etc. most importantly they don't contain ethanol (unless specifically labelled at the pump by law In Australia) this is why I use it once a year over winter when a tank of fuel, that is open to the air via breathers, may sit there for up to 6 months with very little use.

During regular use over summer where fuel is turned over a lot I use regular fuel but I still avoid using anything with ethanol in it.

ETHANOL Is the key ingredient to AVOID here as it is hygroscopic (hydrophilic, in fact) meaning that it will absorb moisture from the air in the tank and via breathers (remember you use this fuel in a marine, ie wet environment too). Over time This can result in phase separation of your fuel and you end up with low octane (bad) fuel floating on water (bad) in the bottom of your tank.

I just googled up this site which has good info https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/ ... Fuel-Myths

[Nude up]

I am with you re-tyred I continue to use my boat over winter some great days on the water calm a little chilly to start with but warm up

[purple5ive]

i personally use the 98 fuel in my 2 stroke. mainly because im only putting in about 25litres and manage to use it up quite fast.
i figured the extra cleaning the engine will get from the better additives can only be a good thing, although with my limited knowledge on carbys, im not sure if its getting any benefit or just a waste of time.

in my previou experinece with high octane fuels, my cars were all imported from japan, they have 100ron fuel there, so i had to run 98, anythign else and it would misfire etc.

i still use 98 in my car now and find it drives better, so i applied the same principle to the boat

[Mattblack]

You can certainly feel a difference between High and Low Octane fuels on a motorbike....heaps more grunt, quicker throttle response, less pinging...smells pretty cool as well. Unfortunately High Octane goes stale a lot quicker than the cheap stuff.
Someone on here also recommended loosening tie-down straps a while back (something to do with a warping hull).
I've always wanted to know if the motor should be up or down when in storage?

[purple5ive]

YES high octane fuel does get stale a lot faster than normal fuel.
smell nicer ahahaha, yeah it def smells a lot different when you got no cat converter and are shooting flames out the exhaust...
i honestly havent noticed anything on my boat motor, but i believe carby genrally run rough regardless and can never be the same as a injected motor.
i leave my motor down when its at home to save space. not sure about the straps. i leave mine on tight but its never stored for months at a time, ill get out if i can weather and schedule permitting.
good thing about the polyboats are the shape will come back when pressure is released, so tiedowns wont make much of a difference i think. might not be the case for alloys and glass boats...

[ratbag]

I have a 4st carby yammy, have always stored it with a full tank of 95 mixed with recommended rate of stabil. the batteries are connected to ctek trickle cycle chargers. Always starts when ever I get on the water through out the year. The 2 batteries have been in use for 7 years. This was recommended by the mechanic 5 years back and always seems to run smooth.

I try to get out anytime the weather looks good, so as a few have said - lee using it!

[Scraglor]

Why do you put your boat into storage in Winter? I fish 365 days a year. There are some cracking days in winter, beautiful crisp mornings, still sunny days, and still plenty of fishing to be had. not to mention the empty ramps. I love off peak fishing.

[cobby]

Yep loosen off straps, including the winch, but keep the chain on! Move the boat an inch back or forwards to prevent flat spots or grooves forming in rollers (and the hull if it's older and suspect to rot under the floor) every couple of weeks. Drain portable fuel tanks or keep underfloor tanks full with a quality fuel stabiliser mixed in, less air space = less condensation. Cycle battery/s with a trickle charger. Run motor atleast once a month, fortnightly even better. Or just fish. Weather is more stable, big squid have been on in both bays for the past few weeks, big Gummies offshore and plenty of smaller ones in the bays, Westernport and deep ppb snapper should fire up after the moon and Whiting are always around. Plus you've got the tuna and swordfish.

Back on the 91 vs 95/98 debate, each company has there own additive package added to the same base fuel at the truck fill to my knowledge. 98 has a higher energy density and can hold with higher compression before detonation than 91/95 has and can. It basically detonates at the absolute top of the pistons cycle where the lower octanes are less stable to do so. Atleast that's my understanding as a relative layman

[Wolly Bugger]

Yep loosen off straps, including the winch, but keep the chain on! Move the boat an inch back or forwards to prevent flat spots or grooves forming in rollers (and the hull if it's older and suspect to rot under the floor) every couple of weeks. Drain portable fuel tanks or keep underfloor tanks full with a quality fuel stabiliser mixed in, less air space = less condensation. Cycle battery/s with a trickle charger. Run motor atleast once a month, fortnightly even better. Or just fish. Weather is more stable, big squid have been on in both bays for the past few weeks, big Gummies offshore and plenty of smaller ones in the bays, Westernport and deep ppb snapper should fire up after the moon and Whiting are always around. Plus you've got the tuna and swordfish.

Back on the 91 vs 95/98 debate, each company has there own additive package added to the same base fuel at the truck fill to my knowledge. 98 has a higher energy density and can hold with higher compression before detonation than 91/95 has and can. It basically detonates at the absolute top of the pistons cycle where the lower octanes are less stable to do so. Atleast that's my understanding as a relative layman

Back in the days of leaded fuel, there was standard and premium, the premium had a higher octane rating, and engines that ran on premium did not perform very well on standard fuel. If you put standard fuel (lower octane) in a engine design for Premium, you would get pre detonation and what was known as engine knock. Needless to say standard or the lower octane rated fuel wasn't good for engines that required the higher octane fuel.

Engines that ran on the higher octane fuel also had a higher compression ratio than engines design for standard or lower octane rated fuel.