Fellas - Like many of you, I use my boat through the winter. Since we may get some cold weather soon, I wonder if any of you have any low cost tips on how to keep the lower unit of my outboard from freeze damage. I keep it in covered storage but this will not stop freezing. Will magnetic oil pan heaters work? What do you all do?

False alarm. A friend suggesting common pipe heating tape. Will not overheat and comes on at 38F, off at 45F. Perfect.

Just lower the engine all the way down and let all of the water run out. Thats all you have to do. The oil in the lower unit wont freeze.

Like Chris said let your motor down so the water will run out. Also make sure your lower unit does not have water in it. Just change your lower unit oil, if it is not milky then it doesn't have water in it. Any milky look at all means you have water getting into your lower unit somehow. If you see this you will need to have your lower unit checked for bad seals and gaskets. I have seen lower units that were never serviced and had almost no oil but full of water. Not good. I used to hang out at the local boat shop a good bit and have seen some lower units taken off that would make you wonder how they even were still working. Most of them were probably boats that sit in the water in a boat slip.

When pulling boat out of lake I lower the motor ALL the way down and leave it there for a minute or two while I secure other things before leaving. This gives it time to be sure all water drains out of lower unit. Then I trim it up and secure it on the transom saver and dont think about it again until next trip. Thats all you need to do!