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Old 11-29-2020, 08:14 PM   #52
Northern Spy
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City: Powell River, BC
Vessel Name: Northern Spy
Vessel Model: Nordic Tug 26
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,075
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete Meisinger View Post
Your comparison of a car to a boat is slightly flawed. Say you have a car with bad brakes, you don't exactly know what is wrong with them but you know they are bad. Upon investigation the mechanic tells you it is not just brake pads but you need new rotors in front and drums in back. Several of the lines are leaking and brittle, the power brake booster is shot and one of your brake lights is burned out. Your car is ten years old and a pretty decent car, you decide to go ahead with a complete front to back brake job. $2,500 dollars later you say ouch and drive away with everything fixed.

Now, you take your boat in because the engine sputters at a certain rpm. The qualified mechanic tells you the injector pump and the injectors need to be rebuilt. He also noticed some crud in the fuel and upon investigating he found rust in a fuel tank, looks like a leak developing. And oh yea, the fuel filters need changing and those little filters are not enough for the engine, suggests a couple of new Raycors. No, you don't need an on board polishing system but it wouldn't hurt to have the fuel polished. All together the bill will run you about $25,000. There are a few things you could do yourself like maybe pull the injector pump and injectors, maybe change the filters but that is about it and that will take you four days and will lower the bill by a grand or two.

See the difference? By the way, I let you off easy on the repair bill on your boat because I didn't include new decks where the old ones leaked water onto your fuel tanks and a few other things which would probably be discovered.

Maybe you are really a pretty qualified mechanic and woodworker and could do most of the boat job yourself. It would take you all summer and you would miss a lot of boating. You would still have to take the pump and injectors into a diesel shop for about a $1,500 rebuild, buy or fabricate a new fuel tank and buy the new Raycors and pay to have the fuel polished.

Boating can be expensive.

pete
Brake jobs and boat work is more expensive than I would have guessed in Wisconsin.
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