Repair & maintenance guides

Jet Outboard Care: Grease, Intake Grate, Impeller Clearance and Shallow-River Habits

A jet outboard trades the propeller and gearcase for a pump, so it needs different care. Learn how mounting height works, why the pump bearing needs frequent grease, how gravel and a worn impeller steal thrust, how to clear the intake safely, and when an adjustment is a shop job.

Jet Ski and Jet Boat Pump Care: Clearing the Intake Grate and Checking the Impeller and Wear Ring

Clear weeds, rope and rocks from the intake grate of a Sea-Doo, Yamaha WaveRunner, Kawasaki Jet Ski or jet boat, and learn to spot a damaged impeller or worn wear ring. A clogged or worn pump is the usual reason a jet craft revs high but goes slow.

Jet Ski Impeller and Wear Ring Replacement (What's Involved)

Know when your PWC's impeller or wear ring is worn out, how to check it yourself, and what replacing them really involves: pulling the pump, special tools, the right clearance, fresh seals and the correct pump lube. Most owners do the diagnosis and leave the pump work to a dealer or jet-pump shop.

Jet Ski Saltwater Care: Flushing, Rinsing, Corrosion Protection and Storage

A simple after-every-ride routine for Sea-Doo, Yamaha WaveRunner and Kawasaki Jet Ski owners who ride in salt or brackish water. Flush in the right order, rinse the pump, hull and engine bay the gentle way, spray anticorrosion only where it belongs, and keep anodes, the battery and the trailer from rotting away.

Marine Diesel Service: Oil Change, Fuel Filters and Bleeding Air

Change the oil and oil filter, replace the primary and secondary fuel filters, and bleed air from the fuel system on a Yanmar, Volvo Penta, Beta, Cummins or similar marine diesel. These three skills cover most routine diesel care and can get you out of trouble when the engine dies on a passage.

Marine Diesel Turbocharger Care: Warm-Up, Cool-Down and Simple Checks

A turbocharger needs little attention, but the attention it needs matters. Learn how to warm up and cool down a turbo diesel, keep its oil and air clean, track boost, spot leaks and salt corrosion early, and know when a turbo needs a professional.

Marine Generator Routine Maintenance and CO Safety

Keep an Onan, Kohler/Rehlko, Northern Lights, Westerbeke or similar marine generator reliable with regular checks of oil, raw-water cooling, fuel, exhaust and the start battery, plus a monthly run under load. Generator exhaust is a leading source of carbon monoxide on boats, so safety checks come first.

Moving Your Boat From Fresh to Salt Water (or Back): Anodes, Flushing, Corrosion, Bottom Paint and Trailer Upgrades

What to change when a lake boat moves to the coast, or a saltwater boat moves inland: switching anode material, a flush-after-every-trip routine, raw-water and closed cooling parts that wear faster in salt, bottom paint that suits your hull and drive, marine-grade hardware, and trailer upgrades that survive salt dunks. Built from BoatUS, Mercury, Yamaha and Boating Magazine advice.

Onboard Tool Kit and Spare Parts: What to Carry on a Day Boat or a Cruiser

Build a tool kit and spares box that fits your boat and how far you go. A blown fuse, a clogged fuel filter or a dinged prop shouldn't end the day or turn into an expensive tow.

Portable Toilets on Boats: Emptying, Chemicals, Odor, Seals and Winter Storage

A portable toilet (Porta Potti type) is the simplest legal head for a small boat, as long as it is emptied the right way. Learn where to dump it, which chemicals to use, how to stop odor and leaks, how to secure it aboard, and how to store it for winter.

Propeller Care: Inspect, Remove, Replace and Choose the Right Pitch

Check your prop for damage, pull it to clear fishing line and grease the shaft, reinstall it correctly, and learn how pitch affects your engine's wide-open-throttle RPM. The right prop in good shape protects your engine and often makes the boat run better and use less fuel.

Saildrive Care: Leg Oil, Hull Seal, Anodes and Prop

Keep a Volvo Penta or Yanmar saildrive healthy with simple owner checks (leg oil level and color, anodes, paint, fishing line) and plan the big items, like the rubber hull diaphragm, before they become an emergency. The saildrive seal is one of the largest holes in a sailboat's hull, so it deserves attention.

Salt and Scale in Raw-Water Cooling: Flushing Habits, Descaling and When It's a Shop Job

Learn how salt and scale slowly narrow your engine's cooling passages, how to spot the warning signs (a temperature that creeps up over seasons, a weak telltale, thermostats sticking), the flushing habits that prevent it, which descaling products and methods engine makers accept, what never to pour through an engine, and when to hand the job to a shop.

Saltwater Outboard Care: The After-Every-Trip and Monthly Routine

A simple routine that keeps salt from eating your outboard, built from Honda, Yamaha, Mercury and Suzuki advice. It covers flushing after every trip, washing, where to spray anticorrosion (and where never to), monthly greasing, anodes, and tilting up or storing out of the water.

Small Portable Outboard Care (2.5 to 20 hp Kickers and Dinghy Motors)

Keep your dinghy motor or kicker starting on the first few pulls. Use fresh fuel, flush it, run the carburetor dry before you put it away, carry and lay it down on the correct side so oil doesn't flood the cylinders, and check the shear pin or prop, gear oil and engine oil on schedule.

Testing Engine Coolant: Test Strips, Refractometer or Lab Analysis

Coolant can look perfect and still be worn out. Learn how to test the coolant in a closed-cooled inboard, sterndrive, diesel or generator with test strips, a refractometer or a mail-in lab kit, what each result tells you, and when the answer is a coolant change or a call to a mechanic.

Two-Stroke Oil Injection vs. Premix: How It Works and How to Check It

A two-stroke engine dies quickly without oil in its fuel, so the oil injection system and its alarms deserve regular attention. Learn how injection and premix differ, what the warning horn is telling you, how to check the system, how to premix safely using your manual's ratio, and the real risks of disabling injection.

Two-Stroke Premix Conversion: Living With an Engine That Had Its Oil Injection Removed

Bought a two-stroke outboard or PWC whose oil injection was removed, or thinking of doing it? Learn how to confirm what was done, mix fuel at the ratio from your manual every single time, label your tanks so nobody forgets, choose NMMA TC-W3 oil and understand the real risks.

Using a Pontoon Boat in Salt Water: Tubes, Anodes, Flushing, Rinsing and Copper-Free Bottom Paint

Keep an aluminum pontoon alive in salt or brackish water: protect the tubes and hardware from corrosion, use the right anodes, flush the outboard the correct way, rinse the deck, furniture and trailer, cover only when dry, and never let anyone put copper-based (cuprous oxide) bottom paint on aluminum tubes.

V-Drive Transmission Care for Wake and Ski Boats: Fluid, Cooler, Coupler and Shaft Seal

Wake boats and many ski boats put the engine in the stern, backward, and turn the power through a V-drive transmission. Learn how to check and read the transmission fluid, why the cooler and its drain matter in winter, what the coupler and shaft seal tell you, and which noises and leaks mean it's time for a technician.