Everybody likes to learn as much as possible about the company they might deal with, especially if they're about to spend over $13,000. I hope that this will help reporting my experience in dealing with Bill Davidson's Marine.
I ordered a new Yanmar 3JH5E motor thru them, we poured over every option, and I ordered every option. At the time I paid the deposit for the motor, Bill and I sat down and called Mastry in St. Petersburg, Florida to verify everything. At that time, we learned that I didn't need to special order a higher output alternator as Yanmar/Mastry has just upgraded everything and they were being shipped with a 120amp alternator. Way more than I need, so cool. They also told us that they were not using any high rise mixing exhaust elbows anymore, everyone just has to be sure to put in an anti-siphon loop vent. Okay, cool. At this same time, I tell Bill with Alice who works the front office in attendance, that I need to hire him and his crew to help me get the old motor out, and the new one in. I can do the simple stuff like exhaust hoses and control cables, because of my having been a mechanic. He agrees, we're all set, so back to the yard I go, and I continue working on other parts of the boat.
The day arrives. He says that in actuality, they receive the motor at some other location to save freight cost, but that he would pick it up in his new pickup truck and take it to his shop in Green Cove Springs. I ask him to not open it as I would like to be the one to break the band, treating the whole event like an early Christmas present. Albeit, 3 years in the making, I wanted to open it. He swings thru the boat yard with the crate in the back of his truck. He says follow me over to the shop and we'll open it. Great. When I get there, Bill is all pissed off because according to him, he has some older driver pull out in front of him and because he didn't have the motor strapped down, it slid across the bed and slammed in the cab so hard, that it pushed the forward edge of the bed, up next to the cab. I personally saw this. In addition, as we're unloading the motor, he tells me that he has to have the crate back. I agree, I didn't have any plans for it.
I then helped him open the box, and had to help him hoist it down and into the showroom. It was going to sit there a couple of days, until his schedule permitted him to show up at the yard and start the process of installing it. Everything was there, except the hot water heater kit. He then proceeds to reach over and grabs a bag of parts and says, oh, this will work. Well, after having learned from a Certified Yanmar mechanic, that what he's always seen, is that when you order the hot water heater kit, it's installed my Mastry. He they looks at what Bill gave me and it won't even fit, much less doesn't have the ball valve that's part of the kit. After having to listen to him go on and on, he finally calls Mastry and calls me back to say that he's ordered the right kit. Hmm.
Then, the day comes where he and his crew are supposed to show up and install the motor. He shows up by himself, with the motor in the back of his pickup truck, looks at me and ask; "so, how are you going to get this motor out of here' referring to his truck. I said, "Bill, that's why I hired you" He said "Well, we usually use the boat's mast and boom" Well, I had all of that down on the ground painting everything. A couple of weeks later, I learn that the yard will not allow any one to use their mast and boom to stall a motor while in stands. It will pull the boat over. So, I hire the guys at Green Cove Springs Marina and their crane, and pull the motor off the truck and set it on the ground, where it sat locked to the outside of the boat for over a week. I ended up utilizing the mechanics there to help me pull the old one and plop in the new one. Those guys are awesome. I gave one of them the old motor with everything including old parts and manuals. And, during this time that the motor was sitting on the ground, Bill had Alice call me twice to remind me that 'he had to have that crate back, don't let it get gone. Okay, cool. No problem. Well, after a month or so, I'm over at their store buying some OEM filters, and he says to someone else standing there, "oh yea, I like to make dog houses out of them." I log that away, it's been several weeks, I'm still waiting for him to show up and get it, so I call him, and he says oh, I don't need that anymore. I confront him about his telling me to hold onto it for dear life, his having his office staff call me telling me to not let it get gone, then he accuses me of putting words in his mouth.
The last thing that seals the deal, is back when I first get the motor, he emphatically demonstrates 'how to check the oil level in the transmission' He told me several times, unscrew the dipstick, wipe it off, then just place it into the hole where it goes, but do not screw it down. Then lift it back out and check the oil level. After many years of working on just about everything, I had never heard of this technique. Well, come to find out, no one else has either. Neither the Certified mechanic, nor the owner's manual, no where does it mention to do it this way.
Getting this new motor has been an incredibly stressful, from the first dealer having died before the motor was received, locking up all the money I had, causing me to put the boat up on the hard for over a year and going to work at what has to have been the worse job I have ever work, for over a year, to learning the hard way to not cover the boat with tarps, to the things I had to put up with from the second dealer. I just pray and hope to dear God, that I'm not another statistic that dies from a heart attack while finally pulling away from the dock to go cruising, after having worked towards that goal for over 12 years. This whole ordeal and series of events, much of which I actually haven't mentioned here, has really spoiled my dream. I don't think of sailing nor sailboats with any fondness anymore. After having raced for over 15 years, crewed and solo, spin and non-spin, several barefoot charters, a couple of great cruises with GREAT friends in and around Florida. It's just not the same anymore. Just makes ya wonder.
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