Besenzoni pasarelle spare parts rip off?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted User YDKXO
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Deleted User YDKXO

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My boat is currently on the hard in an Italian boatyard. Several weeks ago, I asked them to touch up some flaking paint under the pasarelle. They've finally got around to looking at it and sent me an email last Friday saying that the main lift ram (arrow in pic below) is badly corroded and needs replacing. They want €2140 for the replacement ram and a further €1700 for the associated hydraulic pipework which they say also needs replacing. I'm angry with them for 2 reasons, firstly the price of the replacement parts which seems astronomical and secondly, they're sort of blackmailing me by saying that if I want my boat ready by Easter, I need to agree to them ordering the parts straightaway.
I've contacted Timage, the UK dealer for Besenzoni but they've been less than helpful, saying that they can't quote any spares prices without the serial no of the pasarelle. This is despite my pasarelle still being a current model
Anyone got any views on the prices quoted for the spares? Rip off or not? I know from my business experience that a hydraulic ram of this sort of size should cost a few hundred quid at most

 
Deleted User said:
the main lift ram is badly corroded and needs replacing.
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does it need replacing for esthetical reasons or is there a functional or operational danger / risc ? its worth investigating first

I assume you have acces and experiece with hydraulic rams in your business,
can't you take a worker with you for a weekend, and replace the ram by yourselves ? (after investigation type and model etc....)
 
Which part is corroded, I thought they were all stainless? Big hydraulic cylinders can be reconditioned, (new seals, weld and grind the shaft), unless the cylinder casing has corroded and is about to fail. If it's corroded but not about to fail, it can be treated and painted and shouldn't get any worse.
 
BartW said:
can't you take a worker with you for a weekend, and replace the ram by yourselves ? (after investigation type and model etc....)
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I'm planning to send one of my service engineers out to Italy later this week to investigate but I don't really want to do that since they are all busy
 
Nick_H said:
Which part is corroded, I thought they were all stainless? Big hydraulic cylinders can be reconditioned, (new seals, weld and grind the shaft), unless the cylinder casing has corroded and is about to fail. If it's corroded but not about to fail, it can be treated and painted and shouldn't get any worse.
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Don't know exactly which part is corroded but will find out. Until the end of last season the cylinder was working fine - no oil leaks, no juddering - so I can only assume the seals are OK which tends to suggest shaft itself is not corroded. As I replied to Bart above, I'm planning to send one of my service engineers out to Italy later this week but bringing cylinder back to the UK for refurbishing is a PITA plus it will cost me 2 return flights/rental car + lost income for the engineer so its something I'd rather avoid
 
Deleted User said:
Don't know exactly which part is corroded but will find out. Until the end of last season the cylinder was working fine - no oil leaks, no juddering - so I can only assume the seals are OK which tends to suggest shaft itself is not corroded. As I replied to Bart above, I'm planning to send one of my service engineers out to Italy later this week but bringing cylinder back to the UK for refurbishing is a PITA plus it will cost me 2 return flights/rental car + lost income for the engineer so its something I'd rather avoid
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Could they send you close up photos to see if it's just surface corrosion on the body of the cylinder? (or rather the question is would they, because of course they could) If they're anything like SoF engineers then I wouldn't trust most of them as far as I could kick them.
 
If it was wroking at end of last season I'd just tell them "thanks but no thanks, and tellem not to touch the passerelle, and you'll deal with it next winter." That entire passerelle is about €9k retail, so the parts prices are daft. Under the white paint it is mostly st/steel and the service life is way way longer than this information suggests
 
jfm said:
If it was wroking at end of last season I'd just tell them "thanks but no thanks, and tellem not to touch the passerelle, and you'll deal with it next winter." That entire passerelle is about €9k retail, so the parts prices are daft. Under the white paint it is mostly st/steel and the service life is way way longer than this information suggests
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I was thinking the same thing but I have to get a 2nd opinion first just in case it really is knackered
 
I've never seen a passerelle ram corroded to a point it needs replacing. Besenzoni rams are stainless steel and only ever get slight surface corrosion.
 
Deleted User said:
I was thinking the same thing but I have to get a 2nd opinion first just in case it really is knackered
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If you're not keen on the cost/opportunity cost of sending one of your engineers down there - why not just despatch a convenient teenager down there on a bit of an adventure, and arm him with enough credit on his phone to email you some real-time pics? Then you could drill in to the problem in real-time yourself. Cost: a couple of sleazyjet flights and some phone credit. Any good?

Cheers
Jimmy
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
If you're not keen on the cost/opportunity cost of sending one of your engineers down there - why not just despatch a convenient teenager down there on a bit of an adventure, and arm him with enough credit on his phone to email you some real-time pics? Then you could drill in to the problem in real-time yourself. Cost: a couple of sleazyjet flights and some phone credit. Any good?
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Pah my teenager wouldn't get out of bed unless he was flying business class and there was a 5* hotel at the other end and then he'd forget why I sent him there.
Bit of a result this morning from the UK Besenzoni dealer, Timage. The same ram sourced from them costs about 50% of what the Italian marina wants to charge me so at least I know that if I have to replace it, it'll only cost an arm rather than the leg as well
 
Looks like the marina weren't kidding when they said the ram was corroded. Its actually the ram that operates the tender winch rope not the lift ram as I first said. Any comments?





 
It certainly looks corroded, for sure, and clearly needs replacing. I guess with this level of damage, removal will be the challenge. What about mounting brackets and pipework? Will they be usable?

Is this something you are happy to tackle when the boat is relaunched? I have no idea about accessibility.
 
ok, it does indeed look a bit corroded (there's still paint on it though :rolleyes: )
how about some hammerite on it :p
Why on earth it's not ss???
 
Crikey
Bes must have had a supplier prob that week and had no s/s availalbe, so just fitted mild steel cylinder to meet the production schedules

I'm amazed you're surprised though. It must have been heading in that "sweep me up" direction for the last several years mike. Do the staff not clean under the passerelle? You'll have to withhold their bonuses.
 
Mike, is the tender winch standard, or has someone added it later. The retaining bracket looks a bit of an afterthought, although the rest of it looks like it's supposed to be there? Assuming it's original, then as jfm says Besenzoni have clearly fitted a mild steel cylinder and sold it as an all SS passarelle, which is either a major bollox up on their part, or outright dishonesty. Even if it's many years old i'd still expect them to want to keep this very quiet, so you may well get them to give you a new ram, or as a minimum to supply one at cost.
 
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