Nasa Marine's whirly bits

[CPD]

Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

There have been a few posts re Nasa Marine kit being at the cheaper end of the market and thats no doubt true, get what you pay for etc and seemingly that anything that moves will eventually break. I have had a Nasa Marine windy indicator for 2 years which, due to not brilliant installation (support leg too long and under certain conditions the whole clearly resonate and shake violently) which did eventually give up the ghost. Had a chat with them at excel and then went to have a further chat with them at Stevenage. Got all the bits I needed to repair the damage (for £15 and it looked like it should have been a lot more), had a good chat and came away a happy man.

Excellent customer service and no harm methinks in spreading the word /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[morgandlm]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

Fully support your view about NASA attitude towards their customers but ... my own experience of their wind equipment tells me the kit is poor. No problem with log or depth but the wind speed kit is simply unreliable.
Morgan

 

[Amulet]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

I have a full house of Nasa clipper kit. Wind, depth, log, fluxgate, navtex, ais. I agree that their customer support is outstanding. My wind instrument has phases of underreading absurdly. I am replacing the cup assembly and improving the installation this winter - we'll see.... The ais (instrument not engine) seems to have a fault, but anyway it's non-intuitive display and minimal functionality make it a poor buy in my mind. The rest of the instruments are great. I do have to futz with the depth threshhold setting with our squidgy East coast bottom sometimes, and the log paddle-wheel gets fouled up with weed, but that's not their fault.

 

[oldharry]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

I had one that did that after a severe gale: The cup hub had worn against the spindle, so that at times it would vibrate against the spindle increasing the friction and causing the reading to drop. Yet another set of cups solved the problem (for about six months, after which it broke -again!)

 

[macd]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

Can't agree that 'you get what you pay for'. In the UK, whatever you pay, the law requires that a product should be of 'merchantable quality' -- in other words it should do what it's supposed to do for a reasonable length of time. Both my own experience, that of several friends, and long-term feedback on this forum suggests to me that it's commonplace for NASA's windhead to fail to meet that standard, often in a ludicrously short space of time. And I'm utterly unimpressed by any sort of 'good' after-sales that requires me to climb a 40-odd foot stick to fit it.

NASA, are you listening? Your wind instrument is crap.

 

[ex-Gladys]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

Is NASA kit any worse than anyone elses? Therre are other threads here about ST40 stuff which is a lot more expensive than NASA going TU as well...

The climbing the mast argument applies to any wind detector doesn't it?

 

[pvb]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

[ QUOTE ]
Is NASA kit any worse than anyone elses?

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, judging by the experiences regularly recounted here. OK, people say that Nasa have good aftersales service, but that's cheap to provide compared with the cost of properly designing and engineering good quality products. If I bought a wind system which failed after 2 years there's no way I'd accept a repair. My old Stowe wind transducer is 18 this year, and has only needed a new set of bearings once.

 

[steve28]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

Seems funny in a way how everyone moans about the cups wearing and falling off, when it comes to cutlass bearings or wind generator kits its just something that has to be done !
Point being is that most things that rotates do need to be replaced sooner or later. the nasa wind head by design is not that good having the nylon bearings on the stainlesss shaft, if the clip comes off you loose the cups, if the shaft wears the cups vibrate and you either loose the cups or the shaft breaks. what seems to be common is people replacing cups on a worn shaft, thuis then makes the nylon wear quickly again causing the same thing again!
An alternative bearing can fabricated and put in the cups which makes them last for many years

 

[ex-Gladys]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

[ QUOTE ]
My old Stowe wind transducer is 18 this year, and has only needed a new set of bearings once.

[/ QUOTE ]


But Stowe went out of business... Presumably because of either selling at too low a profit margin or not selling enough items...

I recognise my Nasa kit for what it is - budget. Yes I look at replacing it but the costs for the full suite are huge, and it would mean re-prioritisng my boat maintenance expenditure. Until it gets to Number 1 on the list I am happy to replace the odd bit and receive good customer service

 

[thalassa]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

[ QUOTE ]
Is NASA kit any worse than anyone elses? Therre are other threads here about ST40 stuff which is a lot more expensive than NASA going TU as well...The climbing the mast argument applies to any wind detector doesn't it?

[/ QUOTE ]

The Navman transducer on my present boat still works after 5 + years, but the directional readout is about as accurate as a wetted finger (and yes, I know how to calibrate it). The NASA Clipper system, including close-haul repeater, on my old boat, is also in good shape after five years, but was MUCH more accurate.

 

[macd]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

"I recognise my Nasa kit for what it is - budget"

Budget or not, it is required to meet the same test of merchantable quality. This it patently fails to do. NASA themselves publicly deny any problem ('they would, wouldn't they?'...thankyou Mandy Rice-Davis...) and so far as I'm aware have made only one detail change to the windhead's design in the last decade. My experience is that the fundamental problem is clearance on the shaft, leading to wobble, leading to eccentric wear leading to a massive under-readings and ultimately total failure. I'd suggest this is partly a failure of design, partly of quality control -- but not especially of manufacturing cost.

And as for what pisses me off most of all...if your BT phone line failed, how would you feel about them suggesting you climb your local pole to fix it? Get real, NASA.

 

[CPD]

Re: Nasa Marine\'s whirly bits

If it works when it comes out the box then its fit for purpose. How long it carries on working dictates the discussion in this post.