. also ask to see the marine general business insurance. if the are not insured stay away.<br />you will find if they burn it down,crash it whike testing or create more problems you will have ZERO recourse to collect any coins.
It all depends on the type insurance, amount of coverage, what company etc. Just like any other insurance, there really is no "typical" marine insurance.<br /><br />Just remember on your small claims court thing, you are going to have to "Prove" he filled it improperly and that there just wasn't a leak somewhere that allowed the gear lube to leak out and cause the problem.
<br />I have a cousin that ran his 93 cobra for almost 10 years with the middle plug welded over cause he stripped it. he crabbed and floundered with it like that for almost 10 years.<br />start your original post back and tell us what ya got and what your trying to do. I have been a profesional witness in many cases in Va beach and Norfolk.
Rod, I'm gonna repost or reopen the original thread, but here's the link in case you're curious before that: <br /> http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=24;t=008398#000000 <br /><br />In a way, I guess it doesn't really matter how they left the drive oil low, bottom line is that they did it and admitted it (I ran my summary of the issue in the first post of the above thread past the shop owner who did the service; he agreed that it was a fair and accurate summary).<br /><br />I believe it was an air pocket thing after reading the Cobra tips link from Stuart Hastings site. OMC told him that you were likely to develop an air pocket and fry the gears/ bearings if you filled a Cobra from the drain plug. I actually called OMC (Bombardier) a couple of months ago and talked to one of the older service reps familiar with Cobras; he said the same thing, fill a Cobra from the drain plug and you stand a good chance of creating an air pocket & frying the gears/ bearings. I don't know the mechanics of it, just that the advice came directly from OMC. I'm sure there's ways to fill from the bottom without causing trouble, but it's also documented that you can cause damage that way as well. <br /><br />I don't have the original gears, they sent the core back when they put in a rebult upper. I saw them and they were pretty torn up, but not black & melted. The (new) shop manager from the place that originally serviced it said the damage was probably from bearings that went and tore up the gears (but that it was purely coincidental that the bearings went immediately after they returned it about 25oz low on gear oil). Others on this forum have stated that one of the first things to look at to determine relationship between low oil level and gear damage would be the rear support bearing for the input shaft. My guess (and I do mean guess), is that those went & tore up the gears. Several wrenches on this site said they've seen gear damage from low oil level manifest itself in a number of different ways, i.e., the shot gears don't always look the same depending on what went first and how. <br /><br />I took it to a different shop this spring for service and they discovered the damage. They're OMC certified (original shop isn't) and the owner has been doing repair for over 20 years. He supplied me with a notarized statement that the drive damage was consistent with operating the drive with low gear oil. <br /><br />I'm hoping that expert corroboration, the fact that the shop returned the boat 25 oz low on gear oil, and that the damage occured immediately after they returned it low on oil, will provide a fairly compelling case. I can only see it as a positive using the fact that they admitted to filling the drive incorrectly (according to the manufacturer) and that there is documentation that filling it that way is likely to cause damage.Originally posted by rodbolt:<br /> lakelivin<br /> dont go in there with the fill from the bottom theory. in 15 years or so of filling cobras I may have done two like the manual says. the rest I fill from the bottom.]<br />if you look at the desighn of the case its a modified v6 case. the area that the middle plug goes into is wide open at the top. I feel they just failed to fill it. it holds twice what an alpha will.<br />but I will warrenty that if it was me you were opposing I would have a case in court to show and explain to the judge.<br /> do you still have the old gears?<br /> to a professional witness with factory traing the gears will tell the story. if the are melted and blue you can be sure they ran with no oil. tear down your old lower sometime then post me back on the physics of air density fluid density and gravity and explain exacly where the air pocket will form.<br />most of the shops I have worked at have found the drain and fill procedures on cobras and some volvos to be to slow and to risky so we developed better methods. its one of the few times I will say the book is kinda wrong.<br /> and here in the salt pond if you dont have to remove the fastener then dont unless you know its been done recently. saves helicoils
