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A Petrol Engine Lay-up Kit from www.enginewise.co.uk. Includes a dehydration plug kit for 10, 12 or 14mm spark plug holes, silica gel capsule and sachet regeneration kit, plus a spray bottle of VapourOil internal protection.
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Now that the nights are longer, there's one more thing you need to do before taking to your armchair in front of the fire. You guessed it, since you're less likely to be out on the water, you should make sure your engine is properly winterised. Doubly so if the engine is outside, with the boat in the water, and not going to be used.
Why so crucial? Well, we're not talking a quick-fix with a bottle of anti-freeze here. In fact all anti-freeze will do is protect your cooling system - not exactly the thing when you're about to shiver your tootsies off. No, the big enemy of engines is the stuff you see dripping off your hull every morning as the temperatures plummet lower - condensation.
Condensation, water vapour, moisture - the problem has many names. The result it causes is probably the ugliest fate any engine could suffer - rust. And don't think because the insides of an engine are closed off from the elements that your pride and joy is immune. Condensation forms spontaneously wherever there's an air to metal surface, all it needs is low temperature to set it off. Which means the inside of cylinders, pistons, gear trains, drive shafts, the works - are all prone to rust formation without regular use, and a life-saving film of oil, to protect them.
OK, there are a lot of measures you can take, depending on the kind of engine you have. So here are a few common-sense tips you can use on any engine - petrol or diesel, two-stroke or four-stroke, outboard or inboard, that don't need an HND in engineering.
First, plug the holes - and there are a lot of them! That's because an engine has to breathe in order to work - so depending on the kind of engine you have there are likely to be intake and exhaust ports through which air can get in, plus spark plugs or injectors which also need protection. If you're improvising, you can even seal these up with old newspapers if you like.
But probably the most effective method is to use tightly packed sachets of silica gel, the same stuff that keeps the moisture out of that schnazzy new DVD player you're buying yourself for Christmas. If you're clever, get the kind that changes colour when they become saturated, so you know to replace them if condensation is particularly high. (Get a silica gel regeneration kit at the same time, that way you can use the sachets over and over again.) Spark plugs can be replaced with sealer plugs (obtainable from www.enginewise.co.uk) or tight twists of newspaper.
Spare a thought for the rest of the engine too. When it's not being used, the moving parts are no longer protected by the thin film of oil pumped over working surfaces. The solution? First change the lube oil before finally laying your boat up for winter, so that the last time the engine runs it gets a good coating of fresh clean lubricating oil. Then use one of those fine oil sprays that makes a vapour to coat exposed metal. The lube oil will drain away to the sump as the engine cools at rest. But the oil spray will remain, keeping the engine safe from water droplet formation.
