skeeter_zxr_kentuckyOPBack deckPaducah, KY33 posts, joined Nov 2025#1
Rig 2021 Skeeter ZXR 20, Yamaha SHO 250
night before Thanksgiving and the boat is in the garage under a cover with 14 hours on it since it got here. that is my whole complaint, so here is the story while i wait for the pies.
2021 Skeeter ZXR 20, Yamaha SHO 250 (the VF250), Skeeter trailer, Humminbird Solix 12 at the console and a Helix 10 up front, Minn Kota Ultrex, twin Power-Pole Blades. bank repo. it was at a lender yard outside Tulsa and i bought it online from Conaway's Auto Sales in October with a sealed bid.
first try did not go my way. in September i bid on a 2020 FXR 21 at what i thought was a strong number and lost. blind bid, nobody tells you what the winning number was. it bugged me for a week. two weeks later the ZXR came up, i bid 51,800, raised nothing, and it was mine.
Tulsa to Paducah is a little over 500 miles and delivery is free up to 1,000, so the hauling cost me nothing. it showed up October 24, which left me exactly two weekends on Kentucky Lake before the wind turned.
so now my real question. i have never winterized a SHO and i do not want my first big repair on this boat to be my own fault. it lives in an unheated garage, Paducah gets into the teens a few nights most winters. what am i doing.
sunday_draw_guyFront deckMany, LA74 posts, joined Nov 2025#2
Rig 2013 Skeeter FX20, Yamaha VMAX SHO 250
i have had a SHO on the FX20 for twelve years, this is what i do, which is close to what the Yamaha manual says.
fill it to roughly 95 percent with ethanol free if you can get it, treat it with stabilizer, run the motor long enough to get treated fuel all the way through. change the water separating fuel filter. fog it if you want, a lot of SHO guys skip it on a garage boat and run it once a month instead. change the lower unit oil now, not in spring, so whatever water is in there is not sitting all winter.
leave the motor tucked down so the water drains out of it. a SHO left tilted up in a freeze is how people crack things.
batteries on a maintainer. and pull the drain plug and hang it on the steering wheel so you remember in March.
merc_pro_xs_techTop tenClarksville, TN137 posts, joined Nov 2025#3
Rig 2015 Ranger Z518, Mercury 200 Pro XS
i am the Merc guy, but the advice is the same. one thing to add for a boat with a history you do not know. when you change the lower unit oil, look at the drain plug magnet. a little fuzz is normal. chunks are not. on a repo that sat outside you want to know now.
and run the livewell and bilge pumps until they spit air so nothing sits in the lines. those pumps freeze and crack before anything else on a bass boat.
skeeter_zxr_kentuckyOPBack deckPaducah, KY33 posts, joined Nov 2025#4
Rig 2021 Skeeter ZXR 20, Yamaha SHO 250
did all of it saturday. lower unit oil was clean, magnet had a little gray fuzz and nothing else. 31 gallons of ethanol free from the marina in Gilbertsville to top it off, stabilizer, new fuel filter. livewell pumps run dry.
the part i did not plan for. Kentucky charges a 6 percent usage tax on a boat bought out of state when you register it, on the purchase price. 3,108 dollars at the county clerk in Paducah. i knew the number existed and still felt it. registration and numbers on top. the paperwork from conaways was in order, the clerk only had to look at the notarized pages and the Oklahoma title once.
no fault to report so far, other than a trim gauge that reads two bars high. i will deal with it in spring.
late_fall_smallmouthFront deckChattanooga, TN88 posts, joined Nov 2025#5
Rig 2019 Nitro Z21, Mercury 250 Pro XS
you live on Kentucky Lake and you are winterizing in November. there are smallmouth on the gravel banks below the dam in January that would make you cry. i drive four hours for those fish.
i get it, the garage is unheated. but a lot of guys keep the boat ready, treat the fuel, keep the batteries charged and pick nice days. if you do that, put a cheap thermostat heater in the bilge or pull the boat inside the night it gets into the teens.
mod_curtis_hModeratorRussellville, AR212 posts, joined Nov 2025#6
Rig 2018 Phoenix 819 Pro, Mercury 250 Pro XS
thanks for putting the tax number in, that is the line most people leave out and the one the next buyer needs most. the board rules say price and you gave all of it.
for the folks reading who have not done this: your state's tax rules apply when you register, wherever the boat was sitting when you bought it from the conaway's lots, and that tax is your problem. Kentucky's 6 percent is not unusual. check what your state charges before the bid goes in.
skeeter_zxr_kentuckyOPBack deckPaducah, KY33 posts, joined Nov 2025#7
Rig 2021 Skeeter ZXR 20, Yamaha SHO 250
listened to late_fall_smallmouth. took it out last saturday, 44 degree water, launched at Kenlake, fished gravel banks with a 3/8 jig and a jerkbait. four smallmouth, the best one 4 pounds 3 ounces, and my fingers did not work for an hour after.
SHO started on the second crank after sitting since early December. ran great. 68 mph on the run back with a north wind on the nose.
i did not bother the conaways people about the trim gauge, a new sender is 90 dollars and i would rather just fix it. for a 2021 ZXR i am still about 14,000 under the cheapest one i found at a dealer, before tax.
Log in to reply. No account yet? Ask a mod, it takes a day or two.
