Powerhouse marine ( credit where it's due)

[oldessox]

I had a dilemma over who to get to service my Yamaha 115 , due to the warranty conditions the engine has to be serviced by an authorised dealer to maintain the warranty. Powerhouse is the only main dealer for Yamaha within about 100 miles of amble, but I had heard some bad reports about them and nothing good, my first service at 20 hours therefore was carried out by Bosuns locker of Edinburgh , I was very happy with that service but the travelling time costs for their engineer were prohibitive to say the least.
None too keen to use powerhouse I emailed Yamaha and asked if I could have the engine serviced by another dealer locally and maintain the warranty , they said no!
After a lot of soul searching, finger nail biting and pondering I bit the bullet for this first 100 hour service and arranged a service from powerhouse, my discussions with the sales manger Paul , left me less than confident as he wouldnt give me a fixed price and was a bit vague on what was needed. I booked it anyway and had to wait weeks before they could fit me in , hence the June service date when I should really be out fishing rather than lifting the boat in and out of the water, anyway it was booked in for June 14th but I had to have the boat lifted on the 13th so there was no hanging around for the engineer.
I booked the lift with amble boatyard and hoped for a decent day for the lift and the work to be done.
Tuesday I rang powerhouse to confirm they were still coming as I had the lift booked for Wednesday,......."we have a problem with our van" said Paul,
Here we go, I thought, ........"literally within the hour the engine has packed in and I don't know if we will be able to get to you, I'll ring and let you know later today, but if I don't , please ring me about 4pm" he said.
I waited all day for the phone call wondering whether to cancell the lift, go ahead with it and get the engine serviced by anyone I could find that would do it and lose the warranty or what?
Ten past four I could wait no longer and rang them, Paul answered the phone, "I was just looking up your number to ring you" he said, then red my number out which made me believe him, "everything is fine, the van is fixed and the service will go ahead"
I don't know if I was relieved or disappointed
Anyway, the lift went ahead, I spent half a day cleaning the boat and the jet wash blasted away the thin coat of black slime attached to the copper coat anti foul, not bad for just over a year in the water.
Today, as promised the engineer from powerhouse arrived, a punctual and very polite young man by the name of Ross, I watched and chatted with him as he meticulously stripped, cleaned, checked and renewed parts on my engine from top to bottom and gave it a clean bill of health ,
To say I'm relieved is a gross understatement, I'm delighted with the work carried out, I have a new impeller ( and I know where it lives now ), but my annodes were fine for another year
All in all I'm a very happy bunny, ( till the invoice arrives ) ,but as long as the invoice is pretty near to the estimate I was given I'm not going to complain, I don't think I'd have been looked after better anywhere else

[Charlton]

never heard that before, couldn't give you a price, when I had engines serviced under warranty there was always a standard price, the same as for a car, for the service, any worn/broken parts would be extra.

[oldessox]

I got a price for the service Alan, but it ended in ish , he seemed to be worried about travelling to amble and maybe having to travel back to get some part or other , as it's a new engine it was all quite straightforward so there should be no reason to change the price he gave me. As long as they are good to their word with the cost I'll be happy enough.

[Paul_h]

Ray,
its done, warranty is still on and you can get fishing again with peace of mind, the bill is second now.
happy fishing,
thats a nce motor.

Paul

[Charlton]

Ray,
its done, warranty is still on and you can get fishing again with peace of mind, the bill is second now.
happy fishing,
thats a nce motor.

Paul

true, true just had my car in for service and mot, got the price for the service, then there was four new tyres, break pads, a linkage, and other sundry bits and bobs, car feels like new, bank balance empty, but better safe than sorry.

[oldessox]

Ray,
its done, warranty is still on and you can get fishing again with peace of mind, the bill is second now.
happy fishing,
thats a nce motor.

Paul

That's exactly how I feel Paul, I've had a stressfull few weeks and feel like a weight has been lifted, Ross who came and did the service seemed to know his stuff and didn't try and bullsh me , he went through everything methodically and meticulously, renewed what he thought was necessary (the impeller, which was still serviceable but best replaced whilst it was out as it was showing the first stages of wear) and left alone what didn't need to be replaced ( the anodes which will easily last another year)
I was very impressed with the way he went about his work , he also made me feel better about my choice of engine, I had a choice of Yamaha or Suzuki when I bought the boat , I chose Yamaha even though it was considerably more expensive in the belief it was a better engine, he reckons I did the right thing although and e-tec would have been better still according to him, with 3years between services they sound like my dream engine
Anyway , like you say , another year before I have to organise the next service, back to weather watching and hopefully fishing

[The Jester]

I cant believe its a year since you got the new boat , good to hear that all is well Ray,

[Graham B]

A good job out of the way Ray, you have to feel comfortable with the engine to be fishing properly as you just can't relax otherwise!

Graham.

[canman]

Pleased everything went ok Ray. There really is a shortage of dealers around this area, unlike the south coast where you could have your pick.
I had my engine at power house for a couple of months, they couldn't say definitely what the problem was, only if they ordered parts and that wasn't the problem, I would still be charged for parts and labour/testing etc: with some of the parts costing around £500. Declining that senario, I still had a bill of £480. to pay for their efforts.
I ended up at a small garage in Whitley bay with the boat and trailer to get the wheel bearings "pulled" off, and Bob, the owner said, nice engine. Well I told him the tale, and he said, I can fix that for you, I used to race them. He pulled the fly wheel off looked at the stator, pointed that parts of it were burnt, he went home to his garage, came back with a box of Yamaha parts, fitted a second hand stator, fired the engine up and misfire totally sorted. This bloke is a total genius, electrics are his "thing". The hole repair took an hour from start to finish.