Boat tips - I suck at titles

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So I have two boats that never get run and I need some advice.

Boat 1 is a 33' bertram with twin gen5 454's carb'd. One motor is down due to bent valves so the boat is going nowhere soon. I currently have rotella 15w-40 in it but I'm not sure how often I should run it to keep the moisture out of the oil? It doesn't have pcv's, just hoses coming from the valve covers to the air cleaner on top of the carb. I can run a pcv to the base of the carb which I might do soon to get some vacuum action going.

So, since I never use this boat, how often should I start up the motor and how long should I let it run for? It's an inboard by the way. Should it be run in gear? At idle?

Ok so boat 2 is a 27' sea-ray. I put in an 8.2L volvo penta mpi back in 2000 and the motor has about 150 hours on it. I may take it out once a month, if that. Especially now that it's cold. This motor will also have rotella 15w-40 next time I run it to warm the oil.

This is a sterndrive hooked up to a mercruiser bravo 2 x diesel drive. So the same question, how often should I start it? How long? At idle, in gear, etc? This is a newer motor with a pcv, electric sensors, etc. Exact model is dpx415.

Both boats are behind my house and are tied up well, so I don't mind putting a little strain on the ropes to run them in gear. Also, both boats will not be winterized but will have bilge heaters going to keep them above freezing(just).

Thanks for the advice guys.
 
When we can't use our boat for more than a month or so I try to start it up for 15 to 20 min once a week. Since yours is at dock you could always just throw it in gear (at idle) for a few minutes just to make sure all the seals are properly lubed and such.
 
Originally Posted By: justinf89
... I put in an 8.2L volvo penta mpi back in 2000 ...
This is a sterndrive hooked up to a mercruiser bravo 2 x diesel drive. ...


What an interesting combination.
 
PCV's generally don't work well in boats as they are always under a load (except at idle) with little to no engine vaccuum.

On the Bertram I would run it once a month (generator too) until it reaches normal operating temp, then another 15 minutes or so. Even doing this, it will be hard to vaporize the moisture in the oil as oil temps take longer to come up than the water temp, especially at "tied to the dock" engine speed and load. Since you cannot run it under load easily I would keep up on regular oil changes.

On the Sea-Ray, if you use it once a month I would think that would be enough to keep everything lubed up and working. Regular oil changes on that also.
 
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