www.iFourWinns.com

First, Been beging my wife to help me post a pic of our 248 sitting on a brand new trailer behind my trailblazzer SS. It's a very sweet picture, maybe some day I will be able to show you all.
Now to the question, keep in mind we are on the boat every day after work and have no winter hobbies other then eating and drinking with other boating friends that come over because they have nothing to do.(wife hates it, almost every night)
Stamford CT, nice marina, bubblers, cable, dvd,wifi, bathrooms(15' away), full camper inclosure, 2 small marine space heaters, 2 blocks from home and only one cool guy that lives on his 34 larson. Does this not sound like a perfect "honey I need to go check on the boat".
Any way, $1000 for the winter. Were thinking sunny Sunday football, happy hour with fleec coats, looking for santa during the holidays.

Do I pull it winterize it and have it wrapped and stored behind work so I can look at it and say "dam I wish the boat was in the water today its freaken beautiful out and its the middle of winter", or leave it in do to it what I will learn from all of you and pull it if I made the wrong choice.
Thanks in advance for any advise,
Chris

thats a no brainier........"honey ill be at the Marina"

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Jeff

'14 Cruisers 380 Express "Simon Sez"
Merc 8.2 Mag MPI 380
DTS B3X, (x2) Axius Premier


(SOLD)
'08 V318
Merc 350 Mag MPI 300
DTS Seacore, B3 (x2)

Well you thoroughly expressed all the good reasons to leave it in...but...there are downsides...first of all you have to haul it anyway to pull the drive and check the bellows, gimble, ujionts etc. This is just part of life with I/Os, or should be. But then you could put it back in...is it brackish/salt where you are..I bet is is because Stamford is right across the Sound from me in Huntington Long Island. You still have to be concerned about your anodes too..one season my boat was in a little more than 6 months and the anodes were GONE by the end...I have never found the anti fouling paints for aluminum to last for more than 3 months...and you can get barnacles in the bellows folds and water intakes, both will cause trouble.

Finally if a bad winter storm comes...and it snows enough to weigh down the boat...can you get the snow off so the thru hulls do not go under water...and...find out about insurance... most state the boat must be on land from a certain date and not in before a certain date but you probably could get that amended for additional coverage. I am not a fan of leaving I/O boats in the water all year...they need at least 2 haul outs or one haul out and 2-3 checks of anodes or there could be hell ($$$) to pay...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Thanks LouC, points are taken, this is why i'm digging ifourwinns.com. thanks. I've been with out boards my whole life, need to learn more about I/Os. maybe that could be my winter hobby.

Yeah, what LouC said. I used to live in CT and kept a boat in the water through the winter ONCE. The barnacles were so bad in the Spring that I had a lot of more work to get them off and had to practically strip the paint and start from scratch (and this was in the 80's when antifouling paint had a lot more toxic stuff in it). Maybe pull it, paint it, put it back in, then plan to do it again in the Spring.

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2003 248 Vista on Lake Champlain

So you're talking about leaving the boat actually IN the water? Not on a lift in a slip? There is a lot of maintenance involved, but if you had a lift, it'd be hard to turn it down the way you made it sound. Let us know what you decide

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1990 Horizon 200
5.7L OMC Cobra 260HP

Ask the marina about their back up power in case the main power goes out. Had a marina up here with bubblers and the power went out and for some reason.... Negligence is the only thing I can think of...and the boats sat in the lake while the water froze, and as you can imagine there were some major problems. Even though I store indoors during the winter I still make sure that back up power is in place and a system alerts someone when there is problems.

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1999 298 Vista [color=#FF0000]Sold!!!
twin Volvo 5.7GXI

Woody: Pour you a beer, Mr. Peterson?
Norm: Alright, but stop me at one...make that one-thirty

No way! I left my 288 Vista in the brackish water of Mobile Bay for 6 months and almost ruined my twin outdrives. I had barnicles is every place known to man. Both drives and the boat are painted with bottom paint. The boat now lives in high and dry and will never leave a boat with outdrives in the water for more than a week.

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R Yot 2
Fairhope, AL
2006 Vista 288

You are excited since you a a new cruiser owner. Try and curb your enthusiasm just a bit. You should haul the boat out for the winter. The advantages do not outweigh the disadvantages.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy