Marina Scam?

[Home Cookin']

Re: Marina Scam?

said our neighbor from the north: "just because they have a shop with workers dosent mean they should have the monopoly for any repairs."

That's capitalism, baby. Used to be the American way!

 

[stylesabu]

Re: Marina Scam?

As an ex auto tech, most good techs are honest. If the shop can't demonstrate failure, then you have reason to be concerned.Let him show you the bearing, and explain why its bad. we don't have x-rays eyes or some sixth sense, just more expirance. i could always show my customers why it should be replaced. sometimes by showing them and vehicle just like theres. so they could see the differance ,sometimes how a new part looks and their old part. Most people are able to see the differance, just because you my not inderstand how something works doesn't mean the tech is trying to take advantage of you.and always ask for your old parts, and just to be sure make sure they are actually from your boat have part numbers checked.

 

[F_R]

Re: Marina Scam?

Stay home and send your WIFE to look at the bad parts. Guys are too proud to admit they don't know anything and won't ask questions. Women are "supposed" to be dumb and don't mind grilling the mechanic. "Why is it bad", "Why won't it work", "Isn't that a lot of money", and so on.

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: Marina Scam?

it's a fairly common clause marina's will put in their contract. some will let you bring in your own mechanic but still charge a fee. read what you sign.

the OP will soon find the reason so many of us do our own maintenance....can't (or don't want) to trust anyone else. boating is an expensive endeavor if you have a mechanic on the payroll.

my marina says if you bring our own mechanic he must check in with the office and produce proper insurance.
you cannot bring your own fuel but they are cool with doing your own repairs- and yes, you must have liabilty insurance on your boat for spills & such

hell i guess I'm lucky- one freezing evening just after sunset I was draining my block-having a hard time in the dark and the manager comes over to see whats up- winds up climbing in the bilge with me to undo a hard to reach/find clamp. you cant buy service like that!

redeye- will you tell us what lake are you on?

 

[jollymon]

Re: Marina Scam?

wait, you are upset because the guy that owns the marina where you store you boat, does not want you to bring in a mechanic to do work, that they do there. I believe he is in business to make a living, and yes a profit. Yet you want to take business out of his pocket. It is his business he writes the rules.

Yes there are many marinas that aloow you to bring in outside vendors, and policies vary. Some have no requirements, some require insurance, some charge a premium so they are still getting some "profit".

As long as you know the rules going into the game, there should not be any problems.

As far as what work needs to be done, either you trust the mechanic, or you take the boat elsewhere. I am sure your contract says no outside mechanics at their marina, not that they are the only ones who can work on your boat.

 

[redeye1962]

Re: Marina Scam?

I went to visit yesterday and the manager showed me some of the failing parts. The bellow had a crack in it and was allowing water to get into the lower unit. This is a mercruiser lower unit. I was under the impression the bellow only kept the water from entering into the boat and was not related to the lower unit oil. The shift cable had some of the protective covering worn and was exposing the cable.

My thoughts are to get these things repaired so I do not have to worry about them in the near future. we are quite exited to get going in the boat although it is still "chilly" outside (to my northern friends) we would like to spend some time on the boat to get familiar with it and clean it. The new bottom paint made the rest of the boat look terrible so we have some clean up to do.

I appreciate everyones responses and would hope the marina would not want a black eye and create work for themselves. When I was there they had a few boats around they were working on so I know they were somewhat busy.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Marina Scam?

I was under the impression the bellow only kept the water from entering into the boat and was not related to the lower unit oil.

Ayuh,... The seal on the input shaft is designed to keep oil IN, not water out...
If the bellows leaks, water Will get In...

 

[redeye1962]

Re: Marina Scam?

Ayuh,... The seal on the input shaft is designed to keep oil IN, not water out...
If the bellows leaks, water Will get In...

ok so that is why they found alot of water in the lower unit. That was explained to me. Should it have been cream colored? they are now telling me everything will need to be replaced $1800(without taking the lower unit off and that does not include gears) Does this hold water? sorry for the pun.
I am ready to take 26aftcabin454's offer in going for a 2nd opinion. If anyone else knows a repitable mechanic in the DFW area I would appreciate it especially if they can pu and deliver.

 

[livin4real]

Re: Marina Scam?

Bellows and gimbal bearing replacement here runs $700. Impeller replacement $150, shift cable around $150. I don't know what else they are doing to it for you but there's my local pricing on those three things.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Marina Scam?

ok so that is why they found alot of water in the lower unit. That was explained to me. Should it have been cream colored? they are now telling me everything will need to be replaced $1800(without taking the lower unit off and that does not include gears) Does this hold water? sorry for the pun.
I am ready to take 26aftcabin454's offer in going for a 2nd opinion. If anyone else knows a repitable mechanic in the DFW area I would appreciate it especially if they can pu and deliver.

Cream colored means water got in there. They are probably planning on resealing the drive and possibly replacing the input shaft if the sealing surface was damaged by corrosion. In addition, U-joints and gimbal bearing are probably also toast.

This is why you pull your drive every year. It is also the job of your surveyor to have found out this little tidbit before you bought this boat. Your surveyor did not do his job!

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Marina Scam?

1800 to "fix" or 1200 to buy a new one
new drive

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Marina Scam?

1800 to "fix" or 1200 to buy a new one
new drive

That's assuming he has an alpha. I would think a 26' boat would have a Bravo in it unless its an older boat. Also, the 1800 includes removing/replacing drive, gimbal bearing and possibly shift cable.

 

[redeye1962]

Re: Marina Scam?

I have been reading about leaks in the bellows and how they can sink a boat. This boat was sitting in the water for a couple of days. I was not sure how much it was leaking prior to them looking at it. they also mentioned the seals needing replacement. It does sound like all of this does need to be replaced, is that the general consensus? Does the price seem a bit high? Should I go for the second opinion?
A lot of mis-information is from my inexperience. I am learning as I go along.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Marina Scam?

It sounds like you're catching up on a LOT of deferred maintenance. As you are seeing, that can be very expensive on and I/O. I don't think it sounds out of line for all the work that needs to be done. Unfortunately I do think you got a bum deal on your survey.

 

[Don S]

Re: Marina Scam?

This thread started out as ?Everyone call the marina a bunch of crooks? until it was shown that they were on the up & up, and now some have turned the blame to the surveyor, which is also probably wrong.
Most surveyors do not do mechanical surveys, just hulls, rigging, and looking at the overall condition of the boat. They may operate the boat and listen for strange noises, but that?s about the extent of it.
Usually about all they do with the engine and drive is list the Manufacturer, HP rating, type of drive, list serial numbers, overall appearance, etc. They do not do any disassembly or diagnostics on the engine/drive package. Certified marine mechanics are the ones pulling outdrives, doing compression tests, and evaluating engine and drive condition as part of a mechanical survey.

 

[25thmustang]

Re: Marina Scam?

I agree with Don S, I'm not sure a surveyor would, or should have found an issue along those lines. The marina doesn't sound out of line, but their pricing might be high. Your best bet is to call around and take up the offer of the trailer. You might be able to save a significant amount of money there. Its not out of line to get more than one quote for work... it's actually smart practice!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Marina Scam?

I disagree. I have 2 friends that have had boats recently "surveyed". Both were full mechanical surveys. In one case the boat was a 39' boat so it was not pulled out of the water but it was an in board so no I/Os were involved. The other was an I/O and while the drive wasn't pulled, the drive oil was checked. On both boats all compression numbers were taken. If the survey in this case was just rigging, it was the surveyors job to inform the customer that there were other items that should be checked that he was not doing but at least inform the customer of what else would be desirable to check. Sounds like the customer in this case was not informed of these facts.

I go back to this quote

I called the surveyor who drove the boat and he said the boat ran fine when he checked it and the marina may be hurting for work. he said it a lot nicer.

At this point, the surveyor should have said "Since I did not check these items, it is a possibility that they need attention", not saying that it sounded fine to me and that the marina is making up a problem that is not there. Still think the surveyor is not all at fault? If not at fault, he is in CYA mode. I realize we only have one side of the story here. A different conclusion may occur if we had a copy of the survey report.

Bottom line, it is "spilled milk" at this point and the poster needs to get his boat fixed and the marina sounds like they are possibly quoting a reasonable fee for fixing the boat. Again, we don't have an itemized list of what is being repaired so no telling how bad/good the reapir price is.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Marina Scam?

my 26 has an alpha.... point was that there are ALWAYS other options to explore


On the other hand the owner here needs to learn ALOT more about his boat if he wants to be able to second guess the shop. As for the trailer and a second opinion..... HEL YES!... Maybe the drive is indeed trashed.... what is unclear here is how exactly they have determined that the drive is in bad shape?? If they have already torn it down then it is quite possibly too late. If I were in this position I would have them show me the "bad" parts.... I could easily call bs if that were the case..... A person who can't tell a bad part from a good one has no way of knowing whether he/she is being scammed.... If it is indeed torn down take some high res pics of the bad parts.... If the drive is off the boat load it up in a pickup and get a second opinion.... If this doesn't sound good to ya then pay the shop, hope you got a fair deal and enjoy your boat

 

[SeaJayacas]

Re: Marina Scam?

Plenty of marinas have rules just like this one. What would bother me about the surveyor is that he stated there were no problems with water in the lower unit oil "because it ran fine when I tested it". A boat will run fine with water in the lower unit right up until the time that it eventually blows up. It takes awhile but will eventually blow.

 

[redeye1962]

Re: Marina Scam?

I am not trying to place blame anywhere. I only want my boat fixed and trying to find the best way to get it repaired without a lot of $$. The stereotype of the mechanic sticking it to ya is so prevalent and is only worse when it comes to boats (my personal feeling).
I am trying to get a feel from everyone if what they are offering for replacement is fair. From what I understand 1800 would take care of everything except the lower gears. This includes impeller, bellow etc. Labor is included in the price.