Best Gear Award: Oil Change Pump

Carol and I were talking recently about some of the best little things we’ve done to the boat that have had big quality of life impacts. One thing that we put on before we left the dock was a permanently plumbed oil change pump – similar to this but ours is all brass.

The pump is connected to the oil pipe near the dipstick which pulls oil from the bottom of the sump. It probably doesn’t drain every last drop that the drain would get to, but based on our oil capacity in theory and what we can pump out in reality, it is very close.

The hose at the other end can then be placed in any oil container we choose to use (like a bottle or a jar) and the oil pumped directly into that container. Way easier than an oil pan for us, especially when the boat is moving about at anchor.

On our engine, all of this can be done from the front of the engine although we have to go to the side for the filter change.

After having the loose hose leak drips of oil all over stuff, I whittled down a wine cork to the correct size of the ID of the hose and put a thread through it for easy cork removal.