Preventive Maintenance Tips to Reduce the Cost of Boat Ownership

As any boat owner knows, owning a boat requires a commitment of time and money in order to ensure it’s as worry free as possible when ready to go on an outing. Unfortunately, many boat owners neglect doing preventive maintenance and wait until a serious problem occurs, forcing them to find a boat mechanic (after paying for towing back to the dock or shore). What could have been avoided turns into an expensive boat repair. The cost of boat ownership is already expensive enough without adding the burden of emergency repairs or incurring higher than normal costs for repairs due to lack of maintenance.

The key to reducing boat repair costs is preventive boat maintenance which includes much more than just keeping the boat motor tuned up. The entire boat from stem to stern should be included in a boat maintenance plan. One of the common mistakes boat owners make is thinking in terms of only the obvious maintenance tasks, like replacing spark plugs. Instead, you should think in terms of “obvious and not so obvious” boat maintenance and then be proactive in preventing potential problems.

Following are some tips and tricks to reduce the costs of boat ownership and to increase enjoyment of boat usage.

Here are Some Obvious Maintenance Tips

Following some simple steps can make a huge difference in yearly expenses. The obvious preventive maintenance tips are proven tasks for keeping a boat of any size and with any type of engine operating as smoothly as possible. Of course, breakdowns occur, but they shouldn’t be due to lack of attention to maintenance!

Regularly Check for signs of developing engine problems

Boat engines are the workhorses of the boat, placed under a heavy workload over and over again. So many people have found themselves stranded on the water simply because they didn’t take the time to regularly and visually check for things like:

• Fuel line cracks or signs of wear and tear
• Leaking fuel line seals
• Signs of rust or corrosion
• Good water flow through the water pump
• Corrosion on the fuel tank
• Water pooling where water shouldn’t be pooling

Here’s a good tip: You should flush out the boat engine after every boat outing. This applies to freshwater and saltwater trips. While flushing the engine, you can check to make sure the water pump is working properly and the water flow isn’t impeded by debris. If the water is slow, then the next step is removing the debris from the line.

Another piece of advice is to carry some essential spare parts, like spark plugs, hose clamps, rubber hoses and anything else that can crack or break, ending your fun for the day and costing you tow fees. (It’s better than rigging a spark plug with foil out of desperation.)

Keep your boat engine tuned up

Whether you have an inboard engine, an outboard motor or a sterndrive motor, it’s important to keep it tuned up. Some tune-up steps are obvious. For example, you should replace spark plugs and spark plug wires. A good tip is to mark the plug wires before removing the spark plugs to ensure they’re replaced in the proper firing order.

An often overlooked step is checking for loose nuts, bolts and screws, something a boat mechanic would do as a matter of course. Any of these small pieces coming loose or falling off can lead to major expense, depending on what they’re holding tight. Also, lubricate grease fittings where appropriate, replace the fuel filter and add a fuel treatment to the fuel. Fuel additives can improve fuel efficiency and fuel stabilization, but it’s important to use a high quality product. This is not the time to try to save money.

Do a visual inspection of the engine, looking for signs of developing problems like oil build-up, leaking lubricants, hose leaks, water infiltration and fuel line leaks. These signs are telling you that something needs replacing or perhaps more than a tune-up. You should do a tune up a minimum of twice a year, but avid boaters need to follow a schedule of every 2-3 months.

Do annual engine maintenance

It’s tempting to think the routine tune up eliminates the need to do annual engine maintenance. It does not. There’s not much else to say about this except that it’s wise to let a professional boat mechanic do the annual maintenance to ensure nothing is missed that can seriously damage your boat or ruin your boating fun in the future.

Shake, shimmy and roll

Bill Haley & His Comets’ sang “Shake, Shimmy and Roll” in 1954, and it became a classic. However, there’s no joy in boat-land when the boat shakes and shimmies and is hard to manage because it means something is very wrong. Shuddering and vibrations left unchecked can cause a lot of damage to the boat in the long run. The cause of the vibrations can include a worn or shaft, a bent prop, an issue with a strut, worn out engine mounts or a misfiring engine, to name a few. It could also be as simple as using the wrong-sized propeller. Even a ding in the prop hub can cause a shimmy, in addition to poor steering control.

The important point is to pinpoint the cause of the vibration right away. It’s usually not too difficult to locate the problem. The damage, if left unchecked, can get costly when it leads to something like a damaged transmission. Ouch!

Winterize the boat

One of the most important boat maintenance steps you can take to protect your investment and prevent expensive repairs is winterizing your boat. The engine in particular needs attention. The basic steps are:

• Fill the tank 95-percent full with gas
• Add fuel stabilizer to prevent buildup in fuel lines, injectors and carburetors
• Add antifreeze to prevent condensation from freezing and expanding
• Add fogging oil spray to coat the internal engine components with an anti-corrosive compound
• Change the oil
• Replace the oil filter

The specific procedures for accomplishing these tasks are different for inboard engines and sterndrive motors versus outboard motors. A boat should be stored either with a full tank or an empty tank but not with a partially full tank. Fuel can deteriorate within weeks, causing build up in the engine. If stored with a full tank, be sure to fill it with fresh fuel and then add the fuel stabilizer. You can burn off fuel in the carburetors on an outboard engine by removing the fuel line and running the engine just until it quits.

Other steps include flushing the inboard engine with clean water, but remove the drain plug once the engine reaches its normal operating temperature. On an outboard engine, you can open all drain holes, and then start the engine to flush fresh water through the cooling system. Be sure to grease and lubricate grease fittings in the steering mechanism.

This is a good time to wash and wax the boat, check transmission fluids and spark plugs and change gear oil that protects bearing and gear surfaces from wear and tear. Don’t forget to remove electronics, as much as possible, and other valuables. Store the boat in dry storage or cover the boat with a suitable boat cover.

Here are Some Not-So-Obvious Tips

Boaters get used to seeing some water in the bilge. Getting used to it means a slow leak is easily missed until it becomes an “uh-oh, where is all this water coming from” event. The first not-so-obvious tip is to not ignore the obvious.

Following are a few more not-so-obvious tips that can significantly reduce boat repair costs.

• It’s not too small to fix – Repair even tiny or small spider cracks, crazing or hairline cracks in the gelcoat of the fiberglass hull because small easy-to-fix damage can turn into big expensive damage. Once a crack goes deeper into the fiberglass and becomes a structural crack, the hull is on its way to being compromised and requiring professional repair.
• Not supposed to leak there - Check the boat deck for water leaks around fittings, ports, stanchions and anything else that perforates the deck because water leaking into the deck core spells big trouble.
• A clean hull is a happy hull – Boat hulls get a buildup of scum, algae and barnacles which in turn increases the drag and reduces fuel mileage. Your boat maintenance schedule should include removing marine growth periodically to improve the hydrodynamics. It’s a job that tends to be put off. After cleaning, wax your boat, and you’re ready to glide.
• Remember the anodes – Sacrificial anodes corrode for a good cause – to draw electrical current away from other more expensive metals like the prop or outdrive. Inspect the anodes regularly to ensure they’re not too pitted or corroded and unable to get the job done. If they are deteriorating, it’s time to replace them.
• The “eyes” have it – If you have a boat with an outboard motor or a sterndrive engine, it’s important to periodically remove the propeller(s) several times a year and visually inspect the prop shaft(s). Fishing line has a bad habit of wrapping around the shaft, and you may not discover it until the prop shaft seal is damaged. Once the seal is broken, water can leak into the gear case, and that will lead to a very expensive boat repair. In fact, this falls under the heading of “catastrophe.”

Develop a Customized Boat Maintenance Plan

Boat maintenance is important to reducing the cost of boat ownership. Most of the maintenance tasks are inexpensive to complete, but the return on investment is enormous. The tips and tricks suggested are only meant to get you thinking about developing a maintenance plan that suits your particular boat. It’s no fun breaking down on the water or paying huge repair bills for damage that could have been prevented. Anything you aren’t comfortable doing yourself is not a problem. There are marine professionals coast-to-coast who can provide the boat maintenance and repair services you need.