Winter maintenance list

[Loose Cannon]

This is my first year boating and I have a 2006 240DA with 5.7 mercruiser and Bravo III. Since I do not have a trailer and do not have the skills to winterize and service the boat (yet), I am paying a local Hi and Dry marina to store my boat and perform the winter maintenance.

My plan below. Appreciate any comments, things I may have missed, etc. Thanks in advance for your replies.

1. Powerwash hull and store boat inside building on rack
2. Winterize engine, water system, A/C
3. Service and paint outdrive; replace all anodes
4. Change engine oil/filter
5. Tune up engine
6. Remove batteries (I will keep at home on trickle chg)

They have optional services such as "change engine thermostat). Not sure how often that should be performed.

 

[skolbe]

When is the last time your impeller was changed, ideally it should be changed in the spring, but while they are already working on things...

Has your fuel filter been changes. Again, ideally a spring thing.

I assume they check alignment/grease the coupler when they service the drive.

 

[Presentation]

Be sitting down when you read their cost estimate. It will be big, over a grand already and yes, you did miss some stuff.

Are they pulling the drives to inspect and grease? I am going to assume they will re-tork the gimbel when they service the drives.

Speaking of drives, you are about due for new bellows. Never change one, the expensive part is getting to them. If one is bad, change all three.

How old is that impeller? If over 2 years old, for sure change it.

Clean the flame arrestor and as you are doing it change the IAC muffler filer. This is easy to do and I recommend you do it. If you need us to walk you thru it, just ask.

As long as you are cleaning filters, clean the A/C strainer and the air filter(s) for the A/C in the cabin. This costs noting but time, you rinse them off with a hose.

If you are doing a tune-up (new plugs) you may as well get a compression check done. This should not add much cost. Personally if I had to pick between a full tune-up (plugs, wires, rotor, cap) or skipping new wires and getting a compression check done I’d do the later. Just being honest, unless you are over 400 hours I’d wait another season or two before I’d do a tune-up unless you are having issues, engine miss-fires, etc.

Regarding the thermostat, I’d get a new one and keep it onboard and change it when the engine no longer gets up to temperature but that assumes you know how to change it.

If you are over budget, assuming you are not having issues, pulling the drives to inspect and grease is more important than a tune up at this 4 year old age.

Honestly, hiring some of the stuff done on your list is a bit silly unless you are totally rich and if you are, why not a bigger boat? Buy anodes online and save then change them yourself and save again. Winterize the water system and A/C yourself. To winterize the A/C system you take 1 gallon of -50 RV antifreeze and pull off the A/C intake water hose at the sea cock, stick the hose all the way into the gallon jug, turn on the A/C until the antifreeze is sucked in, about 5 seconds, turn it back off, put the hose back on the sea cock. Take that last little bit left in the gallon jug and pour it into the drip pan of the A/C unit.

 

[Presentation]

OK, I am being too harsh on you. I'm sorry. We were all new once.

Let us know what items you have an interest in doing yourself and we will talk you thru it or give you a link to where it was already posted.

 

[Loose Cannon]

Thanks for your replies so far. In response, I have no service records for the boat; however, the boat had only 68 hours in March when I bought it and now has 120 hours. So, I am not sure when/if the impeller or fuel filter was changed but sounds like I should add those to the list along with the thermostat. Yes, the marina does pull the drive to inspect/grease/align. Tune up probably never performed; I guess I assumed after 4 years, it was time.... or is this based solely on hours for a boat? Running fine, no issues.

The A/C unit is new; had it installed July 4th and I know how to clean those filters. The winterization cost for the A/C is minimal and it is much more $$ for the engine and water systems. I already have an estimate for what I mentioned, and yes, it is almost 1000.00.

Since this is my first year and I will be traveling in October with no time to perform maintenance, the marina will get my business. Hope to learn more in the offseason and do more next year although I am not too mechanical. I'd rather spend my limited free time enjoying the boat. Although mechanical is just not my thing, I did spend a great deal of time learning the rules of the road, general safety, and docking early on.

 

[Presentation]

Gotcha.

Well, in my opinion….

- Change the impeller for sure.

- Delay the engine tune-up at least 1 possibly 2 years.

- Delay the thermostat change, consider ordering the part. Give me your engine serial number, found on the engine cover, and I’d be happy to give you the correct part number. Even if you have them change it at a future date, you will have it available. In my opinion, a thermostat is not like a tire that wears out over time, it fails when a piece of debris becomes stuck in the diaphragm so no reason to change it if you are not having issues with the engine coming up to temperature. A stuck thermostat does not equal overheating, it equals a cool running engine, causing loss of fuel economy and power.

- Do the full drive maintenance including having the bellows inspected. If even one bellow is bad, have all three replaced. Checking the alignment is part of this drive removal service. It’s so simple its laughable. You stick a specific pole in the hole. If it goes in you are properly aligned. Be sure they re-tork the gimbal. Again they should know this but you may as well ask them.

- Have the flame arrestor cleaned and IAC muffler filter changed. The IAC muffler filter is $1 and with the flame arrestor removed it’s a one minute change. Cleaning the flame arrestor uses a $1 can of carburetor cleaner and 10 minutes of time for a experienced marine mechanic.

- Water separating fuel filter should be included in the oil change estimate.

With the things we added and took away your total cost should drop by a couple of hundred dollars unless the bellows are bad upon inspection.