unqualified outboard service

[OPTI]

i was just wondering how many of the boat owners on here would take thier outboard to a non trade qualified mechanic that works from his home.im talking about someone that is recomended and is known for good work,but not a trained outboard mechanic as such.

[blaze]

a trade ticket is only as good as the person with it or that trained for it. I am a diesel fitter by trade, never professed to being the best but I was normally able to make a machine finish the job that was required. Some of the best I trained under never new what a ticket was. The other end of the scale, had a fully qualified outboard mechanic leave the drain plugs loose in the gearbox of my 18hp tohatsu on its 10hr service and this was at one of the biggest local dealers. For me
Look for a man with passion for what he does and not a bit of paper.
cheers
blaze

[Timmy94]

Mate this is directed at Bayside Marine isnt it

[shappy]

hey opti,

i do all my own maintance on my engine since new, but i am a qualified diesel mechanic. when it was under warranty i would have still been able to make warranty claims aslong as i can prove it was not buy my doing of incorrect maintance, as i am qualified to work as an outboard mechanic
so if your engine is still under warranty, don't do it.
if ti is not, then it is your choice, but if he is to work on it, water pump for e.g. and that part fails and damages your motor, the manufacturer of the part can say, it was installed buy an unqualified trades person and not our problem.

like i said though, it is up to you. i can bet you he knows more about outboard engines then me being around them more and you may never have a problem!!;D

cheers, shappy

[finga]

I think Blaze has hit the nail bang square on the head.
I'll take the person with a passion over the bloke with the bit of paper filling in time until knock off time anytime.
That is if the guarantee is not a concern.

[Blackened]

Look for a man with passion for what he does and not a bit of paper.


G'day Blaze

Thats one of the best words of wisdom i've seen from here for a while. well done ;)

Dave

[Kiktz]

Yep Got my vote there Blaze.

No matter what tickets they hold if the dont give a Sh!t whats the difference.

[BM]

Well I gather OPTI is also member Etec from fishnet and also member Pinkreeler from fishnet..

David, when are you going to learn that you are flogging a dead horse. I have been through this issue a number of times in the last 4 yrs and its a dead issue.

People on f'net have known me for a long time and know the advice they get works. They can be told how to fix something or where their problem lies and thats usually the case. So they know they can trust what I write.

So as each new kicker steps up to start swiping all it does is damage them and make them look bad. I note that the tone of the post here is somewhat tamer than whats been written on f'net but you see the same answers given here don't you??

Not sure whats wrong inside your head that you would want to pursue someone relentlessly but banned from one site and starting it again on another site... Gees, doe's it feel good to throw darts (from behind a keyboard) at someone you don't even know???

[Hamish73]

qualifications mean jack when it's 'only a job'
Npo one, and I mean no one works on my dirt bikes unless I need a specialised service, like crank pressing.. I'm not a qualified bike mechanic but I know I do a far better job than any of the dealers. Are they really going to give a shit when you boat/bike shits itself in the middle of the bush/ocean?

[BM]

I just looked up the word "qualified" and amoung many interpretations I found this as the very first entry on www.dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com)

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) (http://dictionary.reference.com/help/luna.html) - Cite This Source (http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=qualified&ia=luna) - Share This (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/qualified#sharethis)
qual·i·fied http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/premium.gif http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pnghttp://cache.lexico.com/g/d/speaker.gif (https://secure.reference.com/premium/login.html?rd=2&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fbrowse%2 Fqualified) /ˈkwɒlhttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.pngəˌfaɪd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kwol-uh-fahyd] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective 1.having the qualities, accomplishments, etc., that fit a person for some function, office, or the like.


I am not at all fussed one way or the other. This season sees a lot of new customers who are friends/relos of existing customers. That tells me things are going right.

But I think I fit very clearly into the above definition. You'd have to agree with that OPTI............

[BM]

Anyway, theres work to be done.

[disorderly]

He's got you in his sights,hasn't he nick?
What have you done to him?...
run over his dog or something...http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/tongue.gif

Scott

[STUIE63]

I read the other thread on fishnet and was discussted at the personal attack on BM this bloke has helped countless people on this forum and others he must spend at least a couple hours a day just answering questions let alone how many PM's he gets. it is not only the people he answers their question it is also people like me reading and learning.I am a fitter and turner the are some trade qualified people that I would not let sweep the floor of a workshop and there are some people with no papers that areowning , running large workshops ther is alot to be said for the school of hard knocks not just technical colleges .
well there you have it I read the fishnet one yesterday and thought to myself that it wouldn't happen on ausfish how wrong I was
Stuie

[Dirtysanchez]

I agree
I used to have my OB serviced by a bloke who was actually an unqualified lawn mower mechanic, didn't worry me, he knew his stuff and when he fixed something it was done 100%.
He even under quoted once and tried to swallow it, but he was out of pocket a few hundred. I wouldn't accept it and covered the costs because he had always been honest and done a good job for me on time

Cheers

[secret relations]

My 2 cents worth.

I work in the trade industry and come accross people that are not fully qualified but are much better workers and tradesmen than some of our qualified people.

BUT, if anyone asks we only employ fully qualified people, and becuase of that we are limited to what sites we can use the labourers on. Even though pound for pound they are much better, people pay for a premium to get qualified people and at the end of the day feel more confident about using someone who has te offical qualifications to say they know what they are doing.

I have no idea about the background behind this arguement in relation to the outboard thing, but people need to be carefull when getting things serviced outside of official service agents.

I get my new cars serviced at the local servo down the road, they do log book services, and apart from being half the price the mechanics are excellent at what they do. They actually build performance cars in their spare time, so i am willing to trust them with my new liberty GT.

In my last car (honda accord), they used a repco oil filter, and it turned out to be faulty. The car ran out of oil just out of Bundaberg one Christmas, we had to get it towed to Honda in Bundaberg. Becuase it was only 6 months old, we assumed it was a warranty thing, so Bundy Honda organised the towing, a hire car to get us home, and diagnised the fault as a dodgy oil filter.

As it wasn't an offical Honda oil filter, we had to pay all the costs as the warranty wouldn't cover it. Repco said that they sell the oil filter used in the Accord to Honda, who rebadge it to. Repco couldn't understand why Honda wouldn't just look after us and accept the warranty claim and seek reimbursement from Repco as if it was an official Honda oil filter.

Luckily the mechanic down the road got all the expenses (including flights back to bundy to pick the car up) paid by Repco and it didn't cost me anything, but it certainly served as a warning for me.

Companies will pull every excuse in the world to get out of paying warranty claims.

As a side note, I took my 3 month Yammy 4 stroke 80 to Dolphin Marine at Kawana to be serviced just last week, and i can't speak highly enough of them. Not only did they do a good service on the engine, but for no charge they also found and removed some rivets rattling around under the floor from the fitout, took the boat down the ramp and adjusted the it so i can drive it on. :)

[Greg P]

Not having a chip at Nick because I am sure if he wanted to he would have enough RPL to be qualified but I flogged my arse doing an apprenticeship as a Diesel Fitter and as such believe people should have the qualifications. Probably not an issue for the back yard guys but working for a dealership or OEM you need the piece of paper or you are a T/A - plain and simple.

If I am paying top labour rates for work to be done on my equipment - I want the guys to have the right qualifications AND right attitudes or I will go elsewhere.

[timddo]

Don't trainees do most of the mechanical services at the dealers anyway. Mechanics just supervise and drink coffee. The paper they hold is to sign off on.

An RPL is a joke.

[finding_time]

Well I gather OPTI is also member Etec from fishnet and also member Pinkreeler from fishnet..

?


What a classic BM!! Just did some reading( slow day at work) If etec and pinkreeler aren't the same guy there certainly making each other breakfast every morning!! Talk about a mutual appreciation !!::) I just love the whitty repartee' that they have going.

It must take a certain type of person to have a chat board conversation with himself;D ;D

Ian

Have long suspected a few on this forum do similar!!

[blaze]

Not having a chip at Nick because I am sure if he wanted to he would have enough RPL to be qualified but I flogged my arse doing an apprenticeship as a Diesel Fitter and as such believe people should have the qualifications. Probably not an issue for the back yard guys but working for a dealership or OEM you need the piece of paper or you are a T/A - plain and simple.

If I am paying top labour rates for work to be done on my equipment - I want the guys to have the right qualifications AND right attitudes or I will go elsewhere.
I did the same, had the passion thing happening then but still maintain that I would still rather an experienced guy with passion than a tradie with non.
Take a non tradie with passion that has been in the game for 20 years or a tradie that has just finished his time, can you with all honesty say you would be willing to pay more money for the upstart that has just finished his time even if he has passion
cheers
blaze

[Poseidon]

I would prefer to take my motor to a backyard mechanic if he came recommended by a trustworthy source. Why? 1st dealer service at 20 hours they changed the oil filter, only filled the engine with half the amount of oil, left grease oil over the carpet, crushed the trailer plug and left me waiting over an hour past the agreed collection time. For their 'service' charged nearly $380.00 including charging me for twice the amount of oil the motor could carry yet only half filling. Sure they ticked all the boxes however as it turned out checked very little.

There has been enough horror stories on this forum over dealer services to last me a lifetime.

A referral from reliable sources wins hands down for me.

Regards Cameron.

[tunaticer]

Over the past 25 yrs I have had probably close to 800 people work under me as "tradespeople" mostly as boilermakers. Of all the good qualified boilys out there i think there are very few still active in the trade. Of all the people I have worked with it is about 50/50 the people that have done the trade and people who have picked it up. I think it is probably about 10% overall that are good tradespeople who have a good work ethic the rest basically pick up thier cheques from week to week.

Find one of the 10% and you will be happy whether they are ticketed or not.

Jack.

[Timmy94]

Well we're just lucky we have a great Johnson/Evinrude Specialist that has been in the Family since 1932, Allan Downes at Bowen Hills in Brisbane does it for us.

To all the people who want to dish out crap towards Nick from Bayside, Why? I have seen 100's if not 1000's of posts from nick giving great advice to people who want respectable, honest answers and people who have applauded Nick for servicing their outboards and doing a dam fine job. Why put him down because he doesnt have a piece of paper that says he is 'qualified' when he has had years of experience which more than likely makes him better than most people who are qualified. And face facts when you take your outboard to major places you have a 50% chance it will be checked over by someone with 2years experience in a the name of a 'apprentice'.

Nick does a dam fine job so quit the crap and stop putting him down.

[Spaniard_King]

Guys,

I am of the opinion a deccent percentage of service personel in the marine industry (and I am thinking over %50) originated from another industry and I don't think the marine industry embraces the apprentiship scheme as much as it should.

A good dealer will send his service personel to annual training workshops so as not only to enhance there skills but keep a level of product knowledge of the latest releases.

No mater how good of a mechanic a person maybe it takes time to be good at different brands.

[cormorant]

Know nothing about this but you have to remember that 20 years ago if you could show you had xperience or someone would sign you on you could get your mechanics ticket overnight as they introduced the single qualification. The number of blokes who are now 60 years old who had no idea then were given a ticket by their Greek , Slovanian, Lebanese and Italian mates (they were the organised groups in those days) and guess who owns the workshops today. I regret not picking upmore tickets myself then. Half the sons with the same name have never qualified. It will take another 20 years to retire all those but half the problem is they have helped partially train the next group of apprentices.

The major thing apart from general mechanical aptitude these days is a wide enough experience to actually diagnose problems effectively and be proactive and not lazy about maintainance. The other thing is that they must have acces and knowledge of the database that dealers have to ensure all update to software and known problems are implemented in a timely fashion.


The architecs are having the same problem where they are trying to quarantine the name architech as they have spen uni time and they are trying to legally stop draftsmen calling themselves architecs.

In my industry once you are 3 years out of Uni and not employed your qualification is basically worthless as you haven't utilised it and haven't kept up to date. In the same line once you are employed rarely is your qualification referred back to particularly with such narrow based specialisedcourses that are being provided rather than the broad based courses of yesteryear whee you then applied common sense.

[shappy]

dave22, opti, pinkreeler or etec

had a bit of a read on f'net.
what have you got against bayside marine??


g' day bm, i am adrianshap on f'net. haven't been there for a while.

cheers, shappy

[captain rednut]

hi opti i want to know how one can be a trade qualified outboard mechanic only? as as far as i know, the trade name is a light marine mechanic, correct me if im wrong? and opti the next step is when you get a job at a dealership they send you to the training course to specialize in mercurys or whatever your dealer is? Q... does this make that person qualified to work on a yamaha? MY ANSWER IS, I DONT THINK IT MATTERS, EXPERIENCE IS GAINED THROUGH PRACTICE AND VARIETY.

[mik01]

ok - here's my dumb question (no mech knowledge here!!!!)

apart from a few minor differences, isn't an engine an engine?
doesn't an outboard have all the basic moving and non moving parts that other engines have, only smaller?

therefore, one can specialise in outboards or marine mechanics, but surely any mechanical knowledge is the prerequisite?
its obvious there is more to this thread than meets the eye, and from reading fishnet etc, it looks like etec, pinkreeler (whatever) is some sort of marine mechanic who obviously has a bug up his arse in relation to BM.

if you came recommended (and I lived down there), BM, I would definitely come to see you. wouldn't matter if you were 'qualified' or not.

cheers

[Noelm]

one engine is kind of the same as the next, BUT certain manufaturers have unique (say) Injection systems and diagnostic workings/test equipment, sure without any "proper" factory training a good mechanic can usually fix almost anything, but with the right tools at (say) a dealer workshop, then you should be up and running quicker and cheaper, but of course in practice this is not always the case, a 'piece of paper" will/may certainly get you a job (or at least to interview) at a specialist dealer network, BUT it does not mean you actually know what you are doing, it just means you attended some sort of training and remembered enough to pass the exam at the end of it, I have more "pieces of paper" than I can poke a stick at, and some are World Wide certifications, but because I have not been involved in some of the Industries for years, I would probably be completely lost on a job site/work place with some of them!

[Mrs Ronnie H]

Hi Guys

Some pretty strong fors and against here.

I know a couple of guys that have worked with deisel and petrol engines for a number of years and netiher of them have a trade ticket.

I would and do not hesitate to give them a call if i need some help with anything on my boat and I would trust them both to pull my whole boat apart and put it back together.

A piece of paper means nothing if you don't have the passion for what you are doing or the knowledge. Plenty of tradies out there with it but wouldn't know "JACK*****

My advice is read the last paragraph posted by blaze .

Cheers and good luck.

Ronnie

[Mr__Bean]

I recently had a service done on my 225 four stroke Yammy by a mobile marine mechanic (Wade).

He started off doing all of the "mechanical tasks", oils, prop off, lower leg off, pump check and impellor replace etc. But when he finished he then hooked up his laptop to the engine and started the test routines.

From his laptop he commanded tests and explained them to me as he went along, I can't remember them all but they included fuel pump bypass tests, injector tests, 2 cylinder drop off test (I had no idea it did this when you go to put it in gear) and others.

So, I think there are many people that could do the mechanical part quite well, but how many could give my engine the full test report?

I even got an Excell file that shows all the recorded info on the engine control unit. It shows, amongst other things, exactly how many hours the engine has been run at the different RPM ranges and whether any faults had been recorded whilst in use.

To me, these highly electronic engines need more than a good mechanic (regardless of ticket or not), but conventional less technical inboards and outboards I would be looking for that good mechanic without the overheads of the computer equiped bloke.


And by the way, WTF Opti?

Speak up on purpose of your post, or forever stay under the rock you seem to have climbed back under.

- Darren

[stick]

Perhaps opti has that habit of draining a few stubbies whilst posting and cant rember insults or how to reply. Ops thats my friday nights !

[shappy]

experiance is what you are looking for!!! like i said at the start, i am a diesel mechanic and i know how to maintain my outboard. when it comes to fault finding i'm not going to be your go to man (unless it is a truck, bus and more so if its volvo, thats what i'm experianced in) put me up against b.m. and he has forgotten more then i know on outboards!

i still believe in what i said in my first post, but if we are talking about b.m. i would not be conserned about him working on my engine, he has the experiance!!

opti, voice up mate what made you ask this question??

[mik01]

I recently had a service done on my 225 four stroke Yammy by a mobile marine mechanic (Wade).

He started off doing all of the "mechanical tasks", oils, prop off, lower leg off, pump check and impellor replace etc. But when he finished he then hooked up his laptop to the engine and started the test routines.

From his laptop he commanded tests and explained them to me as he went along, I can't remember them all but they included fuel pump bypass tests, injector tests, 2 cylinder drop off test (I had no idea it did this when you go to put it in gear) and others.

So, I think there are many people that could do the mechanical part quite well, but how many could give my engine the full test report?

I even got an Excell file that shows all the recorded info on the engine control unit. It shows, amongst other things, exactly how many hours the engine has been run at the different RPM ranges and whether any faults had been recorded whilst in use.

To me, these highly electronic engines need more than a good mechanic (regardless of ticket or not), but conventional less technical inboards and outboards I would be looking for that good mechanic without the overheads of the computer equiped bloke.


And by the way, WTF Opti?

Speak up on purpose of your post, or forever stay under the rock you seem to have climbed back under.

- Darren


Darren - what did that service set you back?
sounds like the type of service I would like to have.

cheers,

Mick

[Mr__Bean]

In the rush to get everything ready for the trip to 1770, I can't remeber exactly what it cost me. But it was about 50 to 100 bucks cheaper on the labor than the nearest dealer was, parts cost was about the same.

For me it was much more convenient and I got to see first hand the workmanship and had many discussions about the motor and its maintenance.

He even did a small modification to the under cowl fuel line so that the fuel run around in a larger fuel line loop at idle. He explained that this was being recommended to Yamaha to prevent fuel vaporisation issues in hotter climates when idling after a higher RPM run, all made sense to me when I saw what he had done.

In all honesty I will probably do the oils and simple machanical bits myself for the next service, and then book in for a full again the next time.

- Darren

[shappy]

g'day mr bean, you said wade. was that wade of redlands outboards (or something like that) if so i know him and find him good to ask questions of advise. he is always happy to have a chat!!
shappy

[Mr__Bean]

Hey come on OPTI, why such a personal attack on Nick?

I note that they have banned you on Fishnet for your comments about him there, why then bring the crap over here?

We know that "Etec" on Fishnet is you, you told us so here when you stated:



you really have dementia dont you.

firstly i only have 2 handles opti and etec on fishnet and that was because someone else had opti....



http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?p=656001#post656001

???????????????????

- Darren

[OPTI]

mr bean in case you havent read the queation in this thread ,i didnt mention BM or nick.BM was the one who got on here and took it personally.
secondly dave 22 isnt me.
and you are only getting half the storey on fishnet ,after i told BM i thought his workshop would of been bigger after looking at photos of his 20 ft bertram in his backyard,[i actually thought he had a dealership of some sort after the way he kept talking about all these boats he had in his yard ,like it was present tense.well i got a very personal reply extreamly insulting,which was removed very quickly off the post either by the mods or BM himself.let me tell you it was out of line.anyway the rest is history i got banned becase i retelliated .
then dave 22 picked up the bat ,i dont know or have ever spoken to him,but he did raise a intresting question about qualifications.
this post despite BM claims was not to start another ```` fight,i was genuinly interested to hear if boat owners would take their boat to an unqualified mechanic,i thinh blaze,s reply was a good one,i guess me being qualified i am a bit biased on the issue ,i know some good mechanics on the gold coast and sydney and melbourne for that matter and they are all qualified,and i can honestly say i dont know any good mechanics that arnt.
anyway take this post on its merit ,forget the BM crap its not what it it was about.8-) opti

[finga]

Well bugger me....it looks like Nick isn't trade qualified.
Well to be honest I thought he was.
The knowledge this bloke has in his head is downright scarey.
I'd be putting my money on him to fix an unknown fault in my boat to the majority of qualified blokes I've seen around the traps.

Don't worry about the knockers Nick.
Think of it as jealousy.

Some blokes spend thousands of dollars on advertising to get business.
Some blokes don't.
When your the bloke who doesn't have to advertise then your always got work. You seem to get a better clientel base (they pay and appreciate the work you've done). Your always got food on the table and you don't have to work as hard to pay for all the bloody advertising so you have more time to enjoy the enjoyable things a lot more.

Good on ya matey :D

[shappy]

opti, you need to state where your coming from more in your post. when i read it i thought you were someone sitting think about whether or not to take my boat to jo bloggs working from home because he is alot cheeper?
if your question was as a qualified mechanic being trained in this and that, why would you risk taking your motor to someone unqualified and does not have the training i have?? i beleive you would not have copped as much crap, that is how i ask the question to truck drivers that are having their truck reworked by us after having someone not knowing what they are doing working on it.
that being said, there are plenty of unqualified mechanics very capable out there of good work. you need to know the limits of his ability and does the job required need specilized equipment to carry out checks correctly.

so opti, i guess you have a good merc background going by the name?

cheers, shappy

[bastard]

The best outboard mechanic i know isnt qualified but i have never seen someone with his skill or knowledge allthough time doesnt seem to matter to him and it could take 6 weeks for a service.On the other hand i could name 5 local qualified outboard mechanics that i could out perform,it sounds to me like opti is jealous,we go through that many trade qualified guys at work(allways the ones with the flash tools and latest gear)that are absolutely useless.Apart from warranty and insurance reasons i dont think that ticket means anything.Also in the last 10 years i have never once been asked to show my ticket.8-)

[PWCDad]

I have no qualifications to work on motors but I've have a passion for them as its my chosen hobby for 35 yrs .... I've had 5 concourse winners (3 bike and 2 car). Have always rebuilt my own engines for my cars (Big Blocks) but palm out the machining.

I am willing to use a marine mechanic if he/she had a dead-set passion about their work and treated my marine motors like I do ... thats all I ask ....

I have 4 late model Yamaha engines ... 2 by 160 hp 1052cc 4 stroke motors with FI, 1 by latest model 80 hp outboard F80, and 1 by 4hp 4 stroke latest model (carby) for the Zodiac.

I do ALL my own servicing on all of them .... including fault code diagnostics and monitoring via the YDS system. I will only use Yamaha parts period and have a great workshop at home. I use torque wrenches where possible and have factory service manuals for my engines to refer to for wiring and torque values etc. The little 4 hp manual is ordered.

I dont know why the industry is plagued with techs that have very little mech technique and treat your motor as just another pain in his day ??? Maybe they are paid poorly and that is reflected in their attitude ???

For those that have not seen a YDS here is a pic of one of my 1052cc motors connected to my laptop ... at idle ....

I hope the industry can pick up its game and inspire some confidence in us customers where it becomes the norm not the rarity to find good service ???

Regards
PWCDad

[revs57]

I'm impressed PWC, you're the sort of bloke I'd want working on my f200..I've stood back from this one to see where it was heading as well. I reckon blaze and PWC have the answer. I'd reckon its all about passion. Connect passion to skill, add a bit of experience and its always a winner.

And BM, who gives a rip how big ya shed is??? You know your stuff, have helped many in Ausfish! Mate, you're a legend in ausfish time!!!

and for the record I'm an indentured tradey among other hats of qualification and bits of paper...I've seen blokes with masters degrees destroy things so a bit of paper really doesn't matter much to me...

Cheers

Rhys

[BM]

I have been away over the Melbourne cup long weekend and have returned to a pm from member Opti, aka Etec, aka however many other login names on various sites.

And also have seen Opti's interesting follow-up reply on this topic.

So, in order to accurately represent things I thought it prudent to point out that Opti is threatening (via pm) to cause damage to me/my business in his most recent reply.

Again I have asked him why he is doing such and how could he be such a vindictive person.

Given the threats and the knowledge of who he actually is in real life, it will not go well for him if he seeks to wage a campaign against me.

David, I have made this information public so its a matter of public record and if you proceed with your agenda you will be taken to task legally.

Gees.... what a ridiculous situation...... A bloke who under normal circumstances I would have loved to chin wag with about the racing side of Merc engines and the engine specs and setup etc etc etc. Completely crazy...

[gawby]

Let me put this to you.

Just had my rodeo serviced not for from where we live, (Not mentioning any names) and the service manager said something to me about a hose off the back of the motor was causing a lot of oil to be leaking around the sump.
This worried me a bit about what he said so i had a look when i got to work a couple of days later and guess what, the bloody hose is still off.
Being a major holden name around brisvagas you would think they would be employing staff that used their heads and not their arses and put the pipe back on. It took me two minutes to do it.
They are qualified mechanics and i am a backyard mechanic.
I know who i will be going to next time.
Graeme

[darkside]

Revs57 , you stole my post , i am of the same opinion as you , i would be more than happy to have some one as passionate and pedantic as PWC to work on my outboard , and to be honest i wouldn't be insulting someone of that calibre by asking whether or not they are qualified and what certificates they have to work on motors. If you can find a good techie , regardless of qualifications , i think you should stick with them and the majority on this site seem to agree !

[Lovey80]

[quote=BM;709076]

So, in order to accurately represent things I thought it prudent to point out that Opti is threatening (via pm) to cause damage to me/my business in his most recent reply.

quote]

BM, as an obviously well respected member of this site and others I feel that any detrimental effect caused through waging such a campain against you would be atrributed to the instigators. You have helped me and many others on many occaisions and the mass of mutual support you would gain through this help would be hard to guage but sizeable.

Cheers Chris

[BilgeBoy]

As a mechanic by trade and one who is still heavily involved in the industry, I have to say that the mechanical trade in Australia is in utter turmoil. I can only imagine that the Marine guys are suffering a similar situation. The fact of the matter is that NSW is the only state in Australia that mandates the licensing of mechanics. "So what" you say...Well this means that my mother and her bingo mates can open a brakes plus in Brisbane and fix ya brakes...all legal like.

The Trade is so poorly paid (at the mechanic level) that many have left to earn their keep elsewhere. These days you can earn more money driving a truck or a forklift than you can spinning spanners. Add to this the ridiculous complexities of the modern engine....Well it's not hard to work out why a good mechanic is worth hanging on to!!!!

I can tell you that right now all across Brisbane there are dealerships and workshops struggling to get mechanics. Some have non...only funded apprentices trying to do there best.

So if you find a guy who has been recommended to you, if you find a guy still in overalls and if you find a guy who is not bitter and twisted. Grab him...he is a very rare commodity. Ticket or no ticket!

Good luck

BilgeBoy

[tully]

You're sort of right Bilge boy, I stand to be corrected, but i think in NSW you only need the bit of paper if you work on anything registered to travel on public roads. That's a good thing I think considering there are slightly important things involved like brakes and steering components.
I was a plant mechanic for 35 years, and had many jobs all over OZ, and always got them with references and past experience. When I did my trade in SA everyone went to the same trade school, diesel, motor, motorcycle, marine etc. My papers say I'm a motor mechanic even though I've never worked on cars, but that never stopped me from getting work.
The trouble is the only way to make decent money in the trade is in mines or overseas, and what other trade requires you to own thousands of dollars worth of hand tools, (plant mechanic $20,000 plus) that's why so many drop out of the trade and leave it to the young and inexperienced.

[Shane Kite]

The engines today are so specialised that not only do you need an outboard mechanic , you need ie a Yamaha mechanic . The specialised tools and computer programs required today for diagnosis , almost counts out most non dealership mechanics , working on engines after about 1990.

[PWCDad]

I agree with Shane ... modern engine diagnostics has become a "connect a test harness" via laptop or multimeter (to read sensor voltage outputs) etc, in the main.... then there is the mechanical side as well as the electronic.

As an example my 1052cc, 160hp, 4 stroke Yamaha Marine engine has 12 trouble codes plus 1 code as "all normal" (Code01) that can be read from the craft multi-function meter on the dashboard... no less !!!!

There are another 130 odd codes that can be read from the Yamaha Diagnostic System software (via a laptop) as well as many test procedures.

Some of test procedures that the laptop initiates on command (active tests) ...

Bypass valve motor operation ....
Ignite ignition coils 1 thru 4 ...
Operate electric fuel pump ...
Operate fuel injectors 1 thru 4 ...
Operate stepping motor ...

etc etc ...

There are a multitude of sensors to test if a motor develops a problem (after codes are thrown up and inspected) ....

Examples .... Throttle position sensor, engine temp sensor, atmospheric pressure sensor, cam position sensor, manifold temp sensor both intake and exhaust, etc ....(all throw codes if faulty though). The drama starts if you have a problem with the motor and no codes are thrown !!!!!!

All this has come to 4 stroke Yamaha outboard near you ....

Regards
PWCDad