Marina Winterize Services

[Steve73]

Doesn't this seem a bit high for Oil and Winterize at my high and dry Marina? 2018 AR190 (single engine, not supercharged)

I used to keep the boat at my house and do it myself, but now we store at the marina (high and dry) which is an hour drive away, so I had them do the winterize.

Oil change and Oil filter = 2.6 hours (seems long to me. I think this took me about 1 hour, maybe 1.5 hours)

Winterize - Drain engine & Manifolds, refill with Antifreeze, fuel stabilizer, disconnect batteries, cover it (not wrapped or anything, its indoor storage so just cover with my yamaha boat cover) = 1.8 hours (seems like another 1 hour to 1.5 hour job with our boats)
Unless they did something different but drain engine would be start it and blow it out, right? Then hook up anti freeze to the flush out port and run it through.

Total cost was $611. Materials were reasonable, majority of cost was the 4.4 hours of labor at $120 per hour. I feel like 3 hours is realistic.

$120 per hour x 1.4 hours = $168
$611 - $168 = $443 (this is more like what I was expecting as a bill).

 

[biffdotorg]

Thats a generic winterization description for inboard boats. They say they do all that with your Yamaha and charge you for something they don't do for our engines.

I would love to see them try to "fill" our engines and manifolds with antifreeze. It's not physically possible.

 

[Scottintexas]

you paid for convenience and they poked you in both eyes,

oil change, blow the engine out, disconnect the battery, add fuel stabilizer and put the cover on,

they're probably charging "book" rate, that could have been done in 2 hours easy

the real question is what will you do next year ?

 

[Steve73]

you paid for convenience and they poked you in both eyes,

oil change, blow the engine out, disconnect the battery, add fuel stabilizer and put the cover on,

they're probably charging "book" rate, that could have been done in 2 hours easy

the real question is what will you do next year ?

Going to talk to them and try to get a fair shake next year.

They kind of have me though because they don't have a work yard that I can work on it myself... so my only other option is to have them put it on my trailer, drive an hour down, get the boat, trailer it 1 hour home, do the work myself and go down and back again.

 

[biffdotorg]

Pay to have them do the oil change and leave off the antifreeze and labor to do that job, as it is unnecessary. At least they laid out the hours for the oil change. Bring your own kits and pay the labor. And all of a sudden you have saved a pile off your bill.

 

[Scottintexas]

I'm very cheap,

1. I'd have them put the boat on the trailer, drive to autozone or closest parking lot / road turn out and do the oil change there, blow the engine out, add the fuel stabilizer and put the cover on and give it back to them,

2. do the oil change on the water, I've done that before, while it's not the most convenient I'd be thinking of that $400 I was saving and it would be a lot easier to swallow. have them put it on the trailer, hook the truck up, pull to a place not blocking anyone, 30 seconds to blow the water out and you put the cover on yourself and give it back to them,

time is money and also the dealing with red tape and "procedures" people have has a mental cost,

 

[Cleveland Steamer]

You’re taking it in the a** for sure.

But that’s how they stay in business. You can either do it yourself on the cheap or pay some outrageous fee. Pick your poison brother.

When I was out in the driveway winterizing my boat, which I REALLY didn’t feel like doing, a neighbor drove by and stopped. She said that they paid $800 to get their boat winterizer the previous year and this year decided to just have it stored in a heated building to save money but it ended up being $1,000 for the heated storage. She wasn’t happy. It made me feel better about winterizing my boat for about $125..

 

[Beachbummer]

Tell me more about this marina...

In my area there are work and cleaning racks they put the boat on so you can clean and work on them yourself.

If you need to interact with the boat dry/ in the hard, do they offer any options?

 

[Steve73]

Tell me more about this marina...

In my area there are work and cleaning racks they put the boat on so you can clean and work on them yourself.

If you need to interact with the boat dry/ in the hard, do they offer any options?

Yeah unfortunately our Marina doesn't allow it. They don't have the space for a self work station. Between the two storage buildings, plus the majority of outside space is filled up with trailer storage. And then they have an indoor work station where they work on the boats.

They lift it in and out and wash down the exterior for us then put it back on the rack (which is nice, no work at the end of the day).

 

[Beachbummer]

I guess it works for them, but even for a fee it would be worthwhile to have an option to work on it there. Sorry that's not the case.

 

[drewkaree]

You’re taking it in the a** for sure.

But that’s how they stay in business. You can either do it yourself on the cheap or pay some outrageous fee. Pick your poison brother.

When I was out in the driveway winterizing my boat, which I REALLY didn’t feel like doing, a neighbor drove by and stopped. She said that they paid $800 to get their boat winterizer the previous year and this year decided to just have it stored in a heated building to save money but it ended up being $1,000 for the heated storage. She wasn’t happy. It made me feel better about winterizing my boat for about $125..

Skipper Bud's would offer the same as @Steve73 describes - a lot of BS that doesn't apply, charge a book rate, and you either like it, or lump it. In 2019, this was being billed at $700+ but I have no idea what they're soaking people for now.

@Cleveland Steamer tell your neighbor to look at it like this, storage would likely be $400-ish for unheated inside storage, so she saved $200 on the winterization fee by keeping it in heated storage. Barring that, tell her you'll winterize it for her for $600. If it's a Yamaha, I'll do it for $600 since you're close enough!