long Term Storage

[sjs]

My C270 is for sale and I am considering leaving it out of the water until it sells. Despite several boats over many years I have never kept a boat on the hard over the summer. The boat has been winterized and my question is whether it is OK to leave it as is or if I should do something similar to spring commissioning just to get the engine running. Doesn't seem like it would be good for the engine to just leave it if it ends up taking a long time to sell. On the other hand, without launching it I could only run the engine for very short periods.

[Lynx]

Do a full winterzation, A clean boat sells better. Have a pro do the motor so that you can show the bill.

To many problems with gas and oil in long term storage.

[sjs]

Thanks Lynx, but I guess my question was a bit confusing. The boat is already winterized. I am wondering if I should remove the antifreeze and occasionally run the engine over the summer.

[Lynx]

Yes, run it every once in a while. Talk to your Machanic on what to do about water supply ect.....

[ssullivan]

sjs... your quesiton is a valid one. While I won't claim to know exactly what you need to do to the diesel to store it for a long period, I will say you need to do something. I don't know if this involves removing injectors and fogging the cylinders or what it involves on the diesel. The key would be a proper "decommissioning" of the engine for a long sit. Others on this board may know how to do that. It's not my area of expertise.

However, I can safely say you should not run your diesel periodically while on the stands. First, you will have some difficulty getting water. Second, each time you run it, you will have to re-winterize, as part of a proper winterization is getting anti-freeze through the raw water portion of the cooling circuit until it comes out the exhaust. Third, many marinas don't allow you to run your engine on the stands, as there is a risk of your boat falling off the stands due to the vibrations if it's not running smoothly.

So... it's best to decommission the engine properly and let it sit.

[sjs]

Good points Sean, I think I need to do some research. Thanks much.

Steve