FYI:::

Perhaps I'm a novice but, I figured I would share with the community.

I have about 50 hours or so on my 450R motors, and had a defective flush valve which is to be replaced, anyways when pulled all the cowlings to inspect the other motors ALL 3 of my oil filters were literally about to pop off. they were less than finger tight loose and probably would've lasted less than an another run. Not sure if anyone else has experienced this, or routinely checks this however, this was alarming to me.

Case in point, I'm going to fairly regularly checking these. Anyone else experience this or am I just not OCD and interrogating my motors enough?

Along the same lines. I am sure we all have learned that a 5 minute per inspection can always save a day

Removing the hoods from multiple large outboards isn't as simple as moving a switch to open the engine hatch. When I had my C.C. with two outboards I seldom removed the hoods whereas with I/O's the hatch was opened before every start primarily to check for fumes and quick visual. ed

I thought outboards were turn-key?

How many hours were on them the last time you checked how tight they were?

I always indexed the oil filters on my IO’s so at a glance I’d know that they hadn’t moved. Guess I should do that on my VRod as well.

draw a line a 12 oclock or 6 with bright nail polish or lip stick or marker on the filter . And the same goes for your prop hubs to see if there is any movement / slip there as well.

10 years from now we will hear complete different words of wisdom here. Keep in mind even up here most boats are 15 to 25 years so lets see how long the current outboards will last - Most current outboards will not be turn key 15 years from now. They still suffer cooling and FUEL issues just like I/O s and inboards. They will have many failures as the same. Including ECM failures, fuel injection issues - fuel pump issues - blown powerheads, electrical issues and so on..

I do this on my distributors as well.

Hose clamp around the filter, safety wire through the clamp, twist and attach tightly to another component to stop it from spinning. I'm sure you can find video about how to safety wire an oil filter.

Go Gators!