Unseasonably warm weather here in the Midwest has cleared all the ice and really been teasing us. No Ice fishing makes me really stir crazy and Ive never had my boat out this early in the year but the 15 day forecast looked good. I charged up the batteries and filled the tanks on my old Eyra. I bought a brand new 175 ProXs last month and didnt think I would be able to use it until at least mid March! Well I couldnt take it anymore so I hit up the Missouri river at Omaha, about the only body of water around here you can put on some serious miles without doing circles and being extremly bored. I put an hour on the engine yesterday on 600 acre lake but I couldnt do it anymore I was getting dizzy. So this morning I headed to the mighty MO. Engine fired right up yesterday and today as it should. My smartcraft gauge said today I had 120 minutes left on break-in I gladly accepted that challenge… Beautiful day a little windy but hey 75 degrees in February Im not complaing. A buddy tagged along for the ride nice to have company even if it is just putting on miles. I filled one tank full 26ga and the other half 13ga. We went 101 miles and used exactly 27 gallons of gas thats 3.74 MPG breaking in my motor running it between 4000 and 5400 RPM with minimal trim! I am thouroughly impressed! My old EFI drank gas even if I was being nice to it! Once it went out of break-in mode I raised my jackplate up and gave her some trim. Down current but into a constant 20 MPH head wind with 30+ gust I got 64 MPH at 5400 RPM with more to go. The shop who installed it lowered my JP Im guessing to make sure I put it under a good load? Dont have it dialed in all the way but so far Im pretty happy, Im really close but I think maybe I can still go up some with the JP, I will play with it more on Monday. Now I just hope spring stays and I dont have to wrap the boat back up!While Im here I suppose I should ask, if it does get really cold again would you guys winterize it? Boat is stored with the engine tucked all the way down to drain any water left in it. I cant imagine it will sit any longer then a few weeks and it would have to get really really cold for me to not take it out for that long, I have no problem fishing in the cold, but will my boat?! I always run Stabil and only buy non-ethanol 87 octane. Im familiar with the Stabil quikclean and 150:1 premium plus premix which now that Im broke in I will be doing every tank. But should I “winterize” the boat if it gets really cold next month?
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