GPSguru Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Yesterday I took the boat in for the engine annual service (300 hrs – 3 years). The place that I have been going to for years has changed hands and the grease monkey that always serviced my engines rang me to say he is going on his own, but cant do warranty work, however, he highly recommended another main dealer close to me. I gave them a call about a month ago, and TBH the phone conversation gave me quite a warm feeling, so I was Ok with the change. I dropped the boat off at 9:30am, but told them I would struggle to be back at 6:00pm, but would call when I was on my way. The Service Manager said he could stay until about 7:00pm if it helped, which was very much appreciated. Also, I was greeted by one of the Grease monkey’s that used to work at the previous service place, so in my mind, all was good. I eventually arrived back at 6:10pm and the service manager took me through what they had done. A full service, including water pump, new thermostat, all new fuel filters and also flushed through the cooling system with a Mercury corrosion inhibitor, and sprayed the engine with Mercury Corrosion guard. In addition to the above, under warranty, also changed the trim/tilt pump (because the case was rusty) and they also found the water pressure sensor to be faulty (5psi out) , so replaced it. The water pressure sensor on mine engine is an optional extra, but it is connected to the CanBus to detect either no pressure (pump not working) or over pressure (cooling blockage). He also said there was something I would need to watch as I had thrown a code, but a good code, I had triggered the rev limiter! (but only once). He said to do that, in that boat you must have been moving quite fast. Apparently on my engine the rev limiter is set at 5400. I am pretty sure that we did that on the way back from the last skerries trip as the water was flat calm when we crossed St Mary’s Bay, I remember giving full throttle and I remember glancing at the plotter and seeing 41knts, but we slowed down pretty quick as we came onto Berry Head. Anyway, whilst at the dealers, I checked the plotter (it doesn’t reset max speed on the trip) and it was showing 44.7knts. At least it confirms that the boat is correctly propped ! The price was about what I expected to pay, and the service seems to be exceptionally good. I explained to the service Manager (Antony) that I am engine fussy, because I do long trips and don’t carry an Aux. He went on to say that the Mercury 150 is a very robust engine and mine is barely run in, one of the commercials he looks after in Torquay Marina has 3000hrs on it and runs like a dream. So, just the trailer to service in October (I do that) and then I am ready for the winter season. As a bonus, the Jeep, now 19 years old, passed its MOT, with no problems or advisories. Josh, mick and Andy135 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Got any bullet points? GPSguru 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Who did you use? We have an Optimax on ours so always interested to hear about good mechanics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted September 30, 2022 Author Share Posted September 30, 2022 2 minutes ago, Dicky said: Who did you use? We have an Optimax on ours so always interested to hear about good mechanics Birchell Marine, in Torquay, right opposite the harbour slipway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPSguru Posted September 30, 2022 Author Share Posted September 30, 2022 6 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said: Got any bullet points? Well maybe........... so yours is £44k for the boat and £10k for the carpets and curtains ? 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy135 Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 39 minutes ago, GPSguru said: Well maybe........... so yours is £44k for the boat and £10k for the carpets and curtains ? 🙄 £10k for the cushions on their own... GPSguru 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintly Fish Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 7 hours ago, Andy135 said: £10k for the cushions on their own... Ok sold. When you dropping off the dosh? Andy135 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odyssey Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 Always nice to find a good mechanic! And even nicer to get clean bill of health too 🙂 Mine is due soon, May get it out of water in January for a few weeks as would leave Xmas open for fishing in the haven or bay eva but if wrecking… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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