![]() When you service provider digs into more serious maintenance, obviously, the bill goes up a bit. You’ll need some boat soap, a scrub brush, wax, and rags, but that’s about it. Your at-home maintenance costs are negligible. Average boat maintenance costs are, of course, going to vary quite a bit depending on the type and size of the boat you buy and just how often and how hard you use it. And in the early years when pieces and parts generally don’t need replacing, it’s often far less. But remember, virtually all watercraft sold today are relatively low maintenance boats.Īs a general rule of thumb, even if you don’t want to lift a finger beyond washing your boat and flushing the engine, annual boat maintenance costs rarely exceed 10-percent of the boat’s cost. Some people enjoy all aspects of working on their boat themselves, while for others, handling maintenance tasks is more a matter of saving on boat maintenance cost than anything else. Boat trailer maintenance is also commonly left to the pros, since you have such an important item riding atop that trailer (though if you want to take a shot at maintaining your trailer yourself, you’ll find some useful tips and hints in Trailers & Parts).įor more information on professional service for your vessel, read Boat Repair: Choosing a Marine Mechanic. Most boaters leave annual boat care and maintenance chores, like changing engine oil, lubricating fittings, and painting the hull bottom, to professionals. If you spot anything wrong, then you can decide whether to tackle the challenge yourself or take the boat in for repairs. The one other maintenance chore that should be done after every trip is making a simple visual inspection of all the boat’s systems. See Outboard Engine Care and follow your engine manufacturer’s recommendations, to get the low-down on how it’s done (inboard boat motor maintenance is a bit different, but some stern-drive boats have similar flushing requirements). One important task, however, is flushing your engine after boating in saltwater. And having a dirty bilge means you may not spot leaking fuel or fluids, and can lead to clogged bilge pumps.Īfter a day out on the water, other than cleaning the boat and lubricating parts as necessary there aren’t many maintenance tasks you need to worry about. Dirt that sits on canvass and upholstery allows mold and mildew to attach and grow, so again, regular cleanings are very important. So a basic boat hull maintenance chore with any fiberglass boat is washing and waxing. The fiberglass gel coat, for example, will oxidize and turn chalky if you don’t wash and wax it regularly. The most basic maintenance tasks are simply keeping things clean and, where appropriate, well-lubricated. To get started, read our helpful guides to year-round boat maintenance: Thankfully, modern fiberglass boat maintenance and aluminum boat maintenance is a tiny fraction of what was once necessary to keep Mom’s Mink afloat. Moving parts (like hinges, tracks, and zippers)ĭecades ago this list would have been much longer, because a list of wooden boat maintenance tips would go on for pages and pages.Plumbing and HVAC systems (in larger boats).
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