Learning to do it yourself

I just got my boat back from the dealer after getting the 100 hour/yearly service. My manual has a checklist of what to do and I considered doing it myself. It seemed easy enough but when I set out to do it, I realized that with my limited mechanical abilities it would take me a reeeeeaaaaally long time to do it and hopefully I wouldn't screw anything up. So I decided to just fork over the $$$$ to get it done.

Here's the question, anyone else want to do their own service but just unsure of their own ability? Something I would love to do next year is have someone who does their own servicing spend the day with me to teach me how to do it. Now here is the beneficial part to the mechanic. We get a group of people who would like to learn and meet somewhere like an empty parking lot, bring all of our tools and parts, and do it together. Everyone chippping in to pay the mechanic for his services of course. I think it would be a great way to learn and a good way for someone to make a great days wage. Since I plan on owning a boat for decades to come, I don't want to have to dish out big bucks every year to tune up my boat.(I could've really used the money I just spent on the service for stereo upgrades or some other equipment I've been eyeballing) The other plus of course is when you do it yourself, you know it gets done! How's idea sound to you guys? Would anyone be interested? I'm in the Sacramento area by the way.

Get a good manual with diagrams and pictures and you should be set.

Also ask as many questions on forums as you can to make sure you know exactly what you need to know and you should be comfortable. The first time is always the hardest but after that it will be second nature.

I've actually never seen a good shop manual for an Indmar, no idea why.

That's a great idea to hire a mechanic to show you the basics. I bet there are some mobile boat service guys in your area, surely you could talk one of them into giving a class. It wouldn't take more than a couple hours to show you all the routine maintenance.

You will DEFINITELY save yourself a lot of money by learning how to do things yourself. Once you get the feel of things, more complicated projects will be less intimidating too.

I have traditionally done everything myself on my boats. Inboards are pretty straight forward, V-drives are a little trickier since you have to stand on your head to do things. The computers of today's engines can throw a wrench into the works though. My recent purchase is a V-drive and I took it in for its first service to have everything checked over. I'll probably do the rest of the service myself unless I get stumped. I have seen Indmar service manuals on eBay.

Mikey, I'm down for it! I hate shellen out the dough for stuff that I can do...with some guidence first. I'll keep an eye on this post and see if a boat mechanic steps up.

Jesse,
I dropped my prop off at DCR this week. Just like you said, $85 for the repair and they were really cool also. Thanks dude.

I have this book but I really haven't looked at it too much.

http://www.marineengine.com/manuals/clymer/indmar/indmar.html

Thanks for the link Clint. I'm going to contact them for a 2007 edition manual.

Where is DCR? I need to have a prop fixed

DCR Propeller Company is at 4946 Watt Ave #36 95660.
phone: (916) 344-8930

The $85 was because I only had 1 damaged blade. It could be more expensive depending on the size of prop and damage.

Mikey,

Glad to hear DCR has hooked you up, I wonder if they would be down for giving WW users a discount for referrals? I'll make the call to them, maybe find out if they can advertise on this site?

Jesse,

you should get a commision. I wasn't so lucky. The prop I hit the sand bar with was unrepairable. Luckily the guy who sold me the boat also gave me a torn up spare, so torn up that DCR is charging me $135 to fix it. Plus my shaft got bent too and now i have to pay an additional $290 for a new one.

Did I mention that i got a $250 speeding ticket in Oregon the week before or that someone threw a rock through my SUV's back window the week after.

I've learned to just tell them
"put it on my tab"

as for the original post by Mikey, I would definately be interested. Or you can just come check my boat out since it's already in pieces.

Holy bad luck!!!That sucks Matt, hopefully you broke the cycle and all is going to be smooth for the rest of the season. How long is your x-star(profile pic?) going to be in pieces? If your out for long, you can hitch a ride with me when I go out.

Yeah, I need to change the profile pic. That was my parents X they actually have a different one now, My boat is a 89 malibu sunsetter.

i'm not paying some grease monkey 400 bucks to change the fluids, filters and impellers. its not hard and i'm no grease monkey

grease monkeys work on cars we boat mechanics prefer to be called bilge rats

It's hard for me to pay someone to do something I can do myself.

So all you "do it your selfers", How did you learn? or is it that simple, once you get into it? I have put normal stuff like throttle body spacer and intake manifolds,oil changes, spark plugs on my truck, just thought that a boat whould be more difficult

someone make a video and put it on youtube!

Jesse a boat is no more difficult to work on than a car. In many cases, the engine is more accessible that a car. If you are doing tune ups and changing manifolds, etc, you should be able to find your way around a V8 inboard with ease.

I have always worked on my own cars and boats. I have never had any problem that I was not able to overcome as far as simple repairs or maintenance. Availability of information via internet forums etc only makes it easier.

Jesse, just jump into it. More basic than a car IMO. easy to access and pretty straightforward. have fun.

I learned by reading the factory service manuals, asking a lot of questions over at iboats forums (do it in that order if you want decent responses from those guys), and checking out a few videos on youtube when I don't understand a certain concept (ex. engine timing). I also learned real early on that if the procedure calls for specialty tools, you'll spend at least 1.5 extra hours per specialty tool you try to get by without. As long as you have the tools and the manual, boat work is just as easy as automotive work.