Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I've put 20 hours on the new boat now and it is time for the 20 hour service of the F150 Yamaha engine. I have a few dealers to choose from for the service but had spoken with one of them and he told me they would have to pull the boat out and trailer it to their shop for this service. I have the boat on a lift at my dock currently. The entire engine is clear of the water. I guess I am wondering why they can't service the thing on the lift? The Yamaha 20 hour service is basically an oil change and check a bunch of stuff. I don't have a trailer and other than winter had not planned to take the boat out of the lake. I'm curious if others here have worked with dealers that do these kinds of service calls?

Also, I've noticed the fuel gauge is inaccurate when the fuel is on the low side. I have a 60 gallon tank and I've put fuel in it 3 times now. When I first got the boat we put 15 gallons in there and it showed about 3/4 full. I've filled it twice since when it was essentially on E or about 1/8 tank (flat and level on the lift). The first fill up was only 38 gallons and the latest one was 42 gallons. So its like I have an 18-20 gallon reserve capacity. Are fuel gauges on these boats usually this inaccurate?

Well as to the oil change while on the lift.... How far away from the dealer is the boat? If you can find a tech willing to come to the boat you may have to pay for his time shop to shop perhaps even mileage; labor rates can run as much as 100.00 and hour too... Is the boat over the water? What if oil is spilled, what if something is dropped in the water?

As to gas gauges in boats well yeah I think they are all going to suffer a lot in the accuracy dept as when the boat is sitting still the attitude is entirely different when underway and as you burn fuel the attitude continues to change... They are in my opinion a mere rough reference guide. You may be able to bend or otherwise somehow adjust the fuel level float to get the gauge to read more toward your liking....

Take a look at the Reed switch type fuel sending units. I switched to one of those several years ago and found it to be much more accurate.

http://www.wemausa.com/

You might want to invest in a vacuum style oil pump to change your motor oil since you're without a trailer. It'd be worth it.
Don't forget that before changing oil, you need to raise the engine as high as it'll tilt and hold it there for 30 sedonds. Then drop the propeller down to be parallel with the ground.

But you'll still have to get under the lower unit to drain the lower unit. Best thing is to find an old flat bottom jon boat and float it under the engine--draining the 1 quart of lower unit grease into a clean drain pan. You want to be able to inspect the fluid for metal shavings and water contamination. It's also easy to drop the vent plug and the drain plug in the lake if you're not really careful. Those plugs are really expensive to replace.

I bought one of the pumps for lower unit fluid with the Yamaha attachment. You can get by with 32 oz. (quart) of lower unit grease when using the pump to fill the lower unit.

I did my own 20 hour service--following the Yamaha checklist in the owner's manual. I'm not going to pay a dealer $250 for something I can do for $35 in materials. FYI: The late model Ford Focus 2.0 liter oil filter is the same as those Yamaha paints black for the F150's.

My fuel gauges on all my boats have never been "Nut On" accurate. My Premier is reading full right now, after burning 6 gallons. But when its on E, I still have 10 to 15 left. I just use that as a good feeling to find more soon. It doesn't worry me.

I just refilled my 27 gallon tank on Sunday.
It was reading 1/8 full, and took only 17 gallons.

That last eighth is REALLY big!