Gearbox repair

[Portland Billy]

My boat suffered a gearbox failure in July - she would not properly engage astern.
I limped her back to my marina which has a workshop repair facility.
The engineer is very poor at communication and seldom answers his phone or replies to texts.
We are now coming to the end of September and the repair is still not completed. I have lost the entire summer's boating due to his reluctance to finish the job.
I have threatened litigation.
Has anyone out there been in a similar situation?

 

[Momac]

I suggest you collect the gearbox and take it elsewhere. Or perhaps buy a new gearbox.

 

[Portland Billy]

I've already paid him £1500;

 

[Blue Seas]

What gearbox?

 

[Portland Billy]

Volvo ad41

 

[Momac]

I've already paid him £1500;

Usually the paying bit is after the work.

I think you should go in person and apologise for threatening legal action, explain your concerns and ask why the work is taking so long. Perhaps there is some difficulty obtaining parts?
Ask for a commitment to a date for completion of the work. But don't necessarily expect the date to be achieved. Go in person to weekly to check on progress.

 

[volvopaul]

Volvo ad41

Is it an MS4 ? If so parts are not available other than the cone clutch and seals etc .
What was the initial problem?

 

[PlanB]

When we first started boating, we were astonished and appalled at the lack of response from various contractors, no matter how nice they were.
It seems to be endemic in the boating world.
We just gave up in the end, went with the flow, and tried to manage it as well as possible.
One of the mitigating factors was that sometimes they were trying to stop someone sinking.

 

[oldgit]

From personal experience and after assisting a couple of other skippers to get MS 3/4 repaired , found it very difficult to find anybody interested in even looking at these reverse gears.
Fortunately in two instances the main drive shaft had snapped and Volvo Penta could still supply the required parts, in the other case the top plate had cracked and a Ebay secondhand unit ( from a outdrive ?) solved the problem.
All the local outfits were only interested in repairing hydraulic boxes, presume they could get spares.
Bearing this in mind eventually tracked down a MS4B (with the correct ratio) as a spare, course never needed it and it sat in the garage for years.
At our club at least three other skippers have a spare MS "box " tucked away somewhere.
Do know the Fairline Corniche uses a different ratio from my old Princess 35.
There was a new one advertised on Ebay in US for $4.500 not that long ago.
Changing the box for something new involves a lot of faff and expense due to dimensions and the output drive angle,fix yours if you possibly can.