How To Winterize Your Pond

Water ponds have became more popular in recent years and many people have added them to their landscapes. The soothing sound of water, the plants and fish all combine to add a touch of nature to your yard. While ponds require very little work in the summer if they’re set up right, preparing your pond for the winter months will take a little more work.

If you have any annual plants in your pond, you might as well pull them up and throw them away, annuals just won’t survive the cold weather. Water lilies on the other hand are quite expensive and you can easily keep them alive through the winter. And, it’s well worth the effort to not have to spend all that money replacing them in the spring.

Take all of the lilies out of the pond and cut down any foilage, cut the buds off as well, but hold on to them. You can try placing the buds in a dish of water and you just might get them to bloom! After you’ve gotten all of the stems cut off, put the lilies in a tub of water with the water just covering the crown of the plant. Place the tub in a cool area such as a basement and just remember to keep them moist until spring.

If you have any bog plants, they can be brought indoors and treated in the same way you would a houseplant. Keep them in a well lit area of your home and make sure to keep them moist. The extra care you take to winterize your pond plants will mostly depend on whether you’d rather just replace them with new ones or save the money and go the extra mile.

If your pond is deep enough, or if you’re winters aren’t severe and the water won’t freeze solid, you can leave the fish in the pond during the winter. One of my friends has a pond and he never removes his fish, I was really shocked to find out that they can survive the top of the water being frozen over! But, they will do just fine!

If the water is going to freeze solid, remove the fish and keep them in a large tub of water through the winter. If you have a lot of fish you may have to use several tubs so that they’re not all cramped together. Use water from the pond to avoid any shock from temperature changes, place the tubs in an area such as a basement and add a pump to provide oxygen.

After everything is removed from the pond, drain all of the water out so that you can clean it. All you need to do is to remove the hose from the pump and hang it over the side of the pond. Remove any plant debris, dirt and algae with a water hose and a brush if you need to scrub the pond.

You can either let the pond remain empty until spring or fill it back up with water. If you’re going to leave it empty, put the pump inside a bucket of water and store it away. To make sure that your pump works properly in the spring, plug it in every few weeks and let it run for a little while to circulate the water. This will help maintain the gaskets and keep them hydrated.

If you decide to fill the pond back up with water, you can either just leave it as it is and allow it to freeze, or place a piece of plywood on top of it to help protect it. But, whether you leave it empty or fill it back up with water, you’ll need to clean it again in the spring before adding the fish and plants back into it.

How To Properly And Safely Thaw Frozen Pipes

Winter weather generally means frozen water pipes at one time or another during the season. Frozen pipes aren’t only a big inconvenience, they can cause a lot of damage if left alone or if thawed out in the wrong way. Extensive damage can mean having to spend lot’s of money and calling a professional or crawling up under your home in freezing weather.

Frozen water can place over 2,000 pounds of pressure per square inch on the pipes. And, several hundreds of gallons of water can gush from a burst pipe each and every hour. Not only does freezing cause damage to your pipes, it can also result in thousands of dollars of water damage to walls, foundations and other parts of your home.

Water expands as it freezes and pipes will eventually crack and burst with enough expansion. Often small cracks, such as hairline cracks will quickly freeze over when they begin to leak and you may not even realize that a pipe has cracked until the weather gets warm enough for the ice to melt.

The first step to any repair is of course to find the source of the problem. This isn’t always easy when it comes to frozen pipes. If you don’t have water in any of the faucets, then the leak is somewhere between the water meter and where the pipes branch off to different areas of the home.

If the water is frozen off in only one area of the home, it is generally either in the wall or the crawl space. The pipes that are at the greatest risk of freezing are located in the outside walls of your home or in an unheated or uninsulated crawlspace area.

Often you can find the frozen area by the evidence of frost or ice on the pipe. And, if the frozen water in the pipe has already expanded to a critical stage, there may be a bulge in the pipe at the area of the freeze.

If you have a frozen plastic or PVC pipe and it’s in an easily accessible area such as under the sink, you can sometimes simply use a hair dryer to thaw the pipe. Don’t hold the hair dryer in one position, move it around in the area that you think is frozen.

With any type of pipe, you can often just wrap a heating pad around it and keep it turned to a low temperature for plastic and a higher temperature for metal or copper pipes. And, hot rags can even be used to try to thaw the pipe. Soak the rags in hot water around 105* and wrap them around the pipe, each time the rags cool, soak them in the hot water and wrap them back around the pipe.

A heat lamp is an excellent tool to use in thawing frozen pipes. Just make sure that you don’t leave it unattended, it can get hot enough to ignite flammable materials. And, don’t forget to turn the faucet on so that the melting water will have a exit out of the pipe.

How To Keep Your Home Safe From Fire During the Holidays

The holiday season brings feelings of love and family, giving, sharing and an overall general joy. But, all of those feelings can quickly be replaced with sadness, loss and destruction! Hundreds of fires start each holiday season from the sparkling holiday lights and the beautifully decorated Christmas trees.

The statistics are staggering, each year over 400 people die from fires during the holiday season. Over 1,600 people are injured by fire and over $990 million in damage is done to homes, businesses and other stuctures. There are some simple steps that you can take to help ensure that your holiday stays a happy and safe one!

A tree that is getting to dried out is one of the major causes of fires during the Christmas season. When you’re shopping for the perfect tree, keep these simple things in mind to make sure you’re getting a fresh tree. The needles should be real green and be hard to pull back if the tree is fresh. Pick the tree up off the ground and let it bounce, if a lot of needles fall off, keep looking for a different tree.

Make sure to make a fresh cut on the bottom of the trees trunk so that it can absorb as much water as possible. Erect your tree in a stand that is the correct size to hold the tree you choose. And, make sure to check the water in the reservoir daily. Even when the tree is kept with a good supply of water, most trees will dry out within two weeks.

If you want to use a real tree, don’t purchase it too early and don’t leave it up too long after the holidays. Place your tree in an area away from any heat source such as radiators, vents and fireplaces. Any type of heat that is close to the tree will cause it to dry out even faster.

If you’re using last years Christmas lights, make sure to check them over thoroughly. Look for any bare spots, frayed wires, a cracked or broken socket and also check for any severe kinks in the wire. A badly kinked wire could be broken on the inside of the insulation and you won’t even be able to see it.

Most Christmas lights sold today are approved by the UL testing laboratory. But, you may want to check just to make sure that your lights are. When using lights for outdoor decorating, make sure that they’re UL approved for outdoor use, never use indoor only lights outside. And, unless your lights are especially approved for connecting a lot of strands, don’t connect more than three strands of lights together.

Remember to check the lights wires now and then, they shouldn’t be warm or especially not hot. If the wire are heating up, unplug them and remove the lights and replace them immediately. And, never leave your Christmas lights plugged in when you’re gone.

When attaching Christmas lights to the eaves of your home or anywhere on the outside, you should never use nails or staples. Plastic clips are much safer to use around electricity. But, if you do use staples or nails to attach the lights, take extra care to not pierce the light wires.

If you have a fireplace, don’t burn gift wrap, gift boxes and other types of trash in the fireplace. The paper and cardboard can quickly create a large blaze that can get out of control.

Candles are great to use all year long, but they can really add to the wonderful holiday atmosphere. Never leave them burning unattended and discard candles when they’re down to about two inches tall. And, be really careful about where you place the candles. Don’t set them too near flammable materials.

How To Prepare Your Heating Radiators for Winter Use

Radiators have been used to heat homes for hundreds of years, although they’re rarely used in new homes these days. But, many older homes still use radiators as their main heating system. One of the great advantages of radiators is that they need very little work to keep the hot water system maintained.

However, there are a few things that need to be done to keep your radiators providing the most heat possible for your home or apartment. Before you start using your radiators for the winter, you should check them to make sure that they’re working properly.

When your homes radiators sit all summer, air can leak into the system. The air will take up extra space inside the radiators and prevent the hot water from circulating properly. With less room for the water to circulate through the system, the radiator will produce less heat.

Much like you do brakes on a car, you need to bleed your radiator to remove he excess air. Turn the heat on and allow the system to build up some heat. If you have more than one floor in your home, start with the radiators that are in the upstairs rooms first. You want to start with the radiators that are located in the furthest room from the boiler.

There is a small air vent or bleeding valve located on the top end, it is made specifically for releasing trapped air. Depending on your radiators, you’ll need either a radiator key or a screwdriver to open the valve. Some will be equipped with a handle.

Be very careful when you open the valve, not only will the trapped air come out, some of the hot water will to. Hold something underneath the valve to catch any of the water that leaks out. The air will make a hissing noise as it leaves the radiator, after the hissing stops and water starts to come out, close the valve.

The radiators pipe connections should also be checked each season. The packing that is used around them can wear out and over time the connections can become loose. If you notice any signs of dampness and moisture around the connections, try to tighten them with a wrench.

If they still get damp after you’ve tightened them, you will need to replace the old packing. Pipe packing resembles string, it’s wrapped around the pipe threads and can be purchases at more home centers or hardware stores. Turn the supply valve off and loosen the nut and remove the old packing. Wrap new packing around the threads tightly and then tighten the nut back up.

Those old well known bangs and clangs from radiators is caused by loose pipes. The water will cause the pipe to contract and expand as the water is constantly heating and cooling. This causes slight movement in the pipes and will eventually cause them to become loose.

These noises can often be stopped by making sure that all of the pipes are securely attached. You can also use insulation to pack any slack or holes around the pipes where they enter the wall or floor. Another cause of radiator banging is walls, moulding, framing and other materials being placed too close to the heater.

Each radiator should be on a slight slope. The slope should be leaning towards the inlet pipe that is coming up from the floor or our of the wall. If your radiators don’t have a gentle slope, place a small 1/4 inch wood wedge under the end of the radiator where the vent is located.

Check all of your vents to make sure that there aren’t any blockages. Corrosion, rust, paint and dirt can keep the hot air from escaping from the vents. If you find that your vent is blocked, it’s easy to replace and can be purchases at most hardware stores. Let the radiator cool down and unscrew the old vent and replace it.

You should also check the position of your inlet valve. The valve should be all the way open for the winter months, or all the way closed during the summer. One that is just partially open can cause noises and can’t regulate the heat. All you have to do is turn the valve to either position you want.

How To Hook Up a High Definition Television

The television viewing experience is quickly heading toward HD. High Definition is becoming the new standard for televisions. Many of the networks are now offering a lot of their programs with digital sound and HD. If you’re not tech savvy, hooking an HD television up can be a little daunting.

There are a complex group of inputs and outputs on the back of HDTV’s. Getting everything hooked up properly into these small ports can mean the difference between loving your new television and wanting to take it back for a refund!

Most HD televisions will have these small ports color coded. The white, yellow and red ports are your audio video ports. Almost all new televisions will have several of these ports to allow you to connect other electronics such as a DVD player and a gaming console.

The S-Video Line-in will be a round port that has a slit and multiple holes. It’s generally used to provide the video for a DVD player. It will give you a clearer picture than the normal yellow plug. The DVI port supplies a digital picture, but it won’t provide any sound. HDMI provides  both digital sound and picture.

The Digital Audio Optical Input/Output also provides digital sound. Using these ports will give you a crisp, clear sound that is much better than the basic red and white ports. The CB, CR and Y input and output can be used for better picture quality. They’re generally red, blue and green and can be used in place of the yellow port.

The Cable Satellite input port is where you get the input to the television from the cable. You’ll only need to use this port if you don’t have a digital converter box. Now that you know what everything does, you can figure out the best way to hook up your HDTV.

For the very best sound and picture, hook your cable to the digital converter box. Use the HDMI or DVI ports to connect the converter box to the A/V input. Now connect the A/V receiver up to the input ports located
on the back of the television. When using the DVI port, remember that it’s only for the video. So make sure you also connect the digital/audio on the converter box to the A/V port that’s on the television.

If you’re happy to just have better sight and sound than ordinary television connect your CB, CR and Y outputs into the converter box to the same coded inputs that are on the A/V receiver. And, connect them to the matching ports on the back of the television.

The fastest and easiest way to hook up your HDTV is by connecting your converter box to the receiver using the S-Video cable. Then use another S-Video cable to hook the box to the television. To have audio you’ll need to connect the red and white cables into the television.

While using the S-Video cables will let you watch your favorite programs, it won’t be of the best quality. In fact, the sound and picture quality will be very similar to what you got from your ordinary television. If you’re going to invest the money in the latest technology, then why not spend the extra time hooking it up to get the quality that you paid for?

How To Create Free Art Work For Home Decorating

Having beautiful art work for your home can be very pricey. Some framed art work can cost as much as a piece of furniture. But, even if you’re on a tight decorating budget, you don’t have to skimp on wall decor. With a little imagination and time, you can create your own art work from things you already have or things that are free!

If you have a contemporary styled home, black and white photos look great framed in metal. Botanicals, florals and landscapes add to a traditional design and florals also look excellent in a cottage style home. If you have a country themed decor, weathered or antique looking frames will blend right in.

If you need some pictures to hang on your kitchen walls, consider using some restaurant menus! Most restaurants will give you a menu absolutely free and they make really unique framed pictures. Another great idea for the kitchen is to frame some favorite recipes. Or, even a wine list from your favorite restaurant!

Plates are another great way to create art work for a kitchen or dining room. And, if you have a few pieces of antique silverware, they’d look really nice hanging in a shadow box frame. In fact, you can hang almost any type of kitchen utensil in a shadow box frame.

Some of the calendars you can find have gorgeous pictures of flowers, scenery, animals and various other things. You can purchase a themed calendar and create 12 coordinating pictures for your wall. In many cases you can pick up free calendars at some banks or merchants and not have to spend anything on the pictures!

Cards are another excellent low cost choice for creating your own art work. Create a collage of sports cards for a unique picture for a boy’s room. A collection of post cards from some of the trips you’ve taken can make a great collage. And, for an entertainment or gaming room, even a deck of playing cards can make a great conversation piece.

I have a picture hanging in my living room that has trees and plant life in the background and some gorgeous hummingbirds flying around in the foreground. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on that picture and every one is really surprised to find out that it used to be a t-shirt!

I just cut the design out of the shirt, pulled it taut on a thin piece of cardboard and taped it down on the back. Even when I tell people that it was a shirt, no one believes me. This would be great to take t-shirts with different sports teams and make a whole collection of pictures for a sports fans room! Or, once your little girl has outgrown her Disney shirts, make some unique pictures for her room with them.

Another cheap way to make some gorgeous art work is by printing off pictures that you’ve taken yourself. That gorgeous picture of the sun setting on the ocean that you took on your last vacation would look wonderful hanging in your bathroom! Or, even the picture of a snow covered mountain you took on a ski trip!

We all take pictures of our family and friends, but it’s easy to find all kinds of scenery to snap pictures of to turn into art work. Take your camera with you where ever you go, you never know when you’ll run across and old barn, a farm, horses or anything that would look just gorgeous hanging on your walls!

How To Build Your Own Fire Pit

A fire pit can make your back yard a popular gathering place on cool evenings. But, they can also be enjoyed year round as well. Fire pits are becoming widely popular and they’re very easy to install. They’re also very easy to build yourself.

The location that you choose to install your fire pit should be several feet away from anything! The heat from a pit placed to close to plants and shrubs will damage and even kill them. You also don’t want to place one too close to a pool, fence or your home. The ash and soot generated by a fire pit can be quite damaging.

Although in most communities, something as small as a fire pit don’t require approval, you may want to check your building codes just in case. And, checking with your local utilities before installing a fire pit is very important. You obviously don’t want a gas line or water line right under neath a blazing fire!

Once you’ve chosen your location, mark an outline of where you want the pit to be. Keep in mind that the area needs to be large enough to accommodate the fireplace grate and provide at least one to two feet of space on each side. You don’t want to make the perimeter to large, you won’t be able to enjoy the heat from the fire.

You can use flour to mark the area, or use a stick to dig out a small trench marking the spot. All of the plant life, such as grass will need to be completely removed from the area. If you can remove the grass in layers, you can set it aside to use it to fill in any areas around the pit when your finished with it.

The hardest part of the project is removing the dirt. You will need to dig down and remove around six inches of the soil from the entire area where the pit will be located. Set the soil aside with the grass to use to fill in bare spots later.

After you’ve removed the proper amount of soil, smooth the ground out with a rake. The perimeter of the fire pit needs to be lined with some type of fire proof landscaping material. You can choose to add pieces of rock, or even decorative rocks such as moss rock. If you want to use brick make sure that you purchase fire brick, regular brick will usually explode if they get too hot.

Once you’ve gotten the entire edge of the pit lined, you can create a decorative floor. If you expect drainage to be a problem, you can install a drain pipe into the floor of the pit. The bottom can be decorated with gravel, sand or even heat resistant lava rocks.

Whatever you choose to use, there should be at least a two to three inch layer on the entire bottom. This will not only make the fire pit look much nicer, it will also prevent an unsightly mud hole from forming around your pit when it rains.

After you’ve gotten all of this done, set your fireplace grate in the center of your pit. Any kind of wood will work for burning in the pit, but in some communities they prohibit the burning of certain types of wood. Some wood will create noxious vapors, so check with your local authorities before lighting your new fire pit.

Use the extra soil and grass to fill in any bare spots around the pit and in between the bricks or stones you used to line the pit. And, if you’d like to landscape the area, place some plants around the perimeter. Just make sure that you choose plants that won’t vine, or grow over into the pit.

How To Choose And Coordinate Fabrics For Decorating

Fabrics are one of the best ways to accessorize your homes decor. And, with all of the different choices of colors and patterns that you can find, there’s always something that will look great in any room.

Whether you decide to use fabrics that blend in with your decor, or fabrics that catch the eye and make a statement, choosing the right fabrics can finish off the rooms look.

When choosing fabric, there’s not only limitless colors and designs, there’s also several types of fabrics. Some fabrics are better for certain things than other because of durability, usability and overall easy care of the material.

Cotton fabric holds colors and designs very well and even comes in different finishes. You can either choose cotton that has a natural finish, or you can find many cotton fabrics that has a sheen. Cotton makes the best choices for pillow covers, table cloths, table runners and even drapes and curtains.

There are many types of polyester and nylon materials, they are especially woven so that they look like natural fibers. Depending on the weave, the thickness of these types of fabrics makes them work well for draperies and pillows as well. They’re also great to use if you want some really unique looking sheers for your drapes.

Using velvet in your room adds a formal, elegant feel. And, although velvet is very soft and luxurious to the touch, it can also be very durable. Some antique chairs that were upholstered with velvet have withstood time and use very well. Velvet comes in different thicknesses and you should choose accordingly for the project you’ll be using the fabric for.

Velvet curtains can add a lot of elegance to your window treatment. And, it’s also excellent for making throw pillows for your living room or bedroom. It’s a very versatile material that can be used for almost anything you’d like to decorate.

If you need a really rugged fabric, denim is perfect. But, it’s only good for adding to a casual decor. It’s really great for kids rooms since it can hold up to a lot of abuse. And, denim is available in more colors than just the common blue. You can often find it in red, black, white and other colors as well. But, if you can’t find the perfect color, denim can be dyed very easily.

Linen is classy and beautiful, but only when it’s pressed! If you don’t like the wrinkled look, don’t choose linen. It will wrinkle almost immediately even after pressing. It works great for draperies though, since you rarely have to touch them.

Although, silk is very fragile, it can be used for certain projects. It’s great to add texture to your room because it comes in so many different types of finishes. It’s not the best choice for high traffic, high usage areas, but it can add a touch of romance and elegance to a bedroom.

Coordinating your fabric colors and designs is really simple and can add a professional look to your homes decor. Just remember to keep all of the fabrics background colors the same. Also, repeat the colors in each design that you use. If one fabric has shades of pinks, choose all your fabrics with shades of pinks.

Mixing different sizes of designs can add interest to the decor. For instance, if you’re using florals, choose some fabrics with small flowers, some with medium sized flowers and some with large, bold flowers.

How To Remove Stains On Marble

Marble is a beautiful natural stone that is popular for both counter tops and flooring. Marble tiles are also very popular for walls in bathrooms and kitchens. Marble is not as hard as some people believe, it is prone to scratches and can even absorb many stains.

If you try to clean your marble with some type of commercial cleaner, read the label carefully. Some cleaners contain acids which will remove the polish off of the surface of your marble if it’s left sitting on the marble for long periods of time. Cleaners that are labeled non-streak that have a high alkaline content will also damage the finish.

The best way to clean marble is with a mild detergent that has a neutral pH level. Sweeping and vacuuming can take care of most of the every day cleaning needs of marble flooring. If you are going to try a commercial cleaner, try it in a hidden spot to make sure it’s not going to damage the tiles before applying it to the entire area.

Hard Water Deposits

If you have hard water and have marble kitchen counters, a marble bathroom vanity or tub, then eventually you’ll have to deal with hard water stains. Since harsh chemicals could just damage the marble, one of the best ways to remove the water scale is by using a straight edged razor blade. Just take your time and make sure to keep the blade flat against the marble when you’re scraping of the deposits.

If you’re not real confident in using a razor blade on your beautiful marble vanity, try buffing the spots with a real find grade steel wool. Ammonia will dull the finish on marble if used too much, but you can use a half cup of mild ammonia and a gallon of warm water and a soft brush to remove water stains.

Rust

To clean rust off of marble, you’ll need a commercial rust remover and some powdered whiting. Whiting is available at most paint and hardware stores. Make a paste combining the two and cover the stain with a thick layer. Use some plastic wrap to cover the paste and take it to the area to keep the moisture in the paste mixture. Let it set for around 15 minutes and the rinse the area with water and dry it with a clean towel. If the stain isn’t completely gone, repeat the process.

Organic Stains

Coffee, tea and tobacco can all leave a unsightly brown stain on marble. Sometimes the stain can be removed simply by soaking it with a 20% solution of hydrogen peroxide. If not, make a paste with some of the whiting and peroxide. Cover the stain and then seal the spot with plastic wrap and tape it down. After around 24 hours you can check the spot to see if the stain is gone, if it’s not, leave the paste mixture in place for another 24 hours.

Scratches

No matter how careful you are, from time to time you’re going to end up with a scratch on your marble, especially if it’s marble flooring. Start out Using a coarse grit sandpaper and work your way up to a 320 grit. Use moderate pressure sanding back and forth, to reduce the amount of friction, frequently sprinkle some water on the area. Once the scratch is gone, use from 400 to 600 grit sandpaper to smooth the area. Mix some water and rottenstone and rub the area with a felt pad, polish with a clean, soft cloth.

Oil

The oils found in lotions, hand creams and other items such as butter can leave stains on marble. If the stain is fresh, immediately cover it with a fine powder to absorb the oil. Whiting can be used, but corn starch will usually work just as well. Let the powder sit for awhile and then brush the area to remove it and apply more powder to the area.

How To Prepare Your Boat For Winter

If you love all the water activities your boat allows you to enjoy, then you’re probably not looking forward to the winter. You’ve taken care of your boat all summer to keep it running it’s best, now you have to take some special steps to make sure it’s ready to go when you are when spring arrives.

Not taking the proper steps to protect your boat and motor from the cold weather could mean costly repairs. And, in extremely cold weather it could even mean having to replace your motor before you can use your boat again. The little extra effort spent on winter protection, will be well worth the time.

Many gas stations now have gas that contains 10% ethanol. This gas is fine to use in your boat as long as it’s not allowed to sit in the tank and lines for long periods of time. If it just stands in your fuel system, it separates into gas and water and can cause a lot of damage.

The best way to make sure there’s no damage to your boat from the gasoline, is to completely drain the tank and lines. Drain as much as you can out of the tank and then run the motor long enough to empty the carburetor and the fuel lines.

If you have an idea of when you’re going to be using your boat for the last time of the season, it’s a good idea not to put more gas in the tank than you’ll be using for the day. But, you don’t want to go to the trouble of draining the tank, then make sure that you top the gas tank off.

It’s much better for it to sit all winter with a full tank of gas than one that is half empty. Just remember to leave a little extra room so that the gas will be able to expand. A tank that is completely full won’t allow for air flow through the vent and will result in condensation and the fuel separating.

I always helped my Dad when he’d get ready to prepare his boat for the winter. He always emptied his tank, he never left any gas in it during the winter in all the years he owned his boat. It really didn’t take that long to get all of the gas out of gas out of the boat.

Aside from the fuel separating and causing damage, the ethanol can chemically react with many of the tanks that are made out of fiberglass. It will cause the entire tank to deteriorate and you’ll have to replace the fuel tank.

Some fiberglass is especially made to withstand the chemicals that ethanol contains. But, unless your owners manual states that your tank is made of these materials, or you can talk to the manufacture, it’s not worth taking the chance of damaging the tank.

Next you will want to drain the water from the motor and then refill it with antifreeze. Take the fog cylinders and spark plugs out and use an clean rag to wipe the engine with a good lubricant to help prevent rusting from the winter moisture. You can add some extra protection to your boat motor by changing the oil and oil filter.

Once you’ve gotten your motor ready for winter, make sure to keep your boat well covered to protect the boat itself. This was one problem I had with my Dad. He always wanted to use the cheap blue tarps, they will not hold up to the weather and unless you want to replace them several times before spring, invest the money in a good quality boat covering.

Protecting your boat and motor from damage is very important, but your trailer should get a little extra attention to. It’s best if you can put it up on blocks and get it off the ground. Make sure you oil the trailer jack, the winch and the rollers really well and take the time to grease the wheel bearings.

Last of all, remove the battery and store it in a dry place such as a garage or storage shed. This will help it maintain a charge and also help to keep it conditioned. And, you should check on your boat now and then just to make sure that the wind hasn’t blown the tarp or covering loose.