Didnt get far this weekend but I did find a good engineer,

[Chrissie]

This weekend was to be the first time I took my boat across the channel, but my engine let me down again, but I did find a really good engineer in Gosport, who quickly found the problem.
My previous engineer, who I have posted about before, had wrapped a thin piece of metal round the cone that the flywheel attatches to, possibly to make it fit or something, the woodruff key was chewed to pieces and the thin metal had buckled up and knocked the timing out,
This was causing retardation and stalling when I opened the throttle up (big dent on the bow is testament to that)

So I now have my fingers crossed that I will get to sail this summer, /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[bryantee]

THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS.If it was easy it would be no challenge.stick with it and good luck.

 

[contessa26]

[ QUOTE ]
"...but I did find a really good engineer in Gosport, who quickly found the problem."

and "...(big dent on the bow is testament to that)"

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent!

Sorry to hear of dent though... you can't beat a Vire to give you a good laugh. But keep up the good work!
Happy sailing.

 

[Chrissie]

Thank you for your thoughts, First engineer says he cant believe that I have left it so long without paying his remaining £75 bill, Ive told him I cant believe I paid him so much money to have been left with an engine that doesnt work and a bilge full of petrol, and would put the final £75 towards the new engineers costs of putting it right.

The second engineer has confirmed that the work of the first was worse than sub standard, the piece of tin wrapped round the flywheel cone, which buckled and mangled the surounding metal and pushed the timing out, were testament to that, the mangled wrong size woodruff key didnt help much either.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, and I may yet have a proper sail this summer. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[alan006]

At the risk of starting a raging controversy you said something that I found very interesting. You admit that you have been very slow paying his bill and question his competance ( quite rightly in this case I believe), however from the other side of the fence we are an industry where customers are often very slow paying their bills and wonder why so many good engineers have left the marine sector for better pay in other industries......... I wonder why????????????

 

[Grajan]

Having had a business in the marine industry I know where you are coming from!!! but I believe that this problem arose because a "jack of all trades" tried to help Chrissie but failed to tell her this was only a stop gap as spares or the cost of same were unavailable or prohibitive in case he didn't get paid
My biggest gripe is having to pay £40+ per hour for a lazy engineer's "travelling" time, ie from workshop to boat and back talking to Tom Dick or Harry about their problems at your expense with the consequence being the minimum travelling charge is always one hour and sometimes two!, and when he gets to your boat experiments at repairing your problem or breaks something else in the process mainly because they are "above" going on courses to learn how to do the job properly
A recent professional job (having waited five weeks for the gent concerned to look at the job) cost me two batteries and an alternator rebuild due to feeds being taken from / to the wrong terminals but on challenging the professional in question, "that was the way it was when he got to the boat" unfortunately I had already paid and there was no way without vast additional expense would I have got redress
According to a fellow club member, who is electrically minded, there was no way the batteries/alternator would have lasted three hours let alone the three years they had been in the boat. had the boat been wired the way he claimed it had been
The problem is we are a cottage industry where the professionals charge big bucks and the less expensive small businesses are overloaded with work. then mainly for financial reasons we believe that we can tackle most jobs on our craft ourselves (I remember when motoring was like that!!) the one man band has difficulty in earning a good income as there is no way he can charge out 40 hours a week unless he works 60 and then "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy" his work then starts to become shoddy and we as boat owners start posting in forums about poor workmanship but what can we do about it???

 

[contessa26]

[ QUOTE ]
At the risk of starting a raging controversy

and wonder why so many good engineers have left the marine sector...

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree (as always). And like you, I hope for no controversy, or raging, either...! But I think your post might have mentioned "...good engineers..." - and therein lies the word "good"... If they're good, I presume Chrissie will pay... as others may do. And even then, that doesn't ensure they remain in 'the marine sector'.

Possibly, it's having to pay (over-charging) incompetent persons who say they are what they're not, that probably has people wondering... But I think this is applicable to all walks of life!

As for actually paying bills - I know nothing about that either!

Happy Sailing.

 

[contessa26]

Ah! I've been Half Lakesailored! At last! Excellent!

 

[Chrissie]

I agree totally, I manage a new chandlers and know all about the risks of people not paying on time etc. but in this case it was the last £75 OF £2000, and the reason that didnt get paid straight away was that the engineer who describes himself as a 'vire specialist' engineer asked me to pay cash for that visit, a call out after the boat had been launched, and the engine found to not be working, but leaking petrol and stalling constantly when the throttle was opened, he wouldnt take it for a test run so may not have been as aware of the extent of the stalling, his advise was to drive it very slowly. This was an extra visit after he had supposedly finished restoring it, and the amount he quoted before he came was a hundred pound less than what he asked for before he left.

The engine was still faulty, as putting a new carberetta in wasnt going to do anything to help the stalling caused by his bodge on the crankshaft, he was contracted to completely overhaul the engine and get it working and sound, the original quote for £700 to £800 had long since been surpassed.
It will cost me a lot more than £75 pound that I witheld, to get the work he did wrong, corrected.

 

[alan006]

I think you put both sides of the case fairly and I hope people understand that I am not passing judgement on this particular case, rather using it as an example of what can often happen. I agree the marine industry is very simular to the automotive industry as was say 15 years ago. I think that boatowners should be careful of being too focused on the hourly rate, but look at the total job cost and standard of work. A good engineer can service an outdrive probably twice as quickly as one who is unused to that model. Also having the relevent special tools speeds and assures quality of a job. In our area for many years there used to be older marine engineers who would work for modest pay, this was good for the customers but now many of these chaps have retired and the young lads who should have been training on the job are very very few because the low wages were so unattractive and it was really hard to get good youngsters to stay.
I think the industry is trying hard to modernise and there are encouraging signs, but this will not happen overnight. The systems are getting much more complicated. Eg, how many of us had smart chargers and all the electronics say 5 years ago. I think customers demands will force the industry to become much more professional, the only worry is that we won't still be able to be all things to all people and so the boat owner with the unusual problem might find that marine engineers lose that ability to improvise a solution.