Winterizing and storing it inside..."What needs to be done to the engine?"

I'm storing my boat inside the garage this weekend and have a Mercruiser V-Drive. During my last lake run I put in stabilizer when it was at about a 1/4 of a tank full and let it run through the engine. So what's next? Do I need to run antifreeze through it? Do I need to use De-fogger? The boat won't be at freezing temps in the garage.

We just drain the block/heater core and add a drop light in the engine compartment for the winter.winter. we keep the boat in an unheated garage, but with the 60 watt lightbulb there is enough to keep all of the pumps a.d check valves well above freezing.

No need for antifreeze. Remove the blue drain plugs from the engine. I think there are 8. If you have a heater or shower make sure those lines are drained. Loosen the serpentine belt. There is an adjustment on the top idler to do that. You can spray defogger into the spark plug holes but that is surprisingly hard to do. Mercruiser has a storage technique that requires running the engine so if you are doing that then loosen the belt and remove drain plugs after.
Normally you'd also change engine oil and transmission oil before you store it for a long time. Again, you do this before you quit running. If it's already shut down for the season then just change the oil in the spring.

Dont need to do anything. Buy a fake a lake and pull it out and run it once or twice a month and thats about it.

Drain the block/shower/heater for sure. Even though I keep my boat in a heated shop, it is cheap insurance against a cracked block should the power go out for a long period of time during the winter.

I'm with Seth on this. Make sure the water's drained. I do antifreeze in mine as well, but it's a bit colder here than in CA. There's always the risk of the power going out, and I want to make sure that my boat can survive.

Some people get away with nothing in a climate controlled environment, and just change fluids in the spring!
I like to put stabilizer in, change the oils, fog, and remove the plugs and impellar! Keep the batteries charged!

I live in the same climate Denise does, NorCal, and I do none of the above and my boat is stored outside, hers is going to be inside. A thermostaticly controlled heater next to the engine, a small fan and the battery tender all stay on from dusk till dawn. I have never drained my block, I dont want all the rusty water stains in my bilge, never used stabilizer over the winter, just fill the tank, never do antifreeze or any of that other stuff. Start the engine or at least turn it over once or twice a month to change the position of the impeller and valvetrain and thats it. No issues in 12 years. I know that even on the coldest night here, the temp in the engine area never gets cold enough to freeze anything but I keep the heater in there just for peace of mind. For years it was just a 75 watt bulb in the engine area and that always worked fine. Only issue I ever had was my first boat, a flat bottom speed boat with the engine fully exposed to the open air, popped the freeze plugs one night when it got down in the twenties overnight. (very rare here).

ya know if you guys (and girls) rode year round you wouldnt have to winterize....
:P
haha! i always feel bad for the group when i see these winterizing threads

^^^^Oh I ride year round, dont get me wrong! I would just rather ride behind someone else's boat so mine can stay covered and dry! Ha