The more you try things on your own...suddenly you see that these things are actually pretty easy to do.
What works is just to plunge in hands-first.
+2
I know a big-flat-nuthin' about marine engines. Was never a car guy. No history of wrenching on stuff from the deck down.
So when, a year or so back, my diesel made a horrendous screeching noise and stopped running... my first reaction was "oh, crap, that sounds like it's going to cost a crap-ton of money".
I did what I knew how to do.... I checked and made sure it had oil and coolant, the temp gauge was in the nominal range, there was no smoke, there was no oil or fuel or water in the bilge, etc... and then I asked for help. Several forum members took a look and told me - in about 10 seconds - that my coolant pump had siezed, the screeching noise was the belt torturing itself on the now-stuck pulley, and that I'd need to replace the pump and the belt.
So, while my second reaction was relief that I hadn't somehow fried my motor, my third reaction was "hiring someone to replace that pump still sounds like its going to cost a crap-ton of money".
Turns out, it didn't. Forum-members gave me great guidance on how to pull the old pump, find the right part number(s) for the replacement, do a good job with gaskets and hoses and such, and install the new one. Ended up doing it all myself... and now I not only know how, I know a little more about my motor and I know what to look for if that ever noise ever happens again.
I have - over time, - figured out how to change my oil and flush my coolant, change the zincs in my heat exchanger, bleed my fuel system, adjust belt tension, etc, etc, etc. And I've learned along the way how to "triage" things... like, when something happens, try to form a theory about what it is, then change ONE thing to test that theory, and use that info to move forward with a plan. So while I'm still at kindergarten level on engine things.... I'm learning.
You will, too.
Bruce