Return of DIY Service

[Bud Kennedy]

Over the years I have had most of my boat and motor service performed at a repair shop.  This came about during my working days and there just wasn't much available time to invest in routine maintenance tasks or simple basic repairs.  I found it very easy to just take the rig to the shop and have them do what I needed done.

In the years past while I was still earning a paycheck this was not a big deal.  The shops of the past usually had a good staff of technicians to perform just about anything you wanted.  They tended to carry a reasonable selection of spare parts and for the most part most repairs only took a day or two and were usually accomplished via an appointment process.  What I did not realize that my affluence during those days made me lazy and tasks I once performed I now hired someone else to tackle.

Fast forward to today and the new breed of repair shops just don't do it that way.  Appointments are mostly a thing of the past.  Today the shop requests you drop off the boat and when they get time to work on it.  This can run into weeks of down time, while your boaot sits in their lot.  When they begin the first step is to perform a diagnostic to determine what parts might be needed and then they call the customer to get approval.  Once approval is given the parts are ordered and after a few days for shipping the parts arrive at the shop and the wait for a repair time begins again.  This too make take weeks.

The shops today have evolved into a staffing of limited technicians that don't have the skills of the past.  They have a dependency upon their computerized diagnostics process that directs them what parts to replace in most cases.  I guess the person with magic hands and keen ears with a lot of hands- on experience have gone by the wayside.

My boat and motor are now considered vintage with a baseline age of 30 years.  Although the powerhead is about 5 years old the rest of the motor is basically original equipment although some of these items have been replaced via the maintenance process over the years.  This means that I have had to perform most of the maintenance tasks myself.

Being retired and mostly on a fixed income some of the affluence of the past is nothing more than a memory.  I have to be more careful with my expenditures and this has led me to perform most boat and motor tasks on a DIY basis.  Although some things still need the facility of a repair shop there are many things that I just do myself.  Changing oil in the lower unit, replace filters, changing plugs etc. are easily accomplished and does save the cost of a shop.  Recently I had a mobile service tech come to give me a price on doing a few tasks.  I wanted the steering replaced, and I wanted to replace some coils and thermostats.  Although it is not possible for me to change the steering it is possible for me to replace the coils and thermostats.  These are simple bolt on tasks.  Using the mobile technicians price quote, I decided to do it myself.  I have ordered the parts that will arrive in a couple of days and the bottom-line cost savings just for the coils and thermostats was over $250.   The task is not a big deal but the savings is significant don't you think.  I guess from now on DIY whenever possible.

[Oldfart9999]

The DIY method gives a real savings and satisfaction, but like you mentioned, there are things our "aged", "mature" bodies make us pay for the work.
Rodney

[FlatsNBay]

Bud, you are forgetting about one thing.. Murphy's law! That's my main reason for hiring a mechanic.

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[Bud Kennedy]

Bud, you are forgetting about one thing.. Murphy's law! That's my main reason for hiring a mechanic.

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Steve you folks with modern motors can say that but for those of us with old motors especially from a company that is now gone is a whole different problem.  Service shops just do not have the experience to work on these old motors unless you c an find one run by another old geezer that is familiar with these old motors.  This unfortunately tends to leave those of us with obsolete/outdated products to fend for ourselves.

[apenland01]

This is basically where I'm at now as well.  The local shop closed down, so I just replaced my oil pump on my 2004 Optimax.  Had a buddy help me out and I had also previously bought the computer software to do the oil pump prime sequence, so I was just out the money for the oil pump on this job.  Not a cheap part, but without the labor costs, it helps...

[FlatsNBay]

I always joked with our marine mechanic at work that I could do his job because I had YouTube!

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[Oldfart9999]

I always joked with our marine mechanic at work that I could do his job because I had YouTube!

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Works for everything but diagnosing problems on a computer controlled outboard.
Rodney