Anatomy of a Boat Maintenance Nightmare

Getting the Shaft.

We’ve all had an experience in which the work performed by someone you hired was less than stellar. Typically there’s a chain of events that culminate in disaster. What was simple, becomes complex. Costs go up. Communication breaks down. In the end your feel as though you’ve been raped.

What follows is a chronicle of the chain of events that produced my nightmare in which a $350 basic engine service ended up costing me $1900, two nights of tossing and turning after being verbally assaulted, three days of fixing what had been broken by the mechanic, and a lost Memorial Day weekend. In the interest of a personal catharsis — call it therapy — I humbly submit the following for your perusal. Make of it what you will.

Hiring “The Mechanic”

A few weeks ago I bumped into Greg Avery, a local diesel mechanic who frequents the docks at Santa Cruz Harbor. I have known Avery for 20 years, going back to the days when he and his brother John had their Marine Engine business in a tin shed near the corner of 6th and Eaton. Now Greg was operating on his own as Greg Avery Marine: diesel mechanic. I thought to myself, why not make life a little easier, and asked Greg how much he would want to do a basic service. He answered, about $350 plus materials. I gave He, who shall be referred to hereafter as “the mechanic”, the combination to my boat and a thumbs-up on the condition that he complete the job before the coming Wednesday Night. No problem, said the mechanic.

On Monday I opened all of the engine compartment panels and made sure everything was ready to go, but when I arrived at the boat on Wednesday, the engine was untouched. I called the mechanic and he explained that more urgent jobs had gotten in his way and that he would get to my boat sometimes soon.

The Job Gets Underway

A week later, just a few days before Memorial Day weekend, my mechanic managed to get around to my boat. I dropped by to see that he had what he needed. He asked me if I could make a run up to West Marine to buy some oil. It struck me as odd that he had come to do an oil change without oil, but in the interest of time, I jumped in the car and made the run.

Course Adjustments

The next afternoon the mechanic called me to inform me that he couldn’t get the impeller out of the raw-water pump housing. I admit that I was doubtful, since I had replaced the impeller many times and even had a pair of right-angle needle-nosed pliers for the job. I told him that I would like to give it a try and headed down to the harbor.

“Don’t pull the starter”, I exclaimed.

When I arrived I was surprised to see the mess he was working in but didn’t think too much of it. I found my special pliers and went to work. Sure enough, the impeller wouldn’t budge. Why it would not come off was beyond my knowledge. It was acting as though someone had hammered on the shaft, but I had not reason to believe that could have happened. After several tries, I looked at the mechanic and told him to pull the pump.

My mechanic replied that he couldn’t pull the pump because the boat manufacturer had blocked one bolt with the engine mount. He said he would have to remove the starter to get two screwdrivers into the impeller housing and pry the impeller out.

“Don’t pull the starter”, I exclaimed. I have worked on the starter and it is the worst! I told my mechanic to simply loosen the two top forward mounting bolts and jack the engine up a few inches to clear the bolt. I had done the this for various reasons many times before.

Surprises and Signs

The next day I called the mechanic to see if he had pulled the pump. Here’s what I found out.

He had pulled the starter, but he still couldn’t get the impeller out, so he jacked up the engine (on the crank shaft as it turned out!) and pulled the pump, but he still hadn’t been able get the impeller out.

At this point he told me that his fees were now up to $750.

“Wow, that more than I bargained for”, I said. “Stop work, clean up, and I will be down in a few minutes to pick up the pump.

I figured that I’d be rebuilding the pump, so I got on the Internet and found that a rebuild kit would be $180. I figured $180 plus $750 was bad news, but hardly a disaster.

On the way to the harbor I called Lance, who has a machine shop on 17^th Avenue, and asked that he stand-by to solve my stuck impeller problem.

When I arrived at the harbor I met the mechanic at his truck and examined the pump. I told him thanks for the help and explained that I was going to have machinist Lance remove the impeller so I could do a rebuild. He took the pump back and studied it for a moment.

“Wait a minute”, he said, “There’s a circ-clip that I can pull and then it will be really easy to get the impeller off. Let me do it tonight”.

I called Lance and told him to stand-down.

My Big Mistake in Which I Get the Shaft

Shaft Forensic Report

Up to this point I had seen no reason to doubt the mechanic’s basic competence other than being messy. An easy solution to removing the impeller sounded good so I asked him if he could get the impeller off without damaging the shaft. He assured me he could, so I gave the nod. My big mistake!

The next morning, the mechanic called me with the news that he had gotten the impeller off but he had galled the pump shaft in the process. He explained that he would go ahead and rebuild the pump as soon as he got the parts.

“Stop!” I told him, “Once the shaft has been galled the cost of rebuild parts would be more than a new pump. “Make sure the boat is buttoned up and I will take it from here!”

I drove to Aquarius Boat Yard and ordered a new $1000 pump and two days later, on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, I picked it up the pump and my wife and I drove down to the boat to install it. I figured that with a little luck, we could still be sailing on Saturday of the holiday weekend.

I Was Blind But Now I See

When I arrived at the boat on Friday I found oil smeared everywhere and everything still opened up. The mechanic had reinstalled the starter, partially remounted the alternator, and placed the raw water pump bolts in place. Also, he informed me that a 16mm x 1.5mm engine mounting nut had also gone missing.

Still hoping to salvage the weekend I devised a strategy. My wife, Monica, would clean up the mess while I headed into town to search for an engine mount nut. If I could get the nut before the stores closed for the weekend we might just pull things together.

Within a few hours I found a half-height nut that would do and returned to the boat with enough time, by my reckoning, to install the new pump. It took me two hours to jack up the engine (not using the crank shaft this time), pull the alternator, install the new pump, reinstall the engine-mounting bracket, and bolt up the alternator. With my fingers crossed, I went topside and twisted the starter key.

The engine started and water started gushing out of the exhaust. The gauges looked good and ….wait a minute — the alternator wasn’t putting out any current.

Damn, I thought, a wire must have been broken. I’d have to pull the alternator and fix it. I hit the engine kill switch and …. Nothing! The engine kill was dead as well. I went below and manually pulled the kill.

I hate electrical problems! They are difficult to troubleshoot. After three hours of checking wires, and removing and reinstalling the alternator, I had made zero progress, so I called Greg Avery Marine and left a voice message.

In my message I told the mechanic that I had installed the new water pump in now my engine kill switch and alternator weren’t working. I said, “I’m not happy!” and asked if he could give me any ideas about what might be wrong?”

That night I dug into my engine shop manual. The wiring diagram showed that the kill hot lead comes off the starter, which meant that chances were good that the mechanic had forgotten to connect the lead. With a little luck, I figured I would find the lead lying loose in the pan and could reattach it. As for the alternator, I still had no idea what could be wrong.

Good Kill, Bad Alternator

On Saturday Monica and I headed down to the boat again. As I suspected, the kill-switch lead was dangling in the pan. I pulled the alternator and reached down, grabbed the lead and reattached it. Kill-switched fixed!

Now for the alternator. I had installed my $2000 Balmar alternator and programmable regulator 10 years ago, so my memory of the morass of wires was not fresh, but I figured that since nothing had been changed, all I needed to do was check the existing connections for breaks and clean terminals. I sat down in the head and, step-by-step, checked every connection for continuity and wire brushed every terminal shiny bright. I reinstalled the alternator and —- Nothing!

Here’s the way things were shaping up. Either the alternator had been fried and would need to be taken to a shop for a diagnostic and rebuild, or something had been changed in the wiring,  or maybe both!

The Phone Call

The Call

Later that afternoon I received a call from the mechanic. Here’s a very abridged version of the call.

Mechanic: Marc. I’ll come down to the dock and fix your f#%king kill switch and alternator tomorrow morning.

I changed the lock on my boat and, just to be on the safe side, marked my deck-fill caps.

Me: No, don’t come down. You’ve already run the bill up from $350 to $750 and galled my raw-pump shaft. I fixed the kill switch but wanted to know if you know what might be wrong with the alternator?

Mechanic: You f#%king asshole! I had to pull your pump. That took a long time!

Me: Okay. What’s done is done. I just installed the new pump and fixed the kill switch and it took me about two hours but I wasn’t counting on having to troubleshoot the alternator.

Mechanic: Two hours! You lying sack of S**T.

Me: Do you have any idea what’s wrong with the alternator?

Mechanic: You “f**king ass***l, you piece of crap. Why didn’t you let me finish, the job you bastard?

Me: I told you. I couldn’t afford to keep paying you. Do you know what’s wrong with the alternator?

Mechanic: You c**t,. You p**k. You are the worst f**king customer I have ever had, and let me tell you another thing you faggot piece of sh*t.

Me: CLICK

After stewing on his call for a few hours, I jumped into my car, headed down the harbor and changed the lock on my boat and, just to be on the safe side, marked my deck-fill caps to detect tampering.

The Whole Damned Thing

That night Monica and I went on a deep search for the 10 year old alternator and regulator manuals. To our amazement we found them! We returned to the boat on Sunday, resolved to fix the problem or die trying.

This time I took all of the wires off the alternator and regulator and started ringing them out with my e-meter, matching each one up with the diagrams in the manuals. After three hours, here’s what I found.

The mechanic actually spliced two wires together with a new crimp connector and created a dead loop to the regulator.

Remember back at the start that the mechanic had disconnected a few wires when he dismounted the alternator? I had actually asked him about that  and he assured me that he knew what he was doing. It turns out that when he remounted the alternator, he actually spliced two wires together with a new crimp connector and created a dead loop to the regulator.  Without extensive diagnostics, the only person who might know that this was the problem would be the one who had done it. The only other way to find it was to go through all the wiring.

Fortunately the mechanic’s dead loop was dead. Had it been hot, he could have easily killed my alternator and/or regulator, dead. Once I figured out what he had done, it was a simple matter to cut away the butt connector, crimp on terminals, and wire things correctly.

Thirty minutes later, the engine was up and running, this time with a kill-switch and alternator. As for the long Memorial Day weekend, that was pretty much history.

The Bill Comes

The invoice speaks volumes

A few days ago I received the mechanic’s bill for $775. Rather than itemize his work he recorded it as “change oil and coolant, remove alternator, starter, engine mount, raw water pump, and disassemble water pump”.  He omitted the parts about galling the pump shaft, reinstalling the starter without the kill lead, and creatively rewiring the alternator.

Final Thoughts

I am going to pay the mechanic’s bill despite the fact that an oil and coolant change ended up costing me almost $2000 dollars, a week’s worth of hard work, a lost Memorial Day weekend, and priceless pain and suffering. I just want this nightmare to be over. But I suggest that you think carefully before turning a worker loose on your boat. Remember, your life could depend on the quality of work someone does on your boat.

Remember, your life could depend on the quality of work someone does on your boat.

Here are lessons I learned long ago but forgot to remember:

1. Check to see that the person you hire knows what he is doing.
2. Get the work specification and fees in writing.
3. Make sure any amounts over the estimate are subject to approval.
4. Learn enough about your boat and how things work on it so that you can be a good judge of the quality of work being done.
5. When things start looking messy and strange, stop and think before allowing things to go forward.
6. If someone you hire curses you out…. Well, do whatever it is that you do.

Tags: Add new tag, boating, diesel mechanic, engine repair, engine service, Greg Avery, harbor, review, RV service, santa cruz, santa cruz harbor

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 12th, 2010 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Boating Disasters, Sail-the-Channel News, Sailing Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.