Regular maintenance on the outboard motor is important to keep your outboard happy after the typical 100 hours of continuous or seasonal use, especially in saltwater applications.
However, it could be a challenge for first-time boat owners who may have no outboard maintenance experience before.
And the maintenance on the outboard motor can be tricky among different models and brands due to varied internal designs and components.
The good news is that the outboard motor maintenance is made easy with the electric type of motor that’s proud of itself on the “maintenance-free” design.
In this post, we are going to discuss how to service an electric outboard motor, the yearly schedule and checklist for the outboard motor maintenance, and the cost of taking it.
What’s more, we will talk about how zero maintenance on the outboard is made possible with the electric motors and the latest technologies out there to save your trouble.
Table of content:
- Outboard Maintenance Checklist: Your Yearly Routine
- Outboard Maintenance Cost: DIY & Finding a Dealer
- Free Maintenance on Outboard Motor: Trendy Technologies
- Final Thoughts About Outboard Maintenance
Maintenance on Outboard Motor: Simple Routine & Checklist to Follow
So how to do maintenance on outboard motor? How often should you service your outboard?
In fact, it’s fairly easy to service the outboard motor if you go electric.
You can forget about changing the gear oils, filters, spark plugs, greasing the drive shaft, purchasing all the necessary items, calculating the date for doing regular outboard maintenance, paying the big maintenance bill yearly.
Basically, the only things you need to care about are the propeller and the anode.
Here is an outboard maintenance checklist for your reference by taking ePropulsion Navy Evo as an example:
| Item | 50 hours (3 months) | 100 hours (6 months) | 200 hours (12 months) |
| Anode | Check | Check | Replace if necessary |
| Propeller & pin | Check | Check | Replace if necessary |
As for the checking and replacement maintenance on the outboard motor, it’s an easy task that can be carried out by anyone no matter whether you are technically inclined or not:
For example, a checklist for the outboard maintenance checking procedure includes:
- Check the propeller blades for wear, cavitation erosion, and other damage
- Check the pin for wear and damage
- Check for water plants, fishing net or line twine around the propeller
If the anode needs to be replaced during maintenance on boat motors, you can do it by yourself following the easy steps on the user manual:
For some electric outboard models, greasing might be required during the maintenance on outboards due to the varied design of the internal parts. But no worries, that can also be easily done by yourself with instructions on the manual.
Outboard Maintenance Cost
The outboard maintenance for the petrol outboards is a long term cost that can add up to a large amount over time if you want to take good care and extend the life of the motor.
Doing the outboard maintenance by yourself could be a headache which involves shopping for all the necessary products and spending time going through the detailed checklist.
Turning to the dealers may cost more than you expected.
After talking to several dealers around town and getting quotes for their annual maintenance “specials” that include numerous items, you might be confused as to how much is actually needed.
By contrast, the outboard motor maintenance cost for electric engines is much easier to calculate thanks to the simplicity in servicing the outboard motor.
If you are willing to do your own maintenance, the only things that need to take care of during the outboard maintenance checking are the anode, propeller and pin, which can easily get from the dealer.
If you’re a first-time outboard owner with little knowledge of motors and just want to find outboard maintenance service near you, it only costs $60 yearly for the service plus the cost of the few placement parts if necessary.
Free Maintenance on Outboard Motors: How Do We Make It
After learning the regular maintenance on electric boat motors, you may wonder whether the maintenance-free electric outboards are reliable:
What made it possible to save all the outboard maintenance troubles?
In fact, the latest technologies have already been adopted by some big players in the electric mobility world to make the maintenance on outboard motors free of trouble for users.
The core technologies include the following:
#1. 100% Electric Drive
The electric drive features an amazingly simple and reliable structure with much fewer parts, no cylinder, no oil pump, no carburetor. And this is the primary reason why the maintenance on outboard motor for electric types are much easier than the petrol ones.
#2. Brushless DC Motor
The brushless DC motor has about 10 times longer operating service life compared with the brushed motor which usually goes with 1,000 to 3,000 hours on average.
So there’s no wear down of brushes that might raise your concern during the maintenance on outboard motor.
#3. Direct Drive
Direct drive means the propeller directly takes the power coming from the motor without any reductions, such as a gearbox. Having fewer moving parts means there are fewer parts that are prone to failure which greatly reduces your stress for the outboard maintenance.
Final Thoughts
If you are new to the outboard world and are looking for any and all tips to extend the life of the motor, the electric outboard motor could save you a lot of trouble. Not to say the premium boating experience it provides.
If you have any questions about the maintenance on outboard motor, feel free to share yours in the comment below and I will get back to you soon.
i am retired marine mechanic and interested on the epropulsion affiliate sales and service program in the state of hawaii, arizona and nevada. I have had 10+ years of
experience in the rental fleet and retail marine service for sports pleasure boats, commercial and military surface crafts.
Hi Don, thank you for your interest on our products and we will let you know if we have any affiliate plan in the future!
I have recently bought a epropulsion 1.0 Spirit plus outboard and am trying to register for the user forum, could you please tell me where I do this.
Hi Graham, you can visit our official website, click the service, then the product registration, thanks!
Is there any lubrication to these motors? Lower unit or stearing?
Hi Ken, Yes, the lower unit and steering area are lubricated with lubricating oil.
Sooo.. just squirt oil on steering area & lower unit?
Hi Ken. Grease is used in many places in the normal production of oil, in addition to the shaft part and the steering part, such as the middle part of the fixture, the handle part are useful to grease. For maintenance, generally only need to repair the handle and clamp. This is all mentioned in the user manual.
How do I access these areas?
Hi Ken. We do not need to disassemble the lubrication maintenance, just apply lubricant like WD-40 to the joints. You can browse our official website for detailed Greasing Map. At the bottom of the product page, you can download the user manual of ePropulsion products, which contains detailed maintenance picture description.
https://www.epropulsion.com/