2004 Mercury 225 Optimax winterizing and other ?s

[kdubracing]

New to the outboard game and just bought a boat with a 225 Optimax on it. What all needs to be done to winterize? Change lower unit oil, stabilize fuel and run through, fog cylinders, and what else?

Also, are there any special tools I need to find to do things like change fuel filter or basic maintenance items? Other than the star tool for the fuel filter.

[Bass Dog]

I do not know much about a optimax but one thing I always check is if all the water has drained out of my motor be for I store it. A lot of winterizing is where you plan to store it and how the weather is going to be on it. I have friend who never winterize their rigs but they have them stored in their garages where mine is beside my house all winter.

My 75 hp Merc gets fogged and covered and I never had trouble with it in the spring but then I just put mine down and it will be back out at ice out in the spring.

[Mike Cork]

As far as the motor and winterizing, you're all over it. Like Bass Dog said, it's about removing water that can freeze. So fresh lower unit oil ensures there has not been a leak there. Lowering/Leveling the motor so that any water can drain out. A good fuel stabilizer to protect the lines. If you are going to go months without using the motor, you'll need to drain the fuel tank or fill it all the way up.

[Princeton_Man]

I'm also not that familiar with Mercs. My Etec has an auto Winterize function that fogs the engine and begining in late Fall, I use that feature every time I come in off the water until about the middle or end of February. Just in case it winds up sitting for more than a month or so due to lengthy cold snap.

My Noco Gen3 onboard charger stays plugged in year round.

Like others have mentioned, I make sure all of the water is drained from my motor, lower unit, livewells, and bilge. Then as a little extra insurance I pour some RV/Marine anti-freeze into all of my pumpout ports, the livewell drains, and my lower unit. RV/Marine anti-freeze is cheap and helps make sure no undrained water freezes and breaks something. I keep about 4 gallons in the garage and that usually gets me through the Winter.
Back before I had a garage, I always made sure my drain plug was out and that my livewell drains were open just in case water got in past the cover.

[kdubracing]

Thanks guys it's TBD of the trailer will fit in my garage, but I'm hoping to keep it in there.

[apenland01]

I have that exact engine.  2004 Mercury Optimax 225.

I use my boat year round, so it never gets "winterized".  However, in the colder months when it might get all the way down to 25 degrees at night, I always store the engine trimmed all the way down to drain all the water after each tournament and use Mercury Quikstor in my fuel December - February when it doesn't get used every weekend.

I generally get the lower unit oil changed in the fall to reduce the chance of any water being in the lower unit during the winter months.

The Optimax is quite a picky engine on what needs to be done and the processes, so I would google it and look at some of the recommendations on annual/winterization procedures that are recommended.

[Terry G]

Don't forget to keep the batteries from freezing
Come on northern bassers let him know cold weather battery care

[Wizard]

There isn't much you can do yourself on the Opti. Most has been already explained. Since I have both a computer in the Opti and in my stereo, I use a 2 amp battery maintainer on the starting battery. Without it the computer on the Opti can/will drain the starting battery. While folks say you can keep  on board charger continuously on a live outlet, it really isn't a good idea. I use a timer (month/day/start time-end time) to my 3 bank charger to the trolling batteries. The trolling batteries are charged for 8 hours every 2 weeks.
LOZ, even with climate change, can freeze in coves during winter and my boat is on a hoist over the water year round.  I have a water disturbance device in my slip to keep the slip from freezing. All I need now is something to keep 2 and 4 legged varmints out of the boat.

Wizard