Forum Etiquette

[Keith7481]

Hi All,
I haven't posted much to this forum and have always been appreciative of feedback given. Just a quick question about forum informal rules. I recently had some service done at a local marina, I found out, after the service was completed, that some of the outdrive repair was 'farmed out' to someone who works for the marina and does some work privately. I have to admit to some uncertainty about the amount of time the work should have taken and was a bit surprised by the amount of labor involved with the project and just wondered how appropriate it would be for me to put up a description of the work, with no names/businesses mentioned, in hopes of finding out whether or not my concerns about the labor time are justified?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Forum Etiquette

Hi All,
I haven't posted much to this forum and have always been appreciative of feedback given. Just a quick question about forum informal rules. I recently had some service done at a local marina, I found out, after the service was completed, that some of the outdrive repair was 'farmed out' to someone who works for the marina and does some work privately. I have to admit to some uncertainty about the amount of time the work should have taken and was a bit surprised by the amount of labor involved with the project and just wondered how appropriate it would be for me to put up a description of the work, with no names/businesses mentioned, in hopes of finding out whether or not my concerns about the labor time are justified?

Ayuh,... You can ask questions all ya want...

Bashin' Anybody is unwelcome, in any form...

 

[Don S]

Re: Forum Etiquette

Yes, you can ask, that sort of thing has been done many times. You usually get a lot of meaningless information as many figure out the time by how much time it took them on their boat, and not really include any prep time, troubleshooting time, parts chasing, repair and testing time, just how long to physically do the job. Your best bet would to go to the people you took the boat to and question them, they are the ones ultimately responsible for the job.

 

[Keith7481]

Re: Forum Etiquette

View attachment MX-M260_20120706_210810_001.pdf
I'm going to try and put up the labor bill as a pdf attachment, we'll see how it goes. As for the back story, when the other guy took over the repair, the parts where there, no hunting needed. The drive was off the boat, he needed to take out the old gimbal, replace that and a gear housing and bell housing that were broken when it was initally removed from the boat. Then the drive had to be realigned, bellows replaced, pressure tested etc. I am not looking to trash this guy and have paid the bill, just seemed more labor than I would have anticipated, but really don't know how long is somewhat typical for this type of repair. Any ballpark figures would give me some idea of whether or not I might return for more service in the future or not. I appreciate the suggestion of talking with them directly, but I would not have any point of reference about anything they would say.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Forum Etiquette

my ballpark for labor is 18 - 22 hours . . . so about $1,600 - $2,000 depending on the neighborhood.

 

[Don S]

Re: Forum Etiquette

Without seeing the boat, no one should be giving any kind of an estimate. The question is how much did you pay and then we can judge from that.
We can't see corrosion, or other unseen damage, the final bill should have given you the charges, not the estimate.

You already have one guy here giving an estimate. And he doesn't even know what outdrive you have.
Since this was moved from the Volvo forum, I would suspect some sort of Volvo drive ???????

 

[Keith7481]

Re: Forum Etiquette

Without seeing the boat, no one should be giving any kind of an estimate. The question is how much did you pay and then we can judge from that.
We can't see corrosion, or other unseen damage, the final bill should have given you the charges, not the estimate.

You already have one guy here giving an estimate. And he doesn't even know what outdrive you have.
Since this was moved from the Volvo forum, I would suspect some sort of Volvo drive ???????

Yes, I should have put that info in to start. The outdrive is a Volvo SX with a duoprop. The gimbal was rusted in, but the rest of the outdrive was disassembled when the mechanic got it. So he need to remove the gimbal, and then put it back together. As I said before, ballpark estimates are really all I need, and I know there are many variables that make even that tough. Best guesses