Gearbox update - not happy

[plk]

After getting the boat to Guernsey I had to leave it there and fly home. The gearbox has now been dropped and it isn't the simple linkage fault we had all hoped, it's looking like a rebuild job, so it looks like taking a couple of weeks.

BUT really p***ed off by being charged £248 for them to lift the boat, apparently the warranty does not cover any costs associated with getting the engine into the workshop. I did politely suggest that they carry out the repair in the water but they declined. By the time this has finished, with flights, etc, I'm looking at over £500 to get a manufacturers fault put right.

[Chris Murray]

Sorry to hear that PLK.

What engines to you have?

Regards,

Chris.

[plk]

They are Evinrude fitch rams. Apart from this, I've used the boat for a couple of months and been very impressed to date. Always start first time, very quiet and reasonable consumption. For engines of this power I would have been happy to recommend them to anyone. That is, until we see what happens next.

[myndit]

One of my past jobs was to process dealer warranty claims on behalf of a major motor manufacturer. We would always, without fail, attempt to place any additional costs on the end user with a generic type statement like you have received. If the customer ever contacted the manufactiurer directly, they would almost always back down and compensate the customer for 'good will' or marketing purposes. The dealer cannot claim for the costs involved but the customer (end user) can. You may not get all of your money back but you may get a substantial portion in the form of free services, etc.

Good luck, don't give up. If it takes you 30 minutes to write the letters and you get back £300.00 of extra costs, it really means you are earning £600.00 per hour!!

Doug

[Brambles]

Good luck with the claim.

As a matter of interest, you mention on a previous thread that you only get 6 knts from 1 engine. I don't understand how this can be??

Ian

[plk]

As I explained on the other thread, anything over 2000rpm causes extreme cavitation. This gives about 6knts, but the engine will be regularly revving to 4500revs, until the prop bites again when it goes back to 2000. If I try and sit at say 3500rpm which gives about 8-9knts, the cavitiation causes revving to 6000-7000revs, and it didn't take long for the temperature warning light to come on.

Also, steerage went, with such low power and cavitation everytime you turned the engines, keeping a course became a challenge.

One idea for those with similar setups is to keep a spare cheap prop more suited to a single engine setup, in case you ever loose one engine. It could make the difference between 6knts and 15knts