Thursday, December 22, 2011

WAX ON, WAX OFF

Home in Port Charlotte
High of 83

Finished my wax job and full annual motor maintenance.  Doing it myself cost less than $200 and saved me about a thousand under the dealer costs.  Next time will be even cheaper if I plan better and order my parts online in advance instead of paying local retail.  But it's good to stimulate the local economy and some of the advice I got from the parts counter at the Yamaha dealer was worth the extra 10-15%.

I put in 6 new spark plugs, removed/inspected my propellor, re-greased the prop shaft, changed fuel filters, dropped the lower unit of the outboard and did a complete water pump changeout, changed the gear oil, waxed the hull, changed out corroded trolling motor plug and receptacle (last one lasted less than a year so I went for quality this time and spend 60 instead of 20).

My buddy Chuck helped me re-launch the boat from the Charlotte Beach boat ramp.  Boat jumped right up on a plane and ran smooooooth.  I got her back on the lift before dark.  Keeping the trailer that came with my boat turned out to be a really good idea.  Doing maintenance in my yard is much better than trying to do maintenance on the boat lift while floating from my canal barge.

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