Fair price for winterization and oil change

[85 Barefoot]

On 10/12/2016 at 5:17 PM, slap said:

Just had my '00 SS Lxi winterized, oil changed, and shrink wrapped for $425. Work done in my driveway. Way cheaper than dealer, way less hassle than doing it myself (plus I dunno how to shrink wrap).

Seriously?  

[tjklein]

27 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

Dude, c'mon, Hulk don't make us dredge up that friggin thread where it was determined that your LSA was indeed NOT closed cooled.  It only had a heat exchanger of some sort for the supercharger, but the engine itself was raw water cooled.  We went through all of that after you overheated it.

Also on (most) closed cooled motors remember to drain the vdrive/tranny cooler/exhaust manifolds in addition to the heat exchanger.  Really the only parts you don't do are drain the block and drain the heater (if so equipped).  The partial exception would be indmar salt series which also have closed cooling on the exhaust manifolds.

ShawnDoggy is correct.  And the LSA is a PIA to do...been there and done that.  Less room to work and more things to do.

[oldjeep]

17 minutes ago, 85 Barefoot said:

Seriously?  

The shrink wrap alone id expect to be around $300. $425 is a pretty decent deal if you are paying someone to do what he had done.

[stags79]

I just got mine winterized and wrapped for $650.  dropped it off last week and picked it up the next day. 

This was my first year getting it wrapped since since the barn I usually use is leaning over a lot more than last fall.  the wrap was $300 extra.

[bamaboy]

Honest question: what's the purpose of shrink wrap?  Just for outdoor storage purposes?  Doesn't it trap moisture? Or do they vent it?

Edited October 15, 2016 by bamaboy

[Sixball]

A good shrink wrap job is vented. It allows your boat to sit out and not gather large amounts of snow. Done well the boat comes out as clean as put away.  Its also not hard to do and if you do it every year you could invest in what you need to do the job for the price of doing it once. Hay you guys with roll bars could do it with the tower up and put a door in so you could sit in it and have a cold one. ( Man Cave).  We use to shrink our sail boat in the water, winterize the engine and plumbing. Its better for the boat if the mast is left up during storage. You can buy rolls of shrink wrap that will do the job for years at a fraction of the price for the amount to do it once. They are not large and easy to store. 

[Air Tahoe]

On October 12, 2016 at 3:10 AM, Nitrousbird said:

Piece of mind:
It isn't hard.  You will likely do a better job than the dealer will anyway, as this is a busy time for them and they are just trying to bust through these as fast as possible.  Wait until spring - you will see a pile of posts about how a block is cracked, drain plugs were forgotten about, heater core leaking, etc.  Dealers screw this up on the regular.

I don't have all the tools needed:
Then buy them.  You can get them online and sent to your door.  Even after buying all the tools/materials, you will still be ahead financially.

 

 

I'd be happy to pay a boat shop to do service but it has led to more problems then fixes. We have tried 3 different shops in the area. We usually don't discover the problems until we are way up at the lake away from the service shop. Now I only do my own work on the boat and no shop touches it unless it is out of my experience. Since we took that moto the boat has been super reliable. The tools were cheap compared to the service cost. The only hard part for us is that there is no garage at the lake and we are doing everything remotely so need to load the truck up with tons of tools and supplies and be prepared as there is no stores around. But now we are much more prepared if something was to go wrong, we know we can probably fix it. We replaced the steering cable ourself for 1/2 the dealer cost and it was done in a day rather then in the shop for 2 weeks in the middle of summer. It as getting harder and harder to turn. We replaced the 2 ballast pumps for $100 in less then 30 mins. etc. It literally takes more time to drive to the boat shop and back then doing a lot of the service ourself. And it doesn't have to sit there 2 weeks waiting to get worked on. 

 

Here are the issues it has returned with after normal service over the years:

Throttle cable re-installed backwards (it went in for an oil change and 100hr. tune up)

Black grease all over the white upholstery, some of which has never come out

Overtightened oil filter (that was a fun one)

Perfect pass speed controller dangling by the wires (never put back)

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Air Tahoe

[MalibuNation]

Leather?

[Air Tahoe]

Corrected

 

[MalibuNation]

 That could be hot and sticky in the summer sun.

[Michigan boarder]

On 10/22/2016 at 10:46 AM, Air Tahoe said:

 

It literally takes more time to drive to the boat shop and back then doing a lot of the service ourself. And it doesn't have to sit there 2 weeks waiting to get worked on. 

 

The more familiar you get with the boat, the more this holds true.  I feel the same way.

[jwl019]

I do mine myself, took me about 4-5 hrs to change the oils, drain everything and run antifreeze thru it and watch some football Saturday evening.

I just received this cost sheet in the mail for your comparison though:

[mikeyg]

10 minutes ago, jwl019 said:

I do mine myself, took me about 4-5 hrs to change the oils, drain everything and run antifreeze thru it and watch some football Saturday evening.

I just received this cost sheet in the mail for your comparison though:

Looks like Singleton prices. Crazy.

[05hammerhead]

10 minutes ago, jwl019 said:

I do mine myself, took me about 4-5 hrs to change the oils, drain everything and run antifreeze thru it and watch some football Saturday evening.

I just received this cost sheet in the mail for your comparison though:

Man I wish we had prices like that around here.  I wouldnt even bother doing it myself.

 

[jwl019]

Just now, mikeyg said:

Looks like Singleton prices. Crazy.

That's who it was, I had called them on a used boat last year so I guess I am on their mailing list now.

[footndale]

21 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

 

Aren't the 6.2L Ford enignes all closed/partially cooling?  I like how they charge you more for doing less.

[05hammerhead]

2 hours ago, footndale said:

Aren't the 6.2L Ford enignes all closed/partially cooling?  I like how they charge you more for doing less.

This is MN where 90% of the boats are malibus.  They can charge whatever they want.

[EchelonMike]

On 10/12/2016 at 7:15 AM, hethj7 said:

I am usually a big DIY person in general but another reason for the dealer could be space. My boat doesn't fit in the garage and I get notices from the HOA pretty quickly sometimes when the boat is in the drive.  

Your neighbors need a hobby.  LOL!

[hethj7]

5 minutes ago, EchelonMike said:

Your neighbors need a hobby.  LOL!

Tell me about it.  What is crazy is I know all the immediate neighbors and they are cool.  Not sure who called it in - we've got a few uppity folks scattered throughout the neighborhood that have nothing better to do than worry about their property value and over-police the place.    I think the policy is 1 night every 14 days and I had it here 2 nights once and my wife got a call from the HOA.  They were friendly about it, but I was still shocked.

 

 

[EchelonMike]

We have the same thing in our neighborhood.  I have never gotten a call about having the boat in the driveway for a day or two, but stick a yard sign in front of your house and all hell will break loose.  LOL. 

I say work on your boat and let the phone go to voicemail when they call.

[formulaben]

23 hours ago, hethj7 said:

Tell me about it.  What is crazy is I know all the immediate neighbors and they are cool.  Not sure who called it in - we've got a few uppity folks scattered throughout the neighborhood that have nothing better to do than worry about their property value and over-police the place.    I think the policy is 1 night every 14 days and I had it here 2 nights once and my wife got a call from the HOA.  They were friendly about it, but I was still shocked.

I was dumb enough to say yes when asked to volunteer for the HOA Board here...OMG, some of the complaints we get are insane.  The reason I was begged to be on the board was to keep the uppities out...indeed, some people must have absolutely no life.