Winterizing a 1979 Merc 115 hp OB
 

Is there anything special I need to do as far as putting up this boat for the winter?
The engine is a Mercury 1150 or 115 hp straight 6 cyl. There was a transom saver connected from the lower unit to the lower drive of the engine. I lowered the engine with the power trim and water did come out.
Are there any jackets internally where water can be trapped?
Please advise asap!
Thanks again,
Colin
Berkshires, Massachusetts

Welcome
Here's all I do I fill my fuel tanks ad stabilizer run engin on the garden hose about ten minuetes or so then shut it down remove all the spark plugs and spray some engin stor put plugs back in and just bump the starter.disconect the battery and I'm done . also at this time i drain and refill my lower unit

Hi and welcome to the site. That's a great engine you have there. I have a 1150 sitting in my garage waiting for a suitable boat to hook it up to.

Lathehand has it right. With an outboard engine you want to make sure it's in a vertical position when you store it so all water is drained out of it. Just fog your cylinders, turn the engine over one or two revs, put the plugs back in, disconnect the battery, bring it inside, put it on a slab of wood and connect it to a good float charger.

Some people also remove the lower unit at this time and bring that into the house for the winter so they can change the oil in the gear housing and change the impeller. It's a nice winter project and that way you know it's ready to go for the coming springtime.

yep, what they said.... Tell me, what prop are you running and what top speed/rpm are you getting?

What all is forgetting IMO is run the motor out of gas!! This new gas does all kinds of things when sitting!!

I have a newer motor but have always done it this way:

Lower motor down so it can drain, leave down all winter

Start motor and disconnect gas line, let run till is out of gas

remove plugs and add fog oil, I just use 2 stroke oil
turn motor over to coat inside, put plugs back in
.
WD all wires and motor clean up any corrosion wires now

drain and refill lower unit, better now than spring! I once had a motor leak water in lower, when spring came the lower was locked solid!! If you do now there is no surprise come spring.

sta-bil gas, there are two ways of thinking here, I fill my tank, always have.
But others say use up as much gas as you can so you can start fresh in the spring!
This new gas absorbs water, empty tank condensates water, pick your poison.

Replace water separator for spring start up.

If have not replaced water pump in a few years if on trailer or every year if moored then this is also a good time to do so.

Batteries on a float charge. A charged battery will not freeze so leaving on boat with a onboard charger is ok if you have nowhere to store it.

After spring start, and you burned off oil, I always put new plugs Enjoy the summer!!

what about an water that could be potentially in the upper block? water pump area? etc....
Batton down the hatches- Here comes SANDY

Thanks for all your help!!!!

When outboards are left down, the water in block drains, no reason to do anything there.

Not sure about the prop. Is there a way to Identify? What do you recommend? I can tell you it is not stainless.....
I just bought the boat the end of summer. Also, has a 5 hp new kicker for trolling with a steering arm attached.
I ordered a new switch panel from www.ezacdc.com out of Indiania. I am completely doing over the electrical. Any sources for an ignition. They ran a switch for the electronic choke (cobb job). It has the press down key type for starting.
I would like to upgrade the ignition with a new ignition switch as well.

I have a 15" pitch prop on mine but have not yet tested except for a 5 minute test just to see if it would plane out.... carbs needed attn at the time tho.

Often there are markings on the prop that can identify the pitch

If you click the link in my sig I'm building one with the same engine... I used a tracker ign switch with separate choke switch scavenged from some custom work I did on my dad's bass boat.

Smoke you should look at a alum 3 blade 13 1/4x17 for a v weighing between 2000-2800 lbs it should give you between 35-42 mph. The merc # isc-48-77344a4.