Gotcha by the goolies

[Mavis]

I recently sent all my instruments back to an old British company for testing as they are not working properly. The depth and speed have been tested ok and I am required to pay a charge for the test. Whereas the mast head unit and wind instrument are both faulty and can be repaired. All the above for the sum of £558.60 inc vat !!!!!! I feel I am being ripped off. For instance they have quoted £120.00 labour to dry out the wind display, fit a new shop soiled cover and glue the needle back on!! ):

The senders send the information to a data box from where it is daisy chained to the displays all using NMEA 0183. Do I scrap the lot, spend more and but new, find a compatible wind display from another manufacturer, or pay up.???

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

ridiculous..... for £900 you can have a full set of new ST60 instruments at the moment

 

[Jabamusic]

ridiculous..... for £900 you can have a full set of new ST60 instruments at the moment

Following another long-running thread on this forum could lead to even greater savings

-Will however require a bit of wait-and-see time, but overall is looking very promising.

 

[PeteCooper]

Did you ask for a quote before you sent the instruments?

 

[Mavis]

Or do without?
Just taking a look outside?
Never knew the reason for wind display - since never seen a good one. Always a problem.
Only one I knew giving the same wind speed that meteo close by left us disappointed nevertheless, as once for curiosity we checked the wind - only to find scale ends on 30 m/s and needle went out of it...
But then it was good quality one, still working

I agree, if you are in control of a sailing boat and you rely on an instrument to tell you where the wind is coming from then you should not be in charge. I do like to know the wind strength though.

 

[Mavis]

Did you ask for a quote before you sent the instruments?

I knew about the minimum test charge - But this is a quote for the repair should I decide to proceed.

 

[pvb]

Is this a Stowe Dataline system? If so, you often find instrument heads for sale on eBay. I've bought a few.

 

[GAJ]

I recently sent all my instruments back to an old British company for testing as they are not working properly. The depth and speed have been tested ok and I am required to pay a charge for the test. Whereas the mast head unit and wind instrument are both faulty and can be repaired. All the above for the sum of £558.60 inc vat !!!!!! I feel I am being ripped off. For instance they have quoted £120.00 labour to dry out the wind display, fit a new shop soiled cover and glue the needle back on!! ):

The senders send the information to a data box from where it is daisy chained to the displays all using NMEA 0183. Do I scrap the lot, spend more and but new, find a compatible wind display from another manufacturer, or pay up.???

Bin it and buy a new system, what happens when the next bit conks out?

At least yours can be fettled, according to B&? mine cannot.
They wanted the princely sum of £1260 plus VAT for a replacement masthead wind unit for my pals boat which they said was unrepairable. Luckily he is a whizzo with that sort of stuff and replaced the bearings and sender that had died. RS Components supplied the sender at something like £3.00 and the bearings were about the same.

Unfortunately we have the same gear. Guess what? If ours conks and it really is unrepairable then it's going to be complete new Raymarine, or similar, system.

 

[rivonia]

I knew about the minimum test charge - But this is a quote for the repair should I decide to proceed.

Bite the bullet and get them repaired-BUT ask for a minimum 1 year warranty. If they say no, then sod them buy a new set.

Good luck

Peter

 

[charles_reed]

I knew about the minimum test charge - But this is a quote for the repair should I decide to proceed.

I'd suspect they don't really want to do the repair - see what they'd offer as a part-exchange and if that's a ridiculous price tell them to keep the lot and you'll replace elsewhere.

 

[Mavis]

Searching on the web I see that the Echopilot range can operate with some of the other manufacturers sensors and also use NMEA 0183. Does this mean that if I am lucky an Echopilot disply could use my existing sensors and daisychain wiring???

 

[pvb]

Searching on the web I see that the Echopilot range can operate with some of the other manufacturers sensors and also use NMEA 0183. Does this mean that if I am lucky an Echopilot disply could use my existing sensors and daisychain wiring???

You'd be better asking Echopilot, you'll need to tell them what sort of system you have at the moment.

 

[DJE]

I made the mistake of believing the manufacuterer and replacing the transducer on an old echo sounder. It only half cured the problem and a year later I ripped out the old depth and log systems and fitted an ST60 Tridata which also left room for a new steering compass in the hatch garage.