boat service cost

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ROLAND
Posts: 4248
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:29 am

boat service cost

#1 Post by ROLAND » Fri May 17, 2019 3:43 am

Hey folks, wanted to ask you all about the cost of having your outboard serviced before the season. I know that a lot of you do the service yourself, but some of you, like me, take it in and have it serviced.. I didn't have the work done at a boat dealership, but I did take it to a marine mechanic shop.. one guy, the owner does all the work.. so here's what I had done...

1- replaced the water impeller ( been 3 or 4 years since it was last done )

2- lube the gears

3-change engine oil and Filter

4- change out and replace the fuel / water separator...

5- had him pump some grease into the wheel hubs on my boat trailer..

6- He didn't change the spark plugs, believe he said they were fine.. in any event, it's not listed on the invoice..


Note: I did not supply any of the materials.. he ordered the parts and did the work. So how much do you think the above service should have run me. Just curious... Guys a good mechanic, been working on my boat for about 7 years now ever since the dealership grossly over charged me for a service one year. So what would you expect the above service to cost: parts and labor.
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

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Marc K
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Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:35 am
Location: Eustace, TX

Re: boat service cost

#2 Post by Marc K » Fri May 17, 2019 5:16 am

Roland,

I'm new to the world of outboards, so I had a mobile service guy come out to do mine - and teach me at the same time. The shop that he works for, is about 25 minutes away. They charge $100/hr for their mobile service labor rate. Mobile service was important to me because I don’t trust my trailer tires on the road. The boat lives on a sling in my boat house, but I pulled the boat up my ramp to service.

Change motor oil
Change lower unit oil
Change spark plugs
Change water pump impeller
Change air filter
Lube the steering cable
Lube the tilt/trim
Test compression
Change internal fuel filter/separator
Change external fuel filter/separator
Flush old fuel and run injector cleaner

The bill was $430. With the additional time teaching me “hands on.” The boat had been sitting for 3-1/2 years when I got it, so I wanted him to take a close look and tell me what to look for and how to deal with it. IF I recall correctly, they quoted me about $350. if I brought it in.

Marc
Big and ugly but we love our 1999/2000 Crest II DL with a Yamaha F115

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ROLAND
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Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:29 am

Re: boat service cost

#3 Post by ROLAND » Fri May 17, 2019 12:31 pm

Marc K wrote:
Fri May 17, 2019 5:16 am
Roland,

I'm new to the world of outboards, so I had a mobile service guy come out to do mine - and teach me at the same time. The shop that he works for, is about 25 minutes away. They charge $100/hr for their mobile service labor rate. Mobile service was important to me because I don’t trust my trailer tires on the road. The boat lives on a sling in my boat house, but I pulled the boat up my ramp to service.

Change motor oil
Change lower unit oil
Change spark plugs
Change water pump impeller
Change air filter
Lube the steering cable
Lube the tilt/trim
Test compression
Change internal fuel filter/separator
Change external fuel filter/separator
Flush old fuel and run injector cleaner

The bill was $430. With the additional time teaching me “hands on.” The boat had been sitting for 3-1/2 years when I got it, so I wanted him to take a close look and tell me what to look for and how to deal with it. IF I recall correctly, they quoted me about $350. if I brought it in.

Marc
Thanks Marc... looks like our boat services are similar ( not exactly the same ).. my guy didn't flush the fuel since my fuel is pretty fresh.. also didn't change the plugs since mine were still clean. you said the guy said 350.00 if you had taken the boat in... based on your service, I think my guy is pretty much right on point... charged me 304.00 Like I said earlier, I've used this gentleman for the past 7 years or so, never had an issue.. When I turn the key, the motor starts and runs good.. Only issue I ever had was the electric motor for my trim went out a year or two back.. he told me a new one with labor would run close to 500. He sent it out to a friend of his who owns a shop that rebuilds electric motors... ended up running me 279. Works great. I quit using the boat dealer when they charged me 25 dollars to put air in my tires... Don't know why, but that really pissed me off... never went back.
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

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Marc K
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Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:35 am
Location: Eustace, TX

Re: boat service cost

#4 Post by Marc K » Fri May 17, 2019 3:15 pm

Maybe they used some that special high compression racing nitrogen for your tires? :lol3
I was hoping that others would chime in on service costs.

The first mobile mechanic that I called gave me an estimate of $700. for the same list. Needless to say I have never met the man.
Big and ugly but we love our 1999/2000 Crest II DL with a Yamaha F115

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Liquid Asset
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Location: ortonville,mi

Re: boat service cost

#5 Post by Liquid Asset » Fri May 17, 2019 5:28 pm

Outboard motor work is cheap. My brother just had to replace the sea water pump on his 26' powerquest. It's got a 496 with a bravo 1 out drive. It was just supposed to get a new impeller but they said the housing was corroded. He got the call today $600 for that repair. The boat only has a couple hundred hours on it but always needs something. He replaced the bellows and had the drive alignment done last year and that bill was $1,100 . It's a really cool go fast type boat but it's way more work than a pontoon!
2018 Tahoe ltz elite windshield powered by a 175 Mercury verado with sea legs
Rebuilt custom 20' 1983 riviera cruiser tritoon SOLD

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NonHyphenAmerican
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Location: South Central Kansas in Hooterville

Re: boat service cost

#6 Post by NonHyphenAmerican » Sat May 18, 2019 7:45 pm

Similar list of service items, short changing the plugs.

Add in that they took the boat out of the slip, trailered it, pressure washed it and along with the service, winterized the fuel.

They didn't change the impeller as they recommended doing it this spring so it didn't set all winter.

Dropped the toon off near the end of March so that they could change out the impeller, and I'd noticed that the radio had gone bad and the transducer was crapped out.

When they got done, they put it in the boat slip for me so I didn't have to make the 100 mile round trip back over just to slip the toon.

All told, all the service work, trailering and pressure washing the toon, changing out the transducer and radio with all new lube, filters, new impeller, relaunching and slipping the boat cost me just a few bucks short of $600.

I know the impeller was $67 of that, so was happy with that amount.

All in all, I'm thinking your totals are in line.

As for the dumb mass that charged $25 for air? I'd have told him to french kiss my fat ass on main street at noon time.
[color=#FF0000][b]22' G3 SunCatcher V22F
Yamaha F-90
Tooning on El Dorado Reservoir[/b][/color]

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ROLAND
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Re: boat service cost

#7 Post by ROLAND » Sun May 19, 2019 1:15 am

NonHyphenAmerican wrote:
Sat May 18, 2019 7:45 pm

As for the dumb mass that charged $25 for air? I'd have told him to french kiss my fat ass on main street at noon time.
That was a strange thing.. when I dropped the boat off for service I just mentioned to the guy that one of my trailer tires looked low and would they mind checking it before I came back to get the boat. So when I returned I was looking over the bill and saw where it said " aired up trailer tires.... $25.00 I was furious, I looked at the service manager and asked him about the charge and he said shop labor charge is 100 an hour and the minimum charge is a quarter hour which equals 25 bucks.. I looked at him and said " how the fuck do you sleep at night"... He just walked away.. just about that time the parts manager walked by ( I had ordered some trailer guides ) and yelled over to me that my parts had come in.. I was so mad I told him to keep it. When he found out why I was pissed he took 25 bucks off the cost of the parts.. that helped, but that wasn't the point. you don't charge a customer for putting air in a tire... when I pulled my boat off their lot it was the last time I was there... and you know, in the end that mickey mouse charge for air cost them a lot of money. My son and I had both purchased our boats new thru this dealer within a year of each other.. and we both had our boats serviced there each year.. until this... after that bs charge both myself and my son found different outboard mechanics.
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

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steve1313
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 6:33 am

Re: boat service cost

#8 Post by steve1313 » Sun May 19, 2019 4:30 am

Marc K wrote:
Fri May 17, 2019 5:16 am
Roland,

I'm new to the world of outboards, so I had a mobile service guy come out to do mine - and teach me at the same time. The shop that he works for, is about 25 minutes away. They charge $100/hr for their mobile service labor rate. Mobile service was important to me because I don’t trust my trailer tires on the road. The boat lives on a sling in my boat house, but I pulled the boat up my ramp to service.

Change motor oil
Change lower unit oil
Change spark plugs
Change water pump impeller
Change air filter
Lube the steering cable
Lube the tilt/trim
Test compression
Change internal fuel filter/separator
Change external fuel filter/separator
Flush old fuel and run injector cleaner

The bill was $430. With the additional time teaching me “hands on.” The boat had been sitting for 3-1/2 years when I got it, so I wanted him to take a close look and tell me what to look for and how to deal with it. IF I recall correctly, they quoted me about $350. if I brought it in.

Marc
Marc-
How the heck did your guy change the impeller and lower unit oil while the boat was in the water? Changing the impeller requires removing the lower unit, and changing the lower unit oil involves opening the drain plugs on the lower unit and letting the oil flow out. Even if the guy could somehow get a bucket under the motor to catch the fluid, the risk of getting fluid in the water is very high and risks a huge environmental contamination fine!
Steve
"Serendipity" - 2017 Sweetwater 2286 WB Tritoon w/ 150HP Yamaha
Slipped at Lake Anna, Virginia
Primary Residence: Richmond, Virgina
Lake House: Lake Anna, Virginia

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Marc K
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Location: Eustace, TX

Re: boat service cost

#9 Post by Marc K » Sun May 19, 2019 5:45 am

Hi Steve,

Yes, Sir - I agree - would not even think about it.

I have my own concrete launching ramp in my yard. Suspect that you may have missed this sentence in my post:"The boat lives on a sling in my boat house, but I pulled the boat up my ramp to service."

Marc
Big and ugly but we love our 1999/2000 Crest II DL with a Yamaha F115

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steve1313
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Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 6:33 am

Re: boat service cost

#10 Post by steve1313 » Mon May 20, 2019 2:38 am

Marc K wrote:
Sun May 19, 2019 5:45 am
Hi Steve,

Yes, Sir - I agree - would not even think about it.

I have my own concrete launching ramp in my yard. Suspect that you may have missed this sentence in my post:"The boat lives on a sling in my boat house, but I pulled the boat up my ramp to service."

Marc
Yep, Marc - I misread your post. In my mind I added the word "to". As in "I pulled the boat up TO my ramp"..... I had envisioned you tying it up in the water at the boat ramp!

Glad to hear your service guy didn't do anything crazy (or stupid!!).
Steve
"Serendipity" - 2017 Sweetwater 2286 WB Tritoon w/ 150HP Yamaha
Slipped at Lake Anna, Virginia
Primary Residence: Richmond, Virgina
Lake House: Lake Anna, Virginia

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