twodogs1969 said..
What recommendations for mechanics I have a Volvo.

People that provide services to yacht owners seem to think that yacht owners have bottomless pockets.

Best strategy is to get quotes before any work is done.

Three hours labour for an oil and filter change is outrageous.

Monopolies are against the law as I understand it. But if you are stuck with it, that is that.

You do know that you can careen at Maryborough Motor Boat Club in the Town Reach of the Mary River don't you?? The slipping and hardstand facilities are excellent there also and very economical.

If you want the phone number of the manager there PM me.

Keep a look out for my mate John on Kindred Spirit, an Adams 31. He is down your way and anchored at Kingfisher tonight.

Like thee he is well into his 80s and a single hander. I am sure you would get along famously.

twodogs1969 said..

MorningBird said..
I got MB back from Presidents Shipwrights after some sparkie work and an oil and filter change. The sparkie was ok, the 3 hours charged to do an oil and filter change was way over the top.
I'm using Cammeray for slips and antifouls, but that is too far for small jobs I don't have time to do myself.
I need an inner west marina workshop for small jobs.
Any suggestions?

Funny you comment about this.
I just got the bill for servicing the motor and sail drive. $1000 I think this is way over the top. What is thoughts on what this should cost. What recommendations for mechanics I have a Volvo.

Gee I thought VW owners(me) were the only ones to get screwed on serving costs.

cisco said..
Monopolies are against the law as I understand it. But if you are stuck with it, that is that.

You do know that you can careen at Maryborough Motor Boat Club in the Town Reach of the Mary River don't you?? The slipping and hardstand facilities are excellent there also and very economical.

If you want the phone number of the manager there PM me.

Keep a look out for my mate John on Kindred Spirit, an Adams 31. He is down your way and anchored at Kingfisher tonight.

Like thee he is well into his 80s and a single hander. I am sure you would get along famously.

Yes the boat club is good, but I get much the same deal from Fishermans Wharf and don't have to contend with the infamous Mary River mud or the 2 1/2 hour trip up the river.

boty said..

PhoenixStar said..

cisco said..

PhoenixStar said..
Had to go on the slip, and the slip only let their own tradesmen do the work. Took their guy 2 days to get the shaft out of the rusted coupling.

There you go. Just proves the old maxim "If you want it done right, do it yourself."

So which slip was that Phoenix?? No need to name names, just tell us where the slip is exactly so that we all know to avoid it.

I am guessing it is only your age, wisdom and temperament that prevented you from grabbing the 10 lb hammer from his hand and tapping him on the head with it.

Those split couplings are the best but where do you buy them??

Any slipway that insists that only their people are allowed to do the work, I would insist that they show their trade qualification papers and that I would oversee their work at all times.

Trouble cisco is they have a monopoly, so you just have to suck it up. I really miss the old careening post. Really good if you just wanted to do a quick job on something under the boat.
Poltflex in Brisbane have the split couplings. Can't remember the cost, but not huge, a bit over $200 plus a similar amount for the flexi disk. The part number for a HWB 50 Hurth box is 434 P (2 1/2 spigot, female in the gearbox, 4 stud) and they machine the hub to your shaft size. Next day delivery if you pay for the courier service.
The guy doing the work on my boat was a qualified painter. Nuff said.

this sounds absurd i think you have a good case to ask for some money back people like this need to be pushed out of the industry

Unfortunately the other option in Townsville has an even worse reputation. But there are good guys there too, Colin on 1447518888 for electrical, Chris on 0450834393 for mechanical and Greg on 0407026625 for stainless and underwater hull work are all excellent.

shaggybaxter said..

twodogs1969 said..

MorningBird said..
I got MB back from Presidents Shipwrights after some sparkie work and an oil and filter change. The sparkie was ok, the 3 hours charged to do an oil and filter change was way over the top.
I'm using Cammeray for slips and antifouls, but that is too far for small jobs I don't have time to do myself.
I need an inner west marina workshop for small jobs.
Any suggestions?

Funny you comment about this.
I just got the bill for servicing the motor and sail drive. $1000 I think this is way over the top. What is thoughts on what this should cost. What recommendations for mechanics I have a Volvo.

Twodogs,
I looked up my last service, not much difference to yours by the sounds. Volvo Penta 30, 200 hr service;
1 x Oil filter,
2 x fuel filter,
1 x impeller kit,
1 x Zinc anode set,
1 x engine oil,
1 x saildrive oil,
Materials: $465
4 hours labour : $440

Mine charged 5.5 hours travelling would have been 30 min.
I was also charged for an air filter and nd a new belt all up$1003.
I am not very mechanical but it could not be that hard or am i wrong?
Warranty runs out before next service is due.

MorningBird said..
I got MB back from Presidents Shipwrights after some sparkie work and an oil and filter change. The sparkie was ok, the 3 hours charged to do an oil and filter change was way over the top.
I'm using Cammeray for slips and antifouls, but that is too far for small jobs I don't have time to do myself.
I need an inner west marina workshop for small jobs.
Any suggestions?

No real strong suggestions for you MB, but interested to see what else others come up with.

Depends whether you're wanting to do the work yourself, or get someone to do it for you. DIY is really hard to find - it's really just Presidents, Balmain Marine Centre & Woolwich Dock as far as I know. Maybe Cockatoo Island, but then that's a pain to get to and from with tools.

Balmain is probably about the same size as Presidents, but it doesn't have the roof in the way (it's just open to the sky). Woolwich Dock is fully up on the hard, not a track and as a bonus, you can drive right up to your boat. Unfortunately, they're pretty busy coming round to Summer and they're not exactly cheap (Just over a grand for 2 days - lift, waterblast, 2 days hardstand & environmental levy).

Noakes is another place that allows DIY (with a lot of OH&S garbage) and is roughly the same price as Woolwich Dock. But it is just the other side of the bridge, so dunno if that's too far for you.

The other three non DIY places I know of in the Inner West are Gladesville Marina, Woolwich Marina & Sydney City Marine. No idea what their prices would be though.

Planeray said..

MorningBird said..
I got MB back from Presidents Shipwrights after some sparkie work and an oil and filter change. The sparkie was ok, the 3 hours charged to do an oil and filter change was way over the top.
I'm using Cammeray for slips and antifouls, but that is too far for small jobs I don't have time to do myself.
I need an inner west marina workshop for small jobs.
Any suggestions?

No real strong suggestions for you MB, but interested to see what else others come up with.

Depends whether you're wanting to do the work yourself, or get someone to do it for you. DIY is really hard to find - it's really just Presidents, Balmain Marine Centre & Woolwich Dock as far as I know. Maybe Cockatoo Island, but then that's a pain to get to and from with tools.

Balmain is probably about the same size as Presidents, but it doesn't have the roof in the way (it's just open to the sky). Woolwich Dock is fully up on the hard, not a track and as a bonus, you can drive right up to your boat. Unfortunately, they're pretty busy coming round to Summer and they're not exactly cheap (Just over a grand for 2 days - lift, waterblast, 2 days hardstand & environmental levy).

Noakes is another place that allows DIY (with a lot of OH&S garbage) and is roughly the same price as Woolwich Dock. But it is just the other side of the bridge, so dunno if that's too far for you.

The other three non DIY places I know of in the Inner West are Gladesville Marina, Woolwich Marina & Sydney City Marine. No idea what their prices would be though.

Thank you for that advice.

I can do most DIY jobs on the boat. This is the first time I have had someone do something like an oil change and it was only as they had the boat for the sparkie to do his bit and my oil change pump has died.

I would like a workshop that can do jobs I don't have the time for, or am just too lazy to do. I expected an hour or an hour and a half for this job.

Anyway, the proprietor seems a reasonable chap (ex Navy chippy) so we will see what he does.

Yara said..

Ramona said..
Bought one of these filters and fitted it yesterday.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Fuel-Filter-Water-Turbine-Diesel-Biodiesel-Separator-500FG-Brand-New/182504779037?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

They are called turbines but no part actually spins. Exceptionally good value item and the paper elements are a common size. Found the old Cav filter with lots of crap and some water so obviously some water in the bottom of the tank. Built a diesel polishing set up and will clean the fuel this morning. Tank only holds 40 litres so should not take long.

That's a cyclone rather than a turbine. Cyclones need a high flow to work. (The listing says up to 227 l/hr!) So the cyclone bit may not work at your flow rates.

No nothing rotates. Had it apart to check. Mate bought one too to replace his genuine Racor that did not rotate either. I'm guessing the water sinks through the slots that might make it cascade in a circular motion! Hopefully wont have enough water to notice!

D3 said..
I've managed a couple of hours most nights after work and finally got all gunk out and back to bare wood where needed.
Glad that bits over.

Gave her a good going over with some wood treatment and already can see a big difference.




Thinking now that I could have given her an acid scrub to get rid of some of the obvious staining.

Hopefully the weather holds this week so I can fibreglass the seams instead of the previous Sikaflex.

I presume you mean epoxy resin and fibreglass tape. Epoxy is cheaper really and easier to work and working time is much longer. It will actually stick to the wood too.

Ramona said..
I made a fuel polishing setup during the week and sucked out all the diesel. Filter was fairly clean and only a few droplets of water but the diesel looked cloudy. I have set it aside and will see if the moisture settles out of it. Only 30 litres so it does not matter if I toss it.
Yesterday I opened the fuel tank up and cleaned it out by hand. Tank is in the top part of the encapsulated keel above the lead. All fibreglass and flowcoated. The top is just a fibreglass panel held in place with machine screws tapped into fibreglass. The insides were covered in a brown slime which wiped off easily and all up probably 1/4 of a cup of gunk. Was not hard to do, the only annoying thing was the weather was glorious and I should have been sailing! the weather for the next week looks like crap!

When we build fuel tanks for people we alway recommend we fit inspection hatches to each chamber if the tank so the entire tank is able to be cleaned. A lot of people would be horrified if they could see the inside of their diesel tanks.

Jode5 said..

Ramona said..
I made a fuel polishing setup during the week and sucked out all the diesel. Filter was fairly clean and only a few droplets of water but the diesel looked cloudy. I have set it aside and will see if the moisture settles out of it. Only 30 litres so it does not matter if I toss it.
Yesterday I opened the fuel tank up and cleaned it out by hand. Tank is in the top part of the encapsulated keel above the lead. All fibreglass and flowcoated. The top is just a fibreglass panel held in place with machine screws tapped into fibreglass. The insides were covered in a brown slime which wiped off easily and all up probably 1/4 of a cup of gunk. Was not hard to do, the only annoying thing was the weather was glorious and I should have been sailing! the weather for the next week looks like crap!

When we build fuel tanks for people we alway recommend we fit inspection hatches to each chamber if the tank so the entire tank is able to be cleaned. A lot of people would be horrified if they could see the inside of their diesel tanks.

Sound advice and good design Jode5! I've recently had to clean the tank in my boat due to diesel bug problems. It's built in (transverse orientaion) under the galley sinks and extends back under the fridge, so that part tapers up on the bottom to fit the hull shape. The only access I had was over the top of the main part of the tank in the cupboard directly under one sink. No access panel had been fitted, so with great difficulty I had to I cut a circular hole and install one of the Vetus ILT inspection ports. Unfortunately that only gave me good access to the main part of the tank though, as there is a baffle at the point where the bottom of the tank angles upwards.

I can only imagine that anyone who builds a tank without inspection ports is either able to take it out easily, ignorant or just plain cutting corners with cost. After reading your post, I'm thinking I might cut a section out of the baffle to gain access to the other part of the tank, and then just screw the baffle piece back in place.... food for thought!

I've almost got all the seams reinforced with fibreglass tape and epoxy, got some big gaps and voids to fill/fix before I can get to the lays two.

Trying to find timber to replace the rotted rubbing strip and I came across Tassie Oak Window trim that is almost the right dimensions and profile. I reckon with some enthusiastic planing and sanding I'll get it to the right shape

I always use metho to clean brushes and then wash out with truck wash. Metho is OK to thin epoxy too but I never bother these days.

Bummer, 9.9 4 str beeing continously "out of water" practicaly above water level developed resistance for gear change, manual pressure on the lever to engage For or Astern result in bending plastic levar.
Im making new "gear change handle" it will be total metal, if this moddification will not suceseade, I will buy another brand, diferent to Yamaha. Some are good, another are betther, I want them just right, no more.