How many DIY winterizing, oil change & maintenance

[Thrall]

I do both car and boat maintenance. There are very few repairs I won't attempt myself, and I've prided myself on almost never needing outside mechanic help (the exception being a cylinder head that needed some machine work).

It's more satisfying than fun. I've saved myself tens of thousands of dollars over the years. I'm not the type to rebuild engines for fun, although if I had unlimited time I would be all over it.

I also have trust issues. Mechanical work is way too easy to half ***, and yet the profession doesn't reward the guys who are top notch. It can be hard to find the good ones.

^What he said.
Just changed boat engine oil, v drive oil and winterized today.
2 gallons of 15-40, remaining stock of small block Chevy oil filters from my father (seriously, I’ve been using 20-30 year old oil filters on the boat the last 5 years or so) and 3 gallons of RV antifreeze and a few hours in the shop is not only quicker, but about a 95% discount compared to what a dealer would charge.

[Ryan]

This is fantastic input folks. Almost reached stat-significance.

Next, up. How'd you learn? Father, mother, other relative, friend, autoshop, youtube, or something else?

[FoggyNogginz]

This is fantastic input folks. Almost reached stat-significance.

Next, up. How'd you learn? Father, mother, other relative, friend, autoshop, youtube, or something else?

How I learned:

1. Grew up broke. If it needed to be fixed, my only real option was to do it myself.

2. Friends and family : learning from those with experience, or at least those with tools

3. Once the internet came to be, I realized that you could look up almost anything, and now most things also have a video! (life is amazing)

4. Ask/Pay mechanics, electricians, engineers, etc to show me stuff or let me watch. I've learned a ton this way too.

[waterlogged882]

How I learned:

1. Grew up broke. If it needed to be fixed, my only real option was to do it myself.

2. Friends and family : learning from those with experience, or at least those with tools

3. Once the internet came to be, I realized that you could look up almost anything, and now most things also have a video! (life is amazing)

4. Ask/Pay mechanics, electricians, engineers, etc to show me stuff or let me watch. I've learned a ton this way too.

Same here and still broke.

.

[neil.anderson63]

I don't actually remember learning - more of a life long developmental thing. Mechanical things just came naturally as I grew up. I was always taking apart things and putting them back together - Like puzzles.
My grandfather gave me a set of Husky tools when I was in 3rd grade. I thought it was the greatest gift ever and I still have them. I helped him build houses each summer and he instilled a sense of respect for mechanical things; You take care of them and they take care of you.

[WhiskeyTango]

Dad was an auto mechanic and had a couple of small shops I started working at beginning at age 8. Picked up a few skills along the way but mostly an appreciation for machines, and a knack for problem solving. It was made clear to me early on that there was no job at the shop for me after high school (not that I wanted one…).

I got a degree in mechanical engineering which continued the problem solving theme. Haven’t done any real engineering for 20 years, but still like to build stuff. Maintenance is viewed mainly as a chore and I suppose I do it on the boat because it’s so much faster than taking the boat to someone else. And I trust myself not to get lazy and do something halfway.