Are these maintenance prices fair?

[the MfM]

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

For those prices I could buy a new (to me) ls/lx every year.

 

[Michael Guzzo]

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.

So Gym it's your belief that replacing the hose clamps is easy? Sounds easy to me as well but the quoted price and another members comment in this thread lead me to believe there is more to it than what it sounds like. Either way thanks for the motivation!

 

[Beachbummer]

They are on the high end. None of these things require particular high expertise, so it's like paying $200/hr for oil change labor.

Depends on how much $200 is worth to you. If the service is very good and it means you are very happy with the service, and money is no object, it could be worth it.

It would not be worth it to me. I'll do the easy stuff. Faster and cheaper for me, and I can be confident it was done with the attention and dedication only the boat owner can provide.

 

[Ronnie]

Easy is dependent on your point of view. For example, assume that the clamps to be replaced ar those that connect the large clean out tubes between the clean out tray and pump. Getting to the top clamps on requires that you remove the tray (15 or 16 screws and remove the 2 sensors/switches), this shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes for 10 year old to do with a Phillips screw driver. If you have to get to the bottom clamps or those securing hoses to the water boxes you will have to remove a lot more obstructions and doing so is more difficult because most likely you will be leaning into the compartment from a kneeling position on the lower swim deck step, it is easier if you are a taller guy but I still would not describe the job as easy. Anyone who has installed, replaced or maintained a depth/fish finder transducer in that (stock) location can attest to this. The fact that you have to Reinstall all parts doubles the work. The latter looked like it would take me hours to do when I installed a transducer until a neighbor and retired mechanic told me to put liquid soap on the connection points of the hoses which cut the time to reinstall down to a few minutes.

I agree with @Gym though start with something easy like changing the oil and filter or spark plugs. Removing the pumps is another job that seems daunting to some at first but in reality it only takes the removal of maybe 10 bolts and all of 15 minutes to do. My local dealer charges $150 an hour with a one hour minimum but would charge a flat fee over $150 for this work . If I made $150 an hour and knew i could do this in 1/4th the time I would certainly not pay anyone $150 nor haul my boat there and back to do it. I used to read a lot about such work here, watch videos if I could find them and bring an iPad out while I was doing the work. I’m an attorney by education so working on boats isn’t second nature for me. The point is do something or you will forever be dependent on some else to do it at whatever cost they want.

Last example, my local dealer charges $800 for the ten hour service which is basically replacement of the oil, filter and spark plugs. Take out the cost of the oil and filters ($100 at the deqler using Yamaha materials, $50 for auto store materials), a pump/oil remover ($50) and spark plugs ($48, $6 each x 8) and all you have is labor of $600 to $650. The most time consuming part of this work is waiting for the pump to remove the oil but I assume the dealer charges for that time otherwise they could not justify charging $600 plus for hands on work that takes less than an hour to do per engine, after a few cycles I think I can do each engine in 30 minutes (excluding oil removal time).

Do something, start with something easy and which you have to do or have done repeatedly like oil changes, research this forum and/or ask a lot of questions here and you will save a lot of money, build up your skills and confidence and possibly make new friends in the process.

 

[the MfM]

It’s easy to look at a bill and separate out parts and think you’re being overcharged labor. But don’t forget the rest that goes into running a successful shop. Insurance, workers comp, taxes, building overhead, hazardous material disposal and compliance, misc shop supplies... etc. Nevermind the slow season and profit.

 

[Ronnie]

@the MfM , I agree all the money paid to a dealer gets split up to cover costs other than the techs time, but from a consumers point of view that doesn’t matter to me, what matters is I just spent a lot of money on work that I could do for a lot less. On the flip side, I doubt that a dealer cares that what I spend with them is coming out of my net income not my gross income.

Some things I leave to the pros though. Example a one inch diameter hole near the anchor locker and a two inch chunk out of the rear top side of the deck just cost me/my insurance company $3,555 to fix. I was more than happy to drop the boat off in that situation.

 

[Beachbummer]

I agree, at $200/hour I will limit their involvement to only the most esencial. $200/h to remove screws from the back cover or replace oil or clamps.... Just seems way too much.

It's a boat. Hole in the water you throw money at. But if you work on it yourself, you spend more time on it, and spend less. If tinkering with things and working on mechanical tasks is not to your liking, it may be worth it, but the labor is NOT cheap, so it may be warranted to try to develop an acquired taste

 

[Gym]

So Gym it's your belief that replacing the hose clamps is easy? Sounds easy to me as well but the quoted price and another members comment in this thread lead me to believe there is more to it than what it sounds like. Either way thanks for the motivation!

Mike, If a clamp is broken it's essentially removed. Now all you need to do is take the broken clamps to a hardware store or order a good quality stainless steel clamp the same size as the broken clamps. If a clamp looks like it's ready to break just unscrew it until it comes off the hose then replace with the same size. Usually no need to remove the hose.

My earlier comment about calling on one of your many Tampa jetboating brothers in your area is the best way to get started with any process your not familiar with. We all started at the point of no knowledge and learned from each other. What do you say Tampa jetboaters? Can someone reach out to Mike and get him started?

 

[Jgorm]

Paying 200 per hour is like making 350 per hour. I'll take that work any day!

 

[boudin]

The hose clamp replacement cost seems excessive. Let's break that down: $800 total = $100 parts (guess) and $700 labor, or 7 hours at $100 hr. There is some disassembly required for the exhaust clamps, and some of the lower motor hose clamps require a contortionist. But I would think you could do everything in a half day, even being your first time.

Post some pictures here and let folks comment.

The cost for replacing the wear rings is also excessive. If the mechanic has the pump off already to replace the impellers, they just remove the wear ring housing and pop in a new one. If the old one is not stuck, it takes all of 2 minutes. If it is stuck, then a small pry bar will pull it loose.

-Greg

 

[ThatJeepGuy]

Hope you have good insurance. I'd never let those guys touch anything below the waterline after the work they did to mine. My boat wasn't leaking when I brought it to them but it sure as hell was when I got it back. Half ass work and lies to cover it up. No thanks

 

[Ronnie]

Something else to consider: Yamaha jet boats don’t have sacrafical wear rings like some other pwc and jet boats do. The impeller is in a large metal housing that is part of the pump but is firmly attached to the hull with bolts and lots of sealent. I’ve never removed them for my Yamaha jet boats but think it would require a lot of elbow grease to remove them and some time to prep them for reinstallation.

My understanding is the housings are tougher to wear down/damage but also harder to replace and more expensive than wear rings. The last time I checked a housing was over $250 whereas as wear ring for a seadoo pwc is around $40 for a plastic, fiber glass reinforced plastic one.

 

[Russell]

I think Yamaha boats were made for the home do-it-yourself type of person. Frankly, I'd buy the parts and do the work myself. The impellers
I'd remove and send off to Impros in CA. They do fantastic work on all impellers. I just had them work over my kids Seadoo GTI155 impeller,
man was that a thing of beauty to install!