Are these maintenance prices fair?

[Michael Guzzo]

Took my boat in for routine maintenance and several issues were found. Below are the issues and estimates. Would like to get you guys’ perspective on if I am getting ripped off or not.

$650 for all the annual maintenance on both engines. I expected this. Price was $500 last year but inflation so fine.

The below are issues they found upon inspection
$450 to replace Coolant hose clamps. Apparently corroded
$350 to replace Exhaust hose clamps. Apparently corroded also
$450 to remove and refurbish impellers. Says they are all beat up. Most likely from sucking up shells and sand at sandbar.

I declined to replace clamps this time but said yes to impellers.

After they got the impellers back they said they could not get them back in due to swollen housings on both sides. The total cost to replace both housings was in the ballpark of $1,000. What’s most frustrating is that the boat was running fine when I took it in. If I would have declined getting the impellers refurbished would I have been ok?

Do you all feel that these are fair prices for the work being done. Any other thoughts are appreciated.

Thank You!

 

[bronze_10]

What year and hour boat?

 

[Michael Guzzo]

Yea that would have been good to include. It's a 2012 242 limited with just over 300 hours on it.

 

[Scottintexas]

500 to 650 is a 30% increase, I think the price is very high but I don't mind crawling around and leaning over my engines and have time to kill,

I guess it's just a matter of how valuable your time is, I hope they did spark plugs with that price,

A PWC shop can probably do everything engine/pump related for less than the dealer, you could have pulled your impeller/shafts in about 30 minutes and taken the entire assy to a pwc shop to repair,

if it's running good a would never recommend someone refurbishing an impeller unless they were just cautious and had money to burn,

I would look at your clamps in the engine compartment and through the manhole on the cleanout tray to see how corroded they are, if one of those does let go it can be big trouble fast but many members never check them and we don't have boats sinking, (the clamp has to break and then the hose has to come off the flange so you really need bad luck)

 

[Michael Guzzo]

Yea trust me if I could go back in time I would tell them don't touch the impellers just felt I should take care of something instead of putting all of it off.

 

[Redneck_4Play]

I do all all my own work and for those prices I could probably rebuild both motors.

 

[Ancient canoe]

$800 to replace hose clamps seems a little excessive. Is this on top of your $650?

 

[Pinhacker71]

Seems high to me

 

[Michael Guzzo]

Yea the hose clamps seemed excessive to me as well. apparently it is all the labor to get to them. And to answer your question those prices are on top of the maintenance cost.

I wish I knew more about this stuff so that I could do it all myself. Going forward I may have to start diving in and learning in order to be able to afford to keep this thing

 

[Scottintexas]

It really is pretty simple
At least the easy stuff
I'm no mechanic but can do all the mtc and with the help of everybody here diagnose bigger issues or at least have the confidence to try

Be sure to look at faq at top of page for lots of great tips and DIYs

 

[swatski]

I declined to replace clamps this time but said yes to impellers.

After they got the impellers back they said they could not get them back in due to swollen housings on both sides. The total cost to replace both housings was in the ballpark of $1,000. What’s most frustrating is that the boat was running fine when I took it in. If I would have declined getting the impellers refurbished would I have been ok?

Wear ring liner swelling is not uncommon, basically expected in salt. Your old impellers were likely worn-in but the new ones with correct OD (outside diameter) would not fit. That is not surprising and you would need to face that sooner rather than later - replace the wear rings - anyway. @Cobra Jet Steering LLC has a method of fixing those things, but it is labor of love.

I would not want to run with corroded clamps. If those fail while underway you could lose engines and/or sink the boat. The price if high but it is what I would call "hellish" work - climbing inside the engine bay to reach those, especially all the exhaust clamps.

If you trust the guys there would do good job - I would probably pay them to do that. I see those prices as high but not necessarily outrageous. I would be more concerned with having someone who knows what they are doing - doing the job. That is not always to be taken for granted and not always related to price level.

--

 

[Drift Away]

500 to 650 is a 30% increase, I think the price is very high but I don't mind crawling around and leaning over my engines and have time to kill,

I guess it's just a matter of how valuable your time is, I hope they did spark plugs with that price,

A PWC shop can probably do everything engine/pump related for less than the dealer, you could have pulled your impeller/shafts in about 30 minutes and taken the entire assy to a pwc shop to repair,

if it's running good a would never recommend someone refurbishing an impeller unless they were just cautious and had money to burn,

I would look at your clamps in the engine compartment and through the manhole on the cleanout tray to see how corroded they are, if one of those does let go it can be big trouble fast but many members never check them and we don't have boats sinking, (the clamp has to break and then the hose has to come off the flange so you really need bad luck)

Not to dime out the shop but who is it? I live in Tarpon and take mime to a place with the Initials CS. Not sure who your using but i have had a great Experience with my guys.

 

[Julian]

The impeller housings are $322 each, so $1000 to replace them is $350 for what should be one hour's work ($350/hour)
$800 to replace the hose clamps....assuming they use Stainless I'll guess the parts are $200. I would estimate that to be a 3 hour job for a good mechanic....so $200/hour

I'd look at those hose clamps and see if they are brittle and/or close to breaking. If not, I'd leave them until they looked worse.

 

[Ronnie]

It reads like you got ripped off too me but it really depends on how much time it should take or you would take to do the work. Replacing hose clamps is not hard at all but if they had to remove and reinstall a lot of other items, especially under the clean out plug tray it could take a lot of time for me to do, for a pro I’d expect not so much.

If the boat ran fine when you brought it in I would not have agreed to refurbishing the impellers. By the way impros in scal will do so for $65 each plus shipping both ways. They should have told you that you may have to replace the wear rings to get the clearance back to spec.

I have never experience swollen housings if anythjng the housing / wear ring opening gets bigger not smaller. Think about it, the impeller will eventually wear any high spots in the housing or wear ring down and in those situations the clearance is very tight, which is a good thing compared to the alternative.

I would not got back to that dealer for anythnng but warranty work. I’d also see if I could shadow a DYIer on here the next time he or she does maintenance or repair on their jet boat.

 

[Michael Guzzo]

Not to dime out the shop but who is it? I live in Tarpon and take mime to a place with the Initials CS. Not sure who your using but i have had a great Experience with my guys.

Drift away yea that is the place. Always had good experience as well just seems like they charge on the higher end of the spectrum.

 

[Michael Guzzo]

The impeller housings are $322 each, so $1000 to replace them is $350 for what should be one hour's work ($350/hour)
$800 to replace the hose clamps....assuming they use Stainless I'll guess the parts are $200. I would estimate that to be a 3 hour job for a good mechanic....so $200/hour

I'd look at those hose clamps and see if they are brittle and/or close to breaking. If not, I'd leave them until they looked worse.

They told me the cost was $370 each (for the OEM) alongside 2 hours of labor @ $120/hr. Add taxes and that gets me to the $1,000.

They also said that there was a non OEM version that was actually a little cheaper (around $325 per) and a better product which would not have this issue. He said that it was a single piece whereas the OEM was a couple pieces. Unfortunately that version was on backorder for a month and a half and I am not that patient.

 

[robert843]

Are the price high? Of course to any of us who do our own maintenance they sound high but being someone who started off letting a dealer do this stuff those prices sound inline. I have since switched to doing my own it's a how much is your time worth question as to whether it's worth learning to do yourself. I was getting basic service done on two skis and a twin engine boat at the tune of around $1300 in the spring once i did the math and figured out I could do it for almost $1000 less I decided it was time to learn. The regular maintenance is really simple and after the first time you do it I think you would do it going forward. The price on the hose clamps seems high I would def do that myself as for the pumps and impellers I probably would have let the dealer do it as well.

 

[Michael Guzzo]

I've decided that next year I will take a shot at the regular maintenance myself. My only reservation with that is that now no one is going to notice other impending issues. I certainly won't know what I am looking for at 1st. Do I just wait until something breaks? I could always take it in and ask the dealer to take a look but that seems like I am just asking them to find something and charge me.

 

[Gym]

Let me suggest this to you @Michael Guzzo. Some of the items you listed are low hanging fruit that you can handle. I'm not suggedting you become Mr. Goodwrench overnight but, replacing hose clamps??? The most difficult part of that is gaining access to the lower bilge to access the clamps down there. Any water clamps on the engine are staring you in the face.

On our forum map I see 23 members listed in the Tampa area. I'm sure there are several more not listed. If I were within an hours drive of you I would gladly drive over and show you how to do a couple of clamps to get you started. Oil and spark plug changes are also not difficult. There is a pretty good video of that process in our FAQ section and again members who would be willing to help out.
Not many of us were born with greasy hands. We started with the easy stuff and worked our way into the more complex with the help and guidance of fellow members. We have saved members millions of dollers and caused many egos to grow with the "can do attitide". Your wife will swoon when you walk into the house with greese on your face after repairing your boat and saving $hundreds in order to take her out. Come on. Grab a wrench, get dirty. You'll feel great.

 

[Jgorm]

My huge distrust for shops gets a bit more justification. I really try to avoid shops because I'm cheap, and they'll probably screw up something I'll have to fix.
The prices sound crazy, but Marine shops are stupid expensive and it is what it is. My dad's got 15k + into fixing a mid 2000s 24' cobalt over about 5 years. Nothing to do but pay it. Bust Out Another Thousand.