Where do you live?

  1. Winterization is pulling the drain plugs out of the exhaust and engine block. Detaching a few key hoses, and blowing air through the hose lines so that there's not enough water anywhere to freeze and cause an issue. Some people do the RV antifreeze and fog the cylinders, but I don't bother. We get freezing temps overnight over the winter but nothing too bad. Detach your ballast bags from the hoses and blow out the lines.
  2. Most all of us do an oil change at least every year. Yes, replace the filter. It's silly not to when we're only talking a few extra dollars.
  3. I'd think every other year would be fine for you. you're not using your boat all that much.
  4. The ballast pumps use a completely different sized impeller. I wouldn't bother with those yearly. Honestly, you remove 3 screws and take the cap off your ballast pump and pull out the impeller and look at it. if it has chunks out of it, replace. Or if your fill drain times seem longer, check it out.
  5. Look at your owner's manual for the spec on duration between fluid changes. We don't have an "outdrive" on our boats.
  6. See owner's manual. It's in there.
  7. Wash it yourself. wipe it down with some boat bling hot sauce. put some spray wax on it.
  8. Acid wash of the hull is for people that leave their boat moored in the water and it has a thick scum on it below the water line. I can't imagine you'd need this.


Are you not at all a DIY type person? None of these things are all that hard. If you can change the oil in your car, you can do most anything on your list... Boat dealers make hundreds of dollars for relatively simple tasks that people aren't willing to tackle themselves. Plus, you have TONS of resources on this forum for how to do about anything.