- Oct 6, 2006
- 12,155
- Boat Info
- 1996 450DA
- Engines
- 3116 Caterpillars
You guys who complain about service costs should be aware by now that part of the cost of owning a boat is maintaining it. It you buy your service from a marina on the water or a Sea Ray/Mercruiser dealer you are going to pay $80-$100 per hour for the labor and parts mark ups are roughly 100% of cost.
A 1.5 hour service with oil change, a $10 filter (marked up to $20), a $15 fuel filter (now $30), 6 quarts of oil at $4 ea is going to tear up a $200 bill.......add 2.5 hours to pull an outdrive, service the u-joints and coupler, etc and you are getting close to $500, add winterization and its ever higher. It could be worse....if you had a twin engine diesel boat with a 20 gallon oil capacity, special oil filters and multiple fuel filters an annual service at the dealer runs into "nose-bleed" money
It seems to me that you folks who don't like the cost of dealer/marina services you are left with only 2 alternatives..........learn how to do it your self or find some one off the water who can do it on the cheap and just hope he knows what he's doing.
A 1.5 hour service with oil change, a $10 filter (marked up to $20), a $15 fuel filter (now $30), 6 quarts of oil at $4 ea is going to tear up a $200 bill.......add 2.5 hours to pull an outdrive, service the u-joints and coupler, etc and you are getting close to $500, add winterization and its ever higher. It could be worse....if you had a twin engine diesel boat with a 20 gallon oil capacity, special oil filters and multiple fuel filters an annual service at the dealer runs into "nose-bleed" money
It seems to me that you folks who don't like the cost of dealer/marina services you are left with only 2 alternatives..........learn how to do it your self or find some one off the water who can do it on the cheap and just hope he knows what he's doing.