Recommissioning your motor boat in spring for the coming season should be straightforward if you’ve winterised it properly
Here’s a useful checklist for two key areas:
Plumbing:
- Reconnect the fresh water pipes in the bilge
- Reconnect the pipes to pumps and calorifier
- Fill the fresh water tanks and check for leaks
- Connect the fresh water plumbing systems and check the flow of water to all outlets, then check the toilets work
Engine:
- Unseal and reconnect the exhaust system
- Unseal the air inlet and refit the air filter
- Fit a fresh seawater impellor and gasket
- Reconnect all sea water hoses
- Check the engine and gearbox oil level
- Check the antifreeze level and strength
- Check the stern gland and vent
- Open the raw water inlet seacock and check for leaks
- Test run the engine while alongside and check instrument readings
- Check throttle and gear controls then shut down the engine
Top tips:
- Give everywhere a good clean – this allows for better visual inspections and potential issues can be resolved before escalating
- When winterising, make a check list of every step taken, then when the time comes to recommission, work your way back through the list to ensure you haven’t missed anything
- Don’t forget your tender’s outboard. Get an engineer to service this to ensure it starts when you need it to
If you’d like the experts at Berthon to help recommission your boat you can call us now on 01590 673 312 or see the full checklist of jobs at: www.berthon.co.uk/maintenance
