Safer at Home: Boat Maintenance and Inspection

Stuck at home and looking to do some basic boat maintenance? In other words, feel like making a mess out of yourself to take your mind off the mess in our world?

There are a lot of things you can do to ruin a new shirt while keeping your ride in Bristol condition for when things open up again.

If it's been six months or 100 hours of operation, you're probably due for an oil change. Unless you have an old two-stroke, in which case you're due for an engine change. Just kidding. Anyway, Easy procedure—maybe a little oily, very oily in fact. Newsflash, BTW: if you check the small print in your owners' manual you'll likely see you can use darn near any oil of suitable viscosity, readily obtainable at hardware stores and other essential service points. (Rumor has it that an underground host of thrill-seeking backyard outboard mechanics have used cheap automotive oil for years, without engines exploding. I plead the Fifth.) Another tip: Don't over-tighten the oil drain screw. Just don't do it. That feeling of bearing down hard and suddenly it grinds, squeaks and gets easier to turn: That's you hoping the local machine shop is “essential service” (pretty sure it is).

Kinda same advice for lower unit gear lube--I had a dealer service my engine a few years ago and their guy set the gear oil drain screw so tight I had to practically nuke it to remove it.

Lesson one: Consult shop manual for torque specs. Lesson two: Stock not only extra gaskets, but extra screws.

By now we're half-covered in filth, so it's the perfect time to grease the zerk fittings on the outboard: The tilt (or swivel) tube (normally accessed from front of the engine) and the pivot shaft (a.k.a. steering bracket), are two important points. Shift and throttle linkages, too, under the cowl. Check your owners' manual, always. Then go berzerk.

Inspect your battery terminals—if they're crusty, remove the cables and brighten with a brass brush or terminal brush. Check water levels (lead acid maintenance batteries) and give them a full charge. If the batteries are 24-month, and it's been 23 months, get ready.

With the cowl off your engine, rinse the powerhead, paying attention to any unseen corrosion points, depending on the make. The Suzuki DF175, which is what I have, tends to get salty under the lower cowl, or skirt—remove it, rinse well, let dry, and apply Corrosion X or your favorite anti-corrosion spray to bolt heads, hose clips or other points which are in that neutral zone between “like new” and “need replacement.” Use silicone spray on the powerhead and other components up top, or whatever spray is recommended by your manufacturer.

Speaking of anti-corrosion spray: Give a squirt to light pole bases, and squirt some inside the light pole terminals themselves. Mine look grungy—but they work. I do, too.

Another place that warrants attention, if you keep your boat outside, is your deck drain scuppers. I take the plastic grill off mine and spray water through them to clear out leaves, fishing line, live octopus and other gunk. You want those drains totally clear, when you're heading offshore. Guaranteed the first day the marina opens, it's either gonna rain frogs or be rough enough to ship green water on the way out the inlet. I also take time to clean out my bilge and thoroughly flush overboard drains for livewells or fish boxes. Make sure everything flows freely. Make sure your bilge pump(s) and float switch work, too. Open and close thru-hull valves a few times; inspect hose clamps. Make note of any needing replacement. You may need professional help at this point, from a mechanic, therapist or both.

Now is probably a good time to remove your prop and check for any fishing line or octopus tentacles which might be digging into your propshaft seal. Clean and regrease the shaft, then reinstall the prop with a new cotter pin.

Or: Before re-installing the prop, make your day a living hell, while making tomorrow a little brighter. Get out your socket wrenches and drop your lower unit to inspect and/or replace your water pump components (removing the prop makes this job much easier—takes a lot of weight off). Re-grease the splines at top of the drive shaft. When you reassemble, ask any small children nearby to hold their hands over their ears. Also be sure to consult the shop manual for correct torque specs on the bolts. Note: Lower unit service is as much about keeping bolts and drive shaft from becoming frozen as it is about replacing the rubber water pump impeller. If you boat in clean water and on a regular basis, hurray for you, your impeller might outlast the recommended replacement interval—but if you push that interval too far, you might not be able to get the lower unit off when you really need to!

Find the right cleaning spray for your windshield. Clean it.

Open your anchor locker, take out the rope and let it all dry out. Check the condition of shackles or other connections. You have two anchors, yes? If not, figure out some way to put a spare on your boat. You'll thank me, one day, whenever Florida re-opens the sandbars.

This next tip is sort of speculative, but Bounce dryer sheets supposedly discourage rats. I'm hoping they do, as we've had a run of bilge rats in my neighborhood. Even if they don't, the smell is nice. Wipe down the inside of the console and it smells like fresh laundry. I stash a couple sheets here and there in various compartments. My old boat may look like an octopus farm, but it smells like a Hampton Inn.

Last but not least, pour a dribble of Star tron or other stabilizer/ethanol treatment into your fuel tank. Hook the garden hose up to the washdown muffs, crank that engine and let it run for ten minutes or so. Don't walk away—stand there and relish the lovely sound. Also stand there so the hose doesn't pop off while cruel fate devours the water pump you just replaced.

Finished? Now we're ready…

To work on our trailers.