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Maintenance Cycles
For boat coastal cruising
in New England summers, out of water in winters. Engine maintenanced
based on roughly 150 hours per year, diesel, with fresh water cooling.
A boat in use around the
year, especially in warm tropical or semi-tropical water, will have substantially
compressed maintenance cycles.
This guide is very crude,
and I don't follow it rigidly. It primarily reminds you that everything
on a boat needs maintenance, some things more often than others.
almost daily
check engine oil
check coolant
check seawater intake filter
if motoring in a lot of grass
50-100 engine hours
change oil
check battery fluid
check transmission oil
1 year cycle
varnish exterior, mast
bottom paint
wax topsides
polish metal
zincs (rudder, propeller
shaft, heat exchanger)
drain water from bottom of
fuel tank
drain replace gallon of
engine anti-freeze and replace
engine fuel filters
new water pump impeller
clean bilge pump filter
flush bilge
check automatic bilge switches
flush water tank, maybe
clean
grease seacocks
check hoses, hose clamps
clean vacuum reliefs on
outlet lines (head, bilge pumps)
grease steering cables (check
for wire deterioration)
grease steering bearings
rinse sails, minor repairs
to sails, sail covers
dinghy outboard: spark plugs,
fuel filter
2 year cycle
engine belts
dinghy outboard: water pump
impeller
grease winches
drain/change transmission
oil
5 year cycles
rebuild head
replace head outlet lines
clean lectra san
pack stuffing box
cutlass bearing
check engine alignment grease
windless thorough inspection of working sails
Interior
varnish interior, paint
10 year cycles
rebuild plastic hatches
check chain plates, chain
plate bolts,
bobstay fitting, tangs
refrigerator hoses
electronics (after 10 years,
substantially obsolete and unserviceable)
(Maybe) rebed deck hardware,
hatches
paint interior lockers
have LPG tanks re-certified
20 year cycles
propellershaft?
pull out and check rudder
shaft for corrosion when propeller shaft is out
exhaust system?
new sails?
replace running rigging
(unless chaffed earlier)
re pack rudder stuffing
box
galvanize chain, anchor
plumbing hoses, copper supply
tube
30 year cycles
rebuild deck
replace standing rigging
through hull seacock fittings
(more often if boat is moored
at a dock and subject to electrolysis)
engine re build or powering
replace mast wiring
rudder pintal /gudgeon bushing
steering wheel shaft bushings
Check regularly and fix
when needed:
standing rigging (especially
swaged terminal fittings)
running rigging
hull blisters
steering cable
rudders
electrical components, wires,
batteries, etc.
tanks are a maintenance
item, but it is hard to generalize, replacement cycle depends on material
and installation
lpg gas lines
leaking portlights
leaking deck fittings
bulkhead tabbing
mast glue joints
keel bolts (check when convenient,
when tanks are removed)
rebuild/replace bilge and
fresh water pumps
hoses, hose clamps, fuel
lines
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