Maintenance

How many of you tackle the majority of the routine maintenance..(oil, tranny, impeller, or anything else i may have missed.) Thinking of doing it myself but dont want to f anything up. How hard is it really?

(Message edited by chrissocal on February 20, 2003)

Depends on the boat motor combo and your knowledge of engines. I have a PCM engine and their manuals are pretty good explaining how to do most all maintenance. Tune-ups will probably require some tool purchases. Plug wrench, gaper etc. Newer engines are pretty low maint. with fuel injection and platinum tipped plugs. Usually just changing the oil and making sure your impellers are in good shape. Contact your engine manufacturer and see if maintenance manuals are available for your engine. These will set you back about 75 bucks but will pay for themselves with the first tune up. If they are good manuals, they will tell you everything and have good photos to help understand. I have the factory manuals for every car, boat engine I owne and they make life easy.

Good luck

Mark

It is really easy if you have any experience. I actually do the maintence on four other boats in the neighborhood. It's something I enjoy for some reason.

Travis Farber
Wake Me Products
www.Wake-Me.com

I do my own maintenance. It's really not that hard, and I can change the fluids quicker than I can get the boat to the dealer.

My own. Closest dealer is over an hour away, and I doubt I'd pay them for basic maintenance anyway.

Then again, I started on old boats that were fixer uppers. great way to learn things and I just kept doing my own work.

I put gas in it. That's about it.

I'm with Swass. Plus, I have a good dealer that I trust.
I did mount the board racks on the tower myself ;o).

I do the fluids, winterize, etc. I'll probably take my boat in sometime later in the year for alignment, timing check, etc.

In fact I just changed the oil last night. $15 beats $65 by a long shot.

Swass, bring the boat down this spring to my place.

I usually have a DeWinterizing party. A few boats, a few workers, and a barbeque.

You don't understand. I don't WANT to do anything except put gas in it.

Oh yeah, I grease the hubs on the trailer, too.

OK, you can be the manager. Bwahahahahahahaha!

What? No 'Wax on, Wax off'?

Cleaning doesn't count.

Hmmmmm, can you work a grill and refreshment cooler?

Some of my friends are awfully picky about the food and liquids whilst prepping the boats. Also, you have to watch out for the munchkins, seems there are at least 2-3 water fights during the day ;)

If you have done any work on a car, a boat is much easier. Less grease, less stuff to fix and it's like the engine is up on a table. I do everything routine but that's mostly because the two local shops I have gone to were complete clowns and the only really good mechanic I've found is 2 hours away.

I do all the work on my boat except for carb rebuilds and engine allignments. Still a little nervous about moving the motor around within a .006 clearance around the coupler. When things need work that are out of my ability range I call a friend who is the head wrench at the Correct Craft Dealer. He has bailed me out numerous times.

A dewinterizing party sounds like a good idea, except none of my friends have a boat.

I don't have any choice but to do all the maintenance on our boat. We live in Oahu and there is no CC dealer on any of the islands. One of the guys I ride with is the head mechanic at the local Ford dealership so he helps when I get in over my head.

I guess it's a give and take. No dealer here but we don't have to winterize! In 6 months we have 250 hours on our '02 Team.

The routine maintenance is not difficult.

I do anything that I can by myself...

Perfect Pass just went in, about to redo my lightbar and change all fluids once it gets warm enough to pull her out of the garage without risking freezing.

I would not mind spending the money but I like having a project to work on during the evening for a few hours a night.

I run a Merc I/O and hit up lowerunits.com for the 2 service manuals. Very much like a Chilton or Haynes manual as they detail everything from regular maintenance tasks to a complete engine tear down and rebuild.

I like to mix it up as well.
I leave the warranty work to the dealer
I had the tower installed.
I did all of the stereo and ballast.
I do the maintenance and cleaning.
Once the warranty is up its all on me.

I swear, this year I'm going to have my boat
detailed at least once... just for the pleasure of not having to do it myself. When the boat is at the dock most of summer, its a lot of work to keep it clean.

For the record:
The dealer has never done anything:
1) I didn't have to ask them to re-do
2) Clean up the mess
3) Regreted altogether.

I talked to my dealer and they want $300 to perform the service plus parts (plugs, oils, filters, & impeller) wich they said were around $100...I guess thats reasonable if you dont know what you're doing. In the past I have done all these services (with the exception of the impeller) on my vehicles but never on my boat.....I guess its not too different, right? Do the service manuals give you a step by step like a Chilton or Hayes for autos? Thanks for all your help.

MIne goes to the dealer once a year to get winterized. He changes all the fluids and checks everything else and adds antifreez. He told me that with the short season we get up here once a year will do the trick. Cost is around $300 Cdn. My insurance policy has a clause that will pay for winter damage if the boat is prepared by a qualified service tech. I look at the cost as insurance against any winter related problems.

How about piece of mind? Ever get the feeling the 'experts' aren't doing what you are paying them for? Top off the oil and wipe down the filter, the customer will never know the difference.

I do it all myself. It's very easy to do and it will save you a ton of money. The first time will take some time. After doing it one time it becomes very easy. I have called the dealer many times and asked them how to do things and I didn't buy the boat from them. I'll buy my next boat from them. The only thing I wouldn't do it overhaul the engine.

If I cant do it the My father is a great mechanic and has saved our whole family alot of money over the years. Only if it is a major repair do I take it elsewhere.