Mercruiser/yanmar/volvo exceptional service.

[Elessar]

Whipped the legs off Evenstar to change the shift cables. Unfortunately about 3 pints of gear oil came out of the port bellows. The rear shaft seal had gone.

I have a 5 day charter starting next wednesday so time is tight.

Following a recommendation on here I went to southwater marine in hamble point marina for the cables last week. Excellent service, all in stock.

But for the seals they had the (obscure) seals in stock. Excellent. An even more obscure nut they took second-hand off a leg.
Finally i needed an o ring. They could get that tomorrow. My face dropped so they kept the workshop open to break a full seal kit, gave me the o rings out of the kit and told me to bring the unused ones. Then they'll bill me.

Whats more it is absolutely clear that the management AND the workshop really know the detail of what they're working on. Yep they offer exceptional service AND they know what they're talking about.

Not often I write such a glowing report. And I use the word "exceptional" very sparingly indeed.

www.southwater.com

 

[oldgit]

What excellent service.

Everytime this sort of post appears,it brings back memories of expensive years in outdrive hell
What will go wrong next,just how long will it take to fix this time and how much ?

Thankfully all things must pass

 

[Elessar]

What excellent service.

Everytime this sort of post appears,it brings back memories of expensive years in outdrive hell
What will go wrong next,just how long will it take to fix this time and how much ?

Thankfully all things must pass

Have that conversation with wiggo with his tales of shaft woe.....

 

[oldgit]

Have that conversation with wiggo with his tales of shaft woe.....

The vast majority of proper boats over a certain size have shafts and most of those are working craft with a vital need for reliability.
If you only take this forum a quick count of the sheer number of posts about outdrives and conversely those about shafts ,despite the disparity in numbers ,tells everything you will ever need to know about the merits of each system.
The problems with outdrives is as they become older,they become even more problematical to mantain due to sheer number and complexity of the components involved and the medium in which they work ie.salt water.
Whereas a fairly simple gearbox resides in a benign environment and uses common components used throughout industry.
Outdrives are wonderful things for the first or second owner .........after that beware.

 

[paultallett]

Whipped the legs off Evenstar to change the shift cables. Unfortunately about 3 pints of gear oil came out of the port bellows. The rear shaft seal had gone.

I have a 5 day charter starting next wednesday so time is tight.

Following a recommendation on here I went to southwater marine in hamble point marina for the cables last week. Excellent service, all in stock.

But for the seals they had the (obscure) seals in stock. Excellent. An even more obscure nut they took second-hand off a leg.
Finally i needed an o ring. They could get that tomorrow. My face dropped so they kept the workshop open to break a full seal kit, gave me the o rings out of the kit and told me to bring the unused ones. Then they'll bill me.

Whats more it is absolutely clear that the management AND the workshop really know the detail of what they're working on. Yep they offer exceptional service AND they know what they're talking about.

Not often I write such a glowing report. And I use the word "exceptional" very sparingly indeed.

www.southwater.com

Been a customer of David and his team at Southwater for 5 years now. Always the same, very good service with nothing to much trouble!!

 

[Elessar]

The vast majority of proper boats over a certain size have shafts and most of those are working craft with a vital need for reliability.
If you only take this forum a quick count of the sheer number of posts about outdrives and conversely those about shafts ,despite the disparity in numbers ,tells everything you will ever need to know about the merits of each system.
The problems with outdrives is as they become older,they become even more problematical to mantain due to sheer number and complexity of the components involved and the medium in which they work ie.salt water.
Whereas a fairly simple gearbox resides in a benign environment and uses common components used throughout industry.
Outdrives are wonderful things for the first or second owner .........after that beware.

Boats over a certain size have shafts because IPS is the only alternative, and that's a recent one too.
There are pros and cons to both. I agree if neglected, outdrives will suffer sooner.
Anyway, I don't want to further dilute the point of this post, if you have mercruiser, volvo or yanmar on shafts or outdrives, I've taken the trouble to recommend to the forum an excellent workshop based on my recent first hand experience.
If you want another pop at sterndrives start a new thread!

So to get back to the point www.southwater.com is highly recommended. Don't start talking about boats to David unless you've got some time on your hands though, he knows his stuff

 

[oldgit]

"Boats over a certain size have shafts because IPS is the only alternative"


IPS must have been missed by HMS Rattler in the late 1800s then,had no idea IPS had been around that long.

 

[Elessar]

"Boats over a certain size have shafts because IPS is the only alternative"


IPS must have been missed by HMS Rattler in the late 1800s then,had no idea IPS had been around that long.

Cor you really mus be old if you consider the 1800s to be recent. I did point out IPS was a recent choice.......

 

[oldgit]