03-18-2013, 04:43 PM
HNH,
It sounds like you are already one up on me as far as using the ethanol free stuff. I have been using a Strikemaster for about 15 years and have done virtually nothing in terms of being smart. I actually would put it away with regular (premium) gas mixed with the correct oil ratio and not worry about it until the following year in which I would drain it then put new gas in and fire it up. It progressively ran worse and worse and the "nearly" final straw came this year when I actually started it up with the old gas in it. Even pulling the air cleaner and using large quantities of starter fluid didn't bail me out of this stupid move so I researched some of the ice fishing boards other than ours. It would seem that the smart people use ethanol free gas and always mix in the proper amount of Seafoam motor treatment. Since this has stabilizer in it, keeping it full over the summer and dumping then refilling before the following season would seem a reasonable course. Some of the guys add Stabil before layup but I am not sure that would be any different. For your information, I recovered from my problem without rebuilding or mechanic help by running some Seafoam Deep Creep through it although it still is not quite right and will probably need some actual mechanical attention before next season. You can get the Seafoam motor treatment almost anywhere (e.g. O'Reillys) but in the Boise area, only Kaps Auto Wholesale carrys the Deep Creep.
As far as your suggestion of keeping it dry through the layup, I do not know the answer to that. Paranoid boat owners do that with their outboards but I never have and have not had a problem with my boat but I often take it out late fall and early spring. For ice augers, I just wonder if there are seals that might dry out in there. I think that I would lay it up wet with stabilizer since I know that it works....
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It sounds like you are already one up on me as far as using the ethanol free stuff. I have been using a Strikemaster for about 15 years and have done virtually nothing in terms of being smart. I actually would put it away with regular (premium) gas mixed with the correct oil ratio and not worry about it until the following year in which I would drain it then put new gas in and fire it up. It progressively ran worse and worse and the "nearly" final straw came this year when I actually started it up with the old gas in it. Even pulling the air cleaner and using large quantities of starter fluid didn't bail me out of this stupid move so I researched some of the ice fishing boards other than ours. It would seem that the smart people use ethanol free gas and always mix in the proper amount of Seafoam motor treatment. Since this has stabilizer in it, keeping it full over the summer and dumping then refilling before the following season would seem a reasonable course. Some of the guys add Stabil before layup but I am not sure that would be any different. For your information, I recovered from my problem without rebuilding or mechanic help by running some Seafoam Deep Creep through it although it still is not quite right and will probably need some actual mechanical attention before next season. You can get the Seafoam motor treatment almost anywhere (e.g. O'Reillys) but in the Boise area, only Kaps Auto Wholesale carrys the Deep Creep.
As far as your suggestion of keeping it dry through the layup, I do not know the answer to that. Paranoid boat owners do that with their outboards but I never have and have not had a problem with my boat but I often take it out late fall and early spring. For ice augers, I just wonder if there are seals that might dry out in there. I think that I would lay it up wet with stabilizer since I know that it works....
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