When it comes to time to change the oil on the average boat engine it is often rife with frustration, the sump plug is right at the lowest part of the engine and it is often next to impossible to get a collection pan of any sort under the sump to collect the waste oil as it runs out. For this reason many times the oil is not changed at the specified intervals.
Keeping oil out of the bilge is very important as a gallon or so of engine oil will run everywhere and stink up the boat in short order. I have had good results with the Topsider oil changer shown here. In case you are unfamiliar with these simple but effective tools here's how they work. A hand pump is attached to to a canister but the pump is designed to suck instead of blow creating a vacuum in the container as it is operated. A simple clothes pin type seals the pick up pipe which is inserted into the dipstick hole as shown below.
After the tube is pushed down the dipstick hole the clip is released and the vacuum in the tank draws the oil into the 2 gallon container for safe disposal. The topsider costs about $60 but in my humble opinion is worth every penny in saved aggravation and making a potentially messy job easy and clean.
There are electric pumps that do the same job but they cost much more and unless you have a couple of big motors in the boat you will manage just fine with the manual pumps. However I must admit that the electric Reverso pumps are great and are just about a standard fitment in many larger powerboats.
TIP. If you can change the oil when the engine is hot it will be thinner and much easier to suck up with less chance of leaving significant residue in the sump pan.
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