jhr
Well-known member
Jolly boating weather today, except we couldn't.
Brief story: The boat came out of the water at the end of October, with everything working fine, and the engine was serviced and winterised by the Yard. They also serviced the leg, at my request, and changed the impeller and (I thought) the gearbox oil. A few weeks ago, I noticed that there was no oil in the gearbox reservoir in the engine bay and I mentioned this to the Yard, asking them to make sure that the oil in the leg had been done and was at the correct level before we relaunched, as there was nothing in the reservoir.
The boat went back in the water 10 days ago and, although I'd asked them not to as I wanted to take her up myself, the yard took the boat up to her moorings. Today we went down, all agog, to whizz over to Yarmouth for lunch. When I was ready to start up, I put on the engine blower, before checking the fluid levels, but nothing happened. Subsequent checking of all the other electrics revealed that several things weren't working - I am neither a mechanic nor an electrician, so I have no idea why. The yard had put in a new battery when they recommissioned her, but I don't see how that could have had any effect on the electrics. Swearing and cursing, I lifted the engine hatch, to see if there was anything visibly wrong, only to see that the gearbox oil reservoir was still empty.
At this point I gave up, and retreated to the Pub, before driving back home with the hump. Could anybody answer the following questions for me:
- As part of recommissioning the boat - having spent quite a lot of money with the yard over the winter - would it be reasonable to expect them to check the electrics and run up the engine (I'm guessing they didn't, because the lack of oil in the reservoir would have set the engine alarm off, and presumably they would have noticed that the blower wasn't working.)
- Am I missing something about the gearbox oil level? I know that filling Merc outdrives with oil is a job that has to be done properly, and I also know that there should be oil in the reservoir - but there ain't. Does the engine need to be run for it to fill up? At the moment I have no idea whether or not there is any oil in the leg and I don't want to find out that it's empty by seizing it up.
- Am I missing something else blindingly obvious? I am a mild mannered man, but I am intending to ring up the yard on Monday and make my feelings known fairly unequivocally. They are not a bunch of cowboys - though they often need chasing - and I am very p*ssed off with them. If I am missing something, I'd rather know before ringing them up and making a complete arse of myself.
Any thoughts?
Brief story: The boat came out of the water at the end of October, with everything working fine, and the engine was serviced and winterised by the Yard. They also serviced the leg, at my request, and changed the impeller and (I thought) the gearbox oil. A few weeks ago, I noticed that there was no oil in the gearbox reservoir in the engine bay and I mentioned this to the Yard, asking them to make sure that the oil in the leg had been done and was at the correct level before we relaunched, as there was nothing in the reservoir.
The boat went back in the water 10 days ago and, although I'd asked them not to as I wanted to take her up myself, the yard took the boat up to her moorings. Today we went down, all agog, to whizz over to Yarmouth for lunch. When I was ready to start up, I put on the engine blower, before checking the fluid levels, but nothing happened. Subsequent checking of all the other electrics revealed that several things weren't working - I am neither a mechanic nor an electrician, so I have no idea why. The yard had put in a new battery when they recommissioned her, but I don't see how that could have had any effect on the electrics. Swearing and cursing, I lifted the engine hatch, to see if there was anything visibly wrong, only to see that the gearbox oil reservoir was still empty.
At this point I gave up, and retreated to the Pub, before driving back home with the hump. Could anybody answer the following questions for me:
- As part of recommissioning the boat - having spent quite a lot of money with the yard over the winter - would it be reasonable to expect them to check the electrics and run up the engine (I'm guessing they didn't, because the lack of oil in the reservoir would have set the engine alarm off, and presumably they would have noticed that the blower wasn't working.)
- Am I missing something about the gearbox oil level? I know that filling Merc outdrives with oil is a job that has to be done properly, and I also know that there should be oil in the reservoir - but there ain't. Does the engine need to be run for it to fill up? At the moment I have no idea whether or not there is any oil in the leg and I don't want to find out that it's empty by seizing it up.
- Am I missing something else blindingly obvious? I am a mild mannered man, but I am intending to ring up the yard on Monday and make my feelings known fairly unequivocally. They are not a bunch of cowboys - though they often need chasing - and I am very p*ssed off with them. If I am missing something, I'd rather know before ringing them up and making a complete arse of myself.
Any thoughts?