Annual boat and outboard maintenance

[Kfedka]

Looking for some input from those that have had boats for a while. I use my boat for fishing year around including winter. What kind of maintenance work do you do on your boat and outboard motor, change oil, gas filter, etc. Is there maintenance work that should only be done only by a boat mechanic? My outboard is 2 cycle, how often does the engine oil need to be replace and does it matter what kind of oil is used inside the engine? Thanks for all your help.

[jd39]

I stick to the 100hr / 1yr rule for my motor. If it hits 100 hrs of use or 1 year, whichever comes first, since it's last service I take it in to my local shop for a routine check-up and maintenance. The wheels / ball bearings on my trailer get serviced at the local Les Schwab once a year as well.
For my fiberglass boat hull, I do visual inspections all the time and take it in as needed, so far, have not had a problem there. Turns out they're a lot tougher than I originally thought fiberglass hulls were.
Hope that helps.

[Amx]

2 cycles don't have oil inside the motor. The oil is mixed with the gas in the gas tank-OLD MOTOR-remote tank, or mixed at the engine if the engine is fairly newish-say 1985 or whenever they started that with the big motors, the technician can tell you all that.

[G-Man]

For a 2-stoke it's pretty simple. If you're overly anal, you can change out your plugs and lower unit/gear oil every year. In almost all cases that is overkill. Most plugs are good for several hundred hours and that's well more than the average person puts on their motor in a year. Same can be said for the oil in your lower unit. My current 2 stroke motor is on a 3 year/300 hour maintenance cycle and was built in 2006. It's easy to check and change the oil in your lower unit and checking it once a year for level and water intrusion is a good idea. Spark plugs usually tell you when they need to be replaced and some engines, like my E-Tec have them indexed so it is a little more work to replace them. The real debate is the changing of the water pump impeller. Let me just say that I have not had one fail on me and I really don't see a reason to replace them on an annual basis like some shops would have you do. the cooling issues I have experienced come from blockage or a clogged line due to something being sucked up into the motor, I've never seen an impeller flat out fail. Any grease fittings on your motor, like the ones for your steering and pivot points, just get an annual shot of grease and clean off any extra and/or old grease that you find.

[hewesfisher]

Looking for some input from those that have had boats for a while. I use my boat for fishing year around including winter. What kind of maintenance work do you do on your boat and outboard motor, change oil, gas filter, etc. Is there maintenance work that should only be done only by a boat mechanic? My outboard is 2 cycle, how often does the engine oil need to be replace and does it matter what kind of oil is used inside the engine? Thanks for all your help.

My advice to you is to follow your motor manufacturer's recommended service intervals. All motors are not created equal and recommendations vary between manufacturer's, even between models from the same manufacturer. You can obtain an owner's manual online for virtually any motor made.

I believe in changing lower unit gear lube annually regardless whether it's needed. Reason is you cannot tell when you have water in the lower unit except by draining lube. If you find milky lube, it could be something as simple as bad drain plug washers or something more serious like shaft seals. Not changing lube at least annually could lead to a false perception all is well until catastrophe strikes. Lower unit lube is cheap, and even on my 150hp, it takes less than a quart to replace it. Per my motor manufacturer's recommendation, I check my plugs annually, and replace if necessary. I also replace my water pump at least every other year. It's cheap insurance against failure and it is the sole source for your engine's cooling. Outboard water pumps are not like those on your car.

G-Man's advice is fine for a DI motor, but your 2-stroke isn't so requirements are different. Unlike your motor, a DI motor doesn't mix oil in the fuel, a computer controls all those functions through injectors instead of carbs. If you are mixing oil in your fuel at a fixed ratio, your motor may well benefit from fresh plugs annually.

The only other thing I'd recommend is to confirm you have ethanol approved fuel line and primer bulb from your tank to the motor. If not, you may experience liner breakdown which can plug fuel filters, carbs, etc. If your lines haven't been upgraded, now would be a good time to do so before it becomes a problem. Truly not a case of if, it's a matter of when.

[Kfedka]

Thanks for all the useful tips!