An Honest Man

I found an honest man.

I noticed a small transmission leak during our trip from CT to FL this past October. Since we are not cruising now, and I was fearful of a huge expense, I had done nothing about it. As we approach springtime and our trip north I decided I must have it attended to. I called a mechanic I've used before and asked him to have a look.

I imagined having to haul the boat, pulling the shaft and replacing tranny seals or worse. My guy disappeared into the engine room and reappeared in less than 5 minutes. He said "all fixed." He explained that there is an inspection plate on the transmission and the securing bolts had loosened. All it took was a 7/16 wrench.

Hooray, I can sleep again!

Honest man and experienced mechanic ... good find and good for you!

Makes up for losing your shoes!

I didn't "lose" my shoes.

LOL! Well, they're still missing to you, so you lost 'em!

Honest is as Honest does! Ain't it nice!!

If more in this world followed the "Honest" MO... what a different world it would be!

Isn't it sad when we have a good experience and feel the need to tell everyone and we just bury the bad ones and think well that's the norm .

an honest world

Art said:

Honest is as Honest does! Ain't it nice!!

If more in this world followed the "Honest" MO... what a different world it would be!

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An honest world... what would that look like?

no car dealers, politicians, lobbyist, attorneys, government contractors, etc.

Shakespeare had it right; 'for a Utopian society, first hang all the barristers.'

I heard a joke one time about God sending an engineer to hell, by accident.

Once he got there, he rigged running water, air conditioning, and all sorts of creature comforts for those in hell.

When God found out, he demanded that the Devil send the engineer back, and the Devil refused.

God threatened to sue.

The Devil said "where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"

Post his name and location...reward him with fame.

stubones99 said:

An honest world... what would that look like?

no car dealers, politicians, lobbyist, attorneys, government contractors, etc.

Shakespeare had it right; 'for a Utopian society, first hang all the barristers.'

I heard a joke one time about God sending an engineer to hell, by accident.

Once he got there, he rigged running water, air conditioning, and all sorts of creature comforts for those in hell.

When God found out, he demanded that the Devil send the engineer back, and the Devil refused.

God threatened to sue.

The Devil said "where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"

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Hilarious!

My marine mechanic experiences over more than half a century have found mostly honest ones. It helps to monitor them closely.

Automotive shops, the dealer ones, just a crap shoot. Two years ago my Nissan had just exited the warranty period on time but with only 21k miles. The shop person comes out to the waiting room with clip board in hand and says they'll need the car for a week. Not only did I need an oil change but they said the head gaskets were bad and leaking coolant, $4500!

I asked why no coolant on the garage floor nor has the level gone down? Lots of floor searching and no answers came forth. Yup, all that was done was a general servicing. Some dealer friends have told me their shops are the profit centers and new car sales the gateway to the shops. Hum mm.

I have a fantastic (technically excellent, understands vintage systems, first rate and efficient wrencher, and a superb all around human being) who works my boat for items that exceed my (limited) capabilities. Only - he's my age and sooner than later is going to hang it up. The yard that employs him (for the last 30+ years) has spent the last 7-8 years trying to find a replacement. Also tried to find "apprentices' to work and learn under him. No joy to date.

The "good" news for me is, what Katrina (financially) didn't take care of his ex did - he'll be working until he physically cannot.

Back on point, many of the marine techs boat friends and I encounter are not, IMHO, so much dishonest as just don't know. You can burn a bunch of money going down the incorrect path before you get it right. I may be incorrect, but the independent mechanics I've encountered who were good tend to be guys that came up on their tools.

I know a young guy down here who is making a small fortune with a first rate motorcycle shop. He spent 2 years (and a good bit of money) in a private motorcycle "trade school" learning a variety of makes, models, techniques, and equipments - came out ready to go. Experience will only make him better.

Is there training anything like that available for rec boat tech/mechanic wannabees ? I think I can safely say it doesn't exist on the GC.

Too bad we can't make a 'rate your mechanic.com website...

The attorneys would make millions.

Sunchaser, what happened to your Nissan?

SBU, there several marine mechanic schools around. Many who come out have school loans which over-rule their sense of honesty when a fast buck can be made.

I was a field mechanic on excavating equipment before I retired, I worked on many different brands and types of equipment. The best mechanics make a mistake occasionally usually in diagnosing a problem, the not so good just throw parts at a problem and sooner or later hit it. I found that a correct diagnosis to locate a problem and repair it took the right tools and time. Some owners didn't want it fixed right just band aid it so it'll finish the job. The mechanics who work for people like this pick up those bad habits and take them to the next employer. I was lucky when I started out to work with very good mechanics who cared about the work they put out, I'am sure there are many who never had this training when starting out. In the marine industry I'am sure there are employers who started the same way, doing things right and the ones just doing band aid fixes, charging for parts not installed or labor not performed. Good mechanics are out there and they are working for honest reliable companies or themselves, you have to sort them out like wheat from chaff. One other thing don't expect miracles, some things can't be fixed without a lot of time and money. I do most of my own work but I do have a couple of excellent mechanics who work on my boat on projects I can't do or want done during the winter months. I'am probably lucky in I can judge a mechanics skills better than boaters without my background, good preventative maintenance helps in not needing a mechanic when away from the home marina. When I picked the marina we've been in since 2010 I talked with the mechanics before I made my choice, the few questions I asked gave me a idea of their skill. There is a old saying " if you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with BS" you just have to distinguish between the two.


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Wrong. I am a diesel mech. from way back, I know your old a$$ $hit from my days as a truck mech. Your diesel engine will never throw me for a loop. I've seen it all. Aint nothin an old mechanical injected diesel engine can do that I havent seen. Oilfield, ag/irrigation,city generation power etc. all the same. I serviced Ford Industrial engines in tractors and combines before boat folks knew they were used for that. They called them Lehmans, we called them Ford tractor engines and they were used in countless ag applications,up to 300 hp. Same engine, just turned up a bit. The Ford TW30 tractor sported a 230 HP engine, it was identical in every way to a 120 hp Lehman, except turbod, aftercooled (with a "tip turbine" cooler, interesting) and radiator cooling, retarded (backed a bit) timing and lower compression ratio. They usually made about 275 hp, on our PTO dyno and ran forever at that rating. Your boat engine has an easy life compared to a tractor.

Even Shakespeare can be wrong.
You guys who have been paying attention know that I have a few pet peeves. People ignorantly slagging lawyers is one of them.
I am now retired, but practiced for over 30 years, almost all of it as a Barrister, in the adversarial system that most of the jurisdictions represented here enjoy.
One of the things that is quickly apparent to the lawyers involved in any dispute is that each side has its own reality. The clients on each side can be completely, or perfectly, honest, and still take opposite positions on the issues in dispute. It then falls to the lawyers to sort it out. Most often that can be done short of bringing the issues to a courtroom and letting a Judge hear the whole sordid mess, or worse yet, letting a jury of people who only get to hear a small fraction of the facts decide who is right and who is wrong. That, however, is the system we use, so we have to learn to accept the facts, as found by the judge or jury, and walk away. That sometimes is difficult to do, as the facts, as known to each side before the test of a trial, may now have been changed by the Judge or jury, to what makes sense to them, based on the information presented to them in that brief encounter called a trial.
To explain this to your family after losing, many a client will assert that the court got it wrong, and the only explanation that is acceptable is that the lawyer got it wrong. This is easily stretched to the Shakespearean "hang all the lawyers" rant.
In my experience, that rant is merely a way for the losing side to say "it can't be my own fault, it must be the lawyer"

Yes, there are lawyers who get disbarred, and for good reasons, most frequently due to their dishonesty. Those numbers are remarkably low. All lawyers are called to the bar and swear an oath to be honest in all of their dealings with their clients, the public at large, other lawyers, the courts. That is a big responsibility and is taken very seriously by each and every one of us. Our livelihood, our family's economic survival, and not least, our reputation, all depend on that honesty.

Thanks for letting me vent. I'll shut up now.

I have found plenty of honest people to deal with in every field. I try not to deal with dishonest. Yes, I've found honest lawyers, honest mechanics, even honest politicians. Yes, there are dishonest in all fields as well. Just don't reward them by dealing with them. Do due diligence in selecting who to give your business.

stubones99 said:

Sunchaser, what happened to your Nissan?.

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There indeed were thousands of failures in the 3.5 V6 engines made in a certain factory due to faulty head gasket material. Nissan chose to not term it a recall as no safety issues were involved and less than 2% of their worldwide production was affected for a few month period. The US government bought this rationale so unless the gaskets failed during the warranty period the owner was SOL.

The dealers decided to tell virtually every owner of potentially affected engines they had bad gaskets whether they did or not. I have since sold the car and gone with an MDX in its place. Never again will I buy Nissan products. They now join MB on my $hit list.

The only ones who never make a mistake are the ones who never do anything. Probably applies to many trades and professions, it would be the rare person who never made a mistake whatever their craft.


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kulas44 said:

Your boat engine has an easy life compared to a tractor.

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I totally agree with that statement. I spent my early years as a tractor mechanic and have seen the most abused engines ever. Very few were not driven onto the lot, despite their condition and problems.

One that almost made it, I took two replacement fuel filters out to the tractor (on the side of the road) and swapped them and the farmer turned around and drove it back to the fields. The filters (both) were filled with crap from bad fuel.

One, leased by UGA school of agriculture, flipped over and left running for upside down until it used up the fuel in the filters. They flipped it over and didn't do much with it after that. We got it after the end of the lease and replaced one fender and hood, plus the intake precleaner. Cleaned it up and checked the cylinders, but saw the original factory hone marks still there. A customer bought it and used it for many more years without a problem.

I got tired of spending more time getting to the problem cleaning the dirt, leaked oil, etc., than it took to fix. I felt like I was a pro steam cleaner, not a mechanic. So I went into computers and lived in A/C rooms for many years.

As far as tech schools.....

When I worked at a big boat dealership...most of the techs there said the tech schools were not producing much more than a kid off the street with a few years under their belt at any marina that did a breadth of work.

Their complaints were many of the tech schools in the area were not getting late model engines to work on and were better off going off to a factory school and getting the several week intense training on late models. The techs that weren't mechs said the overview of all the rests of the systems, painting and glassing were mostly talked about rather than hands on...and done in nice shops and not always out in the field/docks where there work is often done.

This was 15 years ago when many of the schools were really just getting started/rolling. Maybe some have gotten a lot better, but I can see many trapped in the same vicious cycle that was described to me.

So whether you get your start on a couple years of grunt work or getting a tech diploma....it will only take a week or two before the yard manager figures out what you really know and can do.

koliver said:

Yes, there are lawyers who get disbarred, and for good reasons, most frequently due to their dishonesty. Those numbers are remarkably low. All lawyers are called to the bar and swear an oath to be honest in all of their dealings with their clients, the public at large, other lawyers, the courts. That is a big responsibility and is taken very seriously by each and every one of us. Our livelihood, our family's economic survival, and not least, our reputation, all depend on that honesty.

Thanks for letting me vent. I'll shut up now.

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I hear you. Then I look to Washington DC, to the government, to the House , Senate and the White House. The vast majority of people holding higher office are lawyers. As a group (politicians), they are some of the most dishonest, morally bankrupt people.

Sorry, there are a lot of bad ones and the Bar only addresses some of the most flagrant offenders. For the common man, taking a lawyer to court is a losing proposition, so sadly most bad ones never have to answer for their deeds. That being said, the vast majority of lawyers are good. They're just not good at weeding the trash out of their own profession.

Ted

O C Diver said:

As a group (politicians), they are some of the most dishonest, morally bankrupt people.
Ted

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I don't choose to judge any people as a group. I personally know some extremely good people who are politicians. Actually I know one very fine gentleman who has family wealth so no reason to be swayed by money from any sources and is in politics because he thinks he can make a difference. Unfortunately, I don't share his political views but he does have my respect.

I know lawyers who are incredible people and work very hard for their clients.

I'm sure there are those who have poor views of boaters, of perhaps dive captains, of any group any of us might be a part of.

I don't like judging people by what group they belong to, by their occupation, or by any other characteristics.

While I respect your opinion the honest good politicians in Washington DC are clearly a very small minority.

For the record, there are some really bad dive boat captains.

Ted

O C Diver said:

While I respect your opinion the honest good politicians in Washington DC are clearly a very small minority.

For the record, there are some really bad dive boat captains.

Ted

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Well, I figure just looking at competence in any profession, half are in the bottom 50%. Then looking at integrity, I'm not even going to make a guess. I lived long enough in the business world to see it all and was just very fortunate to be in a company that did things the right way. I did always feel like we were in the minority whether that's really the case or not.