Re: fuel /water separator installation
Staging.....Yea, probably the wrong word, but it looked good at the beginning. So let me explain in a little more detail.<br />In a car, the mechanic goes out starts the car and drives it onto a rack or over a pit and the oil change is done from the bottom of the vehicle.<br />Great 39.95 any you are out of there.<br />With a small 18' boat, the procedure is a little different. The boat has to be moved by either a forklift or a truck to get it to the working area, then the bow has to be low so the drive can be lowered in order to run and warm up the engine. That is after the tech moves all the water toys, gas tanks, fenders, fishing poles, etc. out of the way of the engine compartment and helm area. Then locate the battey switch, lower the drive hook up the muffs turn on the water and run the engine for 10 minutes to warm the oil. In the process, we get the oil, filter, and drain pump (It's faster than the through the drain plug hose), get rags, oil absorbant pads, drain pans for under the filter (if possible), tools, matts to keep the deck as clean as possible and what ever else is needed......oh, did I forget to mention the ladder to get into the boat and we had to take all the canvas off so you can do the job.<br />Now that the engine is warm, shut off the engine shut off the water raise the drive, raise the front of the boat so the engine is level so we get all the oil out, I normally use a pump not the drain hose, it's faster, usually only a 3 minute job. Next we change the oil filter. Try that without making a mess. On cars and trucks they drain into a big funnel, in boats.......well, it's hard to tell, you may or may not make too big a mess. but usually oil gets into way more areas than you planned for. Then it all has to be cleaned up. Please note that all this is done in the "Living" area of the boat, not under the hood. Footprints and fingerprints and general grease and grime are not on the outside as in the automotive world.<br />Now, we have changed the oil and filter, we put the bow of the boat back down, drive back down, hook up the water and re-run the engine and check for leaks. Shut off the engine, water, raise the drive, raise the bow of the boat, recheck the oil level and top off if necessary. put the drive back up, get all the tools off the boat, wash the boat, put the canvas back on, Put all the stuff back where it was, shut off the battery switch and the job is done....except for the paper work.
