Quote:
Originally Posted by brk-lnt
Here, I'll try to phrase it more directly for you:
Old boats tend to be a lot of work and can have a lot of hidden costs and problems.
Marine/marina mechanics don't have all the answers, and may try troubleshooting things via seemingly random approaches, lie to you, skip steps, or otherwise do things that end up costing you more than they should.
You would be well served to know the basic systems on your vessel, and be able to do diagnostics and repairs on your own. At the very least, be able to approximately diagnose some things at least to the point you can tell if the mechanic seems competent or not.
There is "nothing amazing" about this story in that thousands of boat owners across the state, country, or world, could probably tell you similar stories.
Sure, you can call out the marina if you like, though diagnosing problems like this can be less than straightforward, plus we would probably still only have 1 side of the story.
In hindsight, it certainly could have been handled better on both sides.
|
When you catch them blatantly lying to you, they should be called out. Let's not forget the the op said the marina told him they put a camera inside his tank and found nothing, yet he found a lot of crud in it himself that ended up being the problem. That's an "amazing" blatant lie, and I would have been pissed. Not just the money either, op said he pretty much lost the whole summer!! And as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter how old a boat is. In fact, an older boat should be easier to diagnose cause they are not any where near as sophisticated as new ones, not to mention when boats, (or anything for that matter) start getting old, patterns develop with common problems and diagnosing becomes easier in some cases. This problem SHOULD have been diagnosed by any competent marina IMHO.