Virginia Boaters: Winterize Your Boat at Legasea Marine

It’s no secret that a boat needs special care and maintenance throughout its lifetime. However, when it comes time to winterize your boat, you can trust the service professionals at Legasea Marine to care for your boat and ensure a hassle-free return to the boating season in the spring. Learn how Legasea Marine provides services to help in protecting your outboard, inboard and other systems from the lower temperatures.

When talking about boat winterization, the first thoughts are most often regarding the engine. While that is a crucial component to protect in the cold months, there are several other systems that require attention during a full winterizing service. Freezing water can cause damage in unlikely places beyond your engine including plumbing and electronics. This is due to the fact that when water freezes, the volume expands by approximately 10%. That expansion can create enough pressure on sensitive systems to result in costly repairs.

Winterize Your Boat

Draining and flushing the cooling system to remove impurities
If a closed-loop cooling system, ensuring anti-freeze ratio is correct to avoid freezing
Fog the engine with oil to prevent aid in lubrication and help avoid corrosion
Fuel conditioner and stabilizers added to help maintain fuel quality during storage

Protection Beyond Your Engines

Additional services performed during the winterization process include disconnecting of the batteries and protection of all exposed electrical connections such as the terminals. Connections for sensitive electronics are inspected and cleaned to avoid issues with corrosion.

While a full detail may not seem necessary ahead of prolonged storage of your boat, a thorough cleaning and waxing of the hull, helm, T-top and other structures goes beyond attractive appearances. The wax can also shield the surface from contaminants and moisture that come in contact with it during storage.

A full cleaning on the interior, whether a console head or a finished cabin is also recommended to ensure these spaces are dried out. Latent moisture can lead to mildew growth when the boat is not in use. If shrinkwrapping your boat or placing it in covered storage, maintaining proper ventilation is a must to further combat the chances of mildew growth.

Winterize Your Boat at Legasea Marine - shrinkwrap

A final important part of the winterization process is documentation. Choose a reputable, well-established service center to perform your routine maintenance and annual service, and keep all invoices and service records. Statistics show that a properly maintained boat has a greater resale value and service records are as important to a potential buyer as the survey.

Schedule Service

Please give us a call at (757) 898-3000 or submit the form below, and a service team member will gladly work with you on scheduling your next service appointment.