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Getting ready to leave for a month of sailing the Keys and Dry Tortugas
tomorrow, I was inspecting this and that and notices a bit of white
residue exuding from the edges of the top cover of the v-drive. I went
to pull the dip stick and it was stuck. I managed to rotate it out with
pliers but only the cap came out. The stick had rotted, dissolved,
corroded, in the hole. I was able to dig out the corrosion but the
could not get the remainder of the stick out before it dropped down.
So I pulled the whole v-drive out and got it on the bench. I was
worried about water in the oil as a possibility. Fortunately there was
no water in the oil but the dip stick had rotted to a point at the top.
This happened in a relatively short time as it was fine when I pulled
and repainted the v-drive earlier in the year. When I pulled it then, I
replaced one of the water cooling chamber plugs with a zinc. I a
wondering now if the zinc and perhaps some water on the dip stick might
have somehow caused this corrosion of the dip stick. It is only at the
top where it joins the cap and for about 1″ below that. The rest of the
stick is fine.Anybody got an extra dip stick. These are round rods so the generic
dipsticks from the autoparts store won’t work and it looks like Walter
wants $92 for one. (Give me a F*^&g break please)Thoughts?
Pete
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PS… I pull the oil pan and got the remainder of the dip stick out.
The oil was clean. But we are not leaving on our trip tomorrow as I
will have to put the v-drive back in tomorrow and align it again…Pete
On 11/30/2014 7:31 PM, Pete Dubler via maillist wrote:
Getting ready to leave for a month of sailing the Keys and Dry
Tortugas tomorrow, I was inspecting this and that and notices a bit of
white residue exuding from the edges of the top cover of the v-drive.
I went to pull the dip stick and it was stuck. I managed to rotate it
out with pliers but only the cap came out. The stick had rotted,
dissolved, corroded, in the hole. I was able to dig out the corrosion
but the could not get the remainder of the stick out before it dropped
down. So I pulled the whole v-drive out and got it on the bench. I
was worried about water in the oil as a possibility. Fortunately
there was no water in the oil but the dip stick had rotted to a point
at the top. This happened in a relatively short time as it was fine
when I pulled and repainted the v-drive earlier in the year. When I
pulled it then, I replaced one of the water cooling chamber plugs with
a zinc. I a wondering now if the zinc and perhaps some water on the
dip stick might have somehow caused this corrosion of the dip stick.
It is only at the top where it joins the cap and for about 1″ below
that. The rest of the stick is fine.Anybody got an extra dip stick. These are round rods so the generic
dipsticks from the autoparts store won’t work and it looks like Walter
wants $92 for one. (Give me a F*^&g break please)Thoughts?
Pete
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$92? Dayum! Pete, you’re a professional, published writer. That,
and being a member of this august and large owners’ group, give
you some clout with big, bad companies that overcharge for a
small part or otherwise screw their customers. I won’t bore the
group with my stories of confrontation and success in such
circumstances, but think about it. Perhaps Wolter might be
persuaded to send you a couple of replacement dip sticks gratis,
as they darn well should.IMHO.
Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Pete
My guess is that the cooling jacket around your dip-stick is corroded through. The corrosion will first start as a slow weep and the castiron will expand into the dipstick hole. I don’t remember what the dipstick is made of but perhaps aluminum. I had a similar experience with my old RV-20. The wall thickness around the dipstick is a bit thinner then elsewhere so it will start leaking there first. The fix would be to dig out the corrosion inside your cooling jacket and coat it with marine-tex. This is just a temporary fix as the corrosion will eventually do it in. I must warn you however. Digging out the corroded castiron is a terrible job. Make sure you collect all the metal chips before they get stuck in your heat exchanger.I’m surprised you didn’t find a bit of water in your oil. It looks like chocolate milk when it gets water in it.
If you can dig out what remains of the old dipsick, you could fabricate a replacement using the old cap.
Rich
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$92 is just insulting. It might cost Walter all of $5 to make one of these. Even allowing markup and the cost to hold parts inventory that’s just robbery.
Stupid parts prices like that are the main reason I’ll never buy another Westerbeke.
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Hi guys
I agree entirely that this is price abuse, but they obviously want you to buy new stuff instead. There’s no incentive to be nice.
Regarding the dipstick, yoi don’t really need it attached to the cap. As long as the cap has its little o-ring in place, you could just make one out of a piece of rod and store it elsewhere. If there is a little salt water getting in the well in the v-drive cover, the aluminum dipstick makes a nice anode for the iron case.
I’d be careful about using a zinc in the v-drive. I did that and pieces of the zinc chewed up the water pump impeller.
Speaking of expensive Westerbeke parts, look at #24108, a two belt water pump pulley necessary (at least desirable) for installing a larger alternator, Westerbeke wants over $600. Got one still in the wrapper, $100 plus postage.
Quent -
I’d imagine the rod itself could be replaced, there is a small set screw in
the cap. I gently (small vise grips and pliers – before first coffee) tried
to pull mine out this morning but stopped, really trying …. if it ain’t
broke…. I did replace the o-ring while I was there.On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 7:21 AM, quent via maillist
wrote:Hi guys
I agree entirely that this is price abuse, but they obviously want you to
buy new stuff instead. There’s no incentive to be nice.
Regarding the dipstick, yoi don’t really need it attached to the cap. As
long as the cap has its little o-ring in place, you could just make one out
of a piece of rod and store it elsewhere. If there is a little salt water
getting in the well in the v-drive cover, the aluminum dipstick makes a
nice anode for the iron case.
I’d be careful about using a zinc in the v-drive. I did that and pieces
of the zinc chewed up the water pump impeller.
Speaking of expensive Westerbeke parts, look at #24108, a two belt water
pump pulley necessary (at least desirable) for installing a larger
alternator, Westerbeke wants over $600. Got one still in the wrapper,
$100 plus postage.
Quent_______________________________________________
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Price gouging in the marine industry is nearly ubiquitous, and
why not? We’re all rich yachtsmen, right? But when you become a
squeaky wheel you will often get some grease – or at least a
little Vaseline.Recently, I needed a couple of parts from Henderson (Whale) Pumps
and discovered to my dismay that they insist I buy an entire
parts kit – actually 3 parts kits – to get all the pieces I
wanted. Those kits cost more than a new pump! And all I really
needed was a little rubber flow valve and a couple of O-rings to
make my otherwise perfectly good Henderson pump operational
again.Well, it pissed me off and I am not one to take that sort of
thing passively. Long story short, I so harassed them about their
rip-off policy, emailing offices and officers, threatening to
raise hell and point the finger at them in my books & articles,
in this forum, on Facebook, to the MMA, the SSCA and the damned
ASPCA (!!) that some exec there finally ordered Customer Service
to shut this guy up! They sent me two of each of the parts I
needed – without the kits I did not need – for free, with
apologies for the inconvenience.Guys (and ladies), when you take pricing abuse lying down you do
us all a disservice. If they find that their customers are
getting too mad at their gouging, they will tone down their
greed.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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I can’t agree more with Tor about fighting for a reasonable customer
service response. Unfortunately these issues always seem to come up when
standing and fighting has its costs as well. I had a similar issue with
Whale/Henderson when I needed a part that was not in any of their parts
kits. I had the choice of staying in a Marina in Spain for a week or more
in an attempt to get Whale to ship the part and wait for it to arrive
(nothing happens fast in Spain) or just buy a replacement pump and leave
that day.
I think Pete is in the same situation with the choice of buying the part,,
fabricating a risky kluge, or cancelling a planned cruise.Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
Sarah’s BlogOn Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 8:49 AM, Silverheels via maillist <
> wrote:Quote:Price gouging in the marine industry is nearly ubiquitous, and
why not? We’re all rich yachtsmen, right? But when you become a
squeaky wheel you will often get some grease – or at least a
little Vaseline.Recently, I needed a couple of parts from Henderson (Whale) Pumps
and discovered to my dismay that they insist I buy an entire
parts kit – actually 3 parts kits – to get all the pieces I
wanted. Those kits cost more than a new pump! And all I really
needed was a little rubber flow valve and a couple of O-rings to
make my otherwise perfectly good Henderson pump operational
again.Well, it pissed me off and I am not one to take that sort of
thing passively. Long story short, I so harassed them about their
rip-off policy, emailing offices and officers, threatening to
raise hell and point the finger at them in my books & articles,
in this forum, on Facebook, to the MMA, the SSCA and the damned
ASPCA (!!) that some exec there finally ordered Customer Service
to shut this guy up! They sent me two of each of the parts I
needed – without the kits I did not need – for free, with
apologies for the inconvenience.Guys (and ladies), when you take pricing abuse lying down you do
us all a disservice. If they find that their customers are
getting too mad at their gouging, they will tone down their
greed.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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I may be mistaken, but I don’t believe there’s a zinc in the v – drive. I
know there’s a magnetic plug in the oil side.Bob
Pardon the brevity. I’m typing this on my phone and I hate typing on my
phone.
On Dec 1, 2014 9:17 AM, “John Stevenson via maillist” <
> wrote:Quote:I can’t agree more with Tor about fighting for a reasonable customer
service response. Unfortunately these issues always seem to come up when
standing and fighting has its costs as well. I had a similar issue with
Whale/Henderson when I needed a part that was not in any of their parts
kits. I had the choice of staying in a Marina in Spain for a week or more
in an attempt to get Whale to ship the part and wait for it to arrive
(nothing happens fast in Spain) or just buy a replacement pump and leave
that day.
I think Pete is in the same situation with the choice of buying the part,,
fabricating a risky kluge, or cancelling a planned cruise.Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
Sarah’s BlogOn Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 8:49 AM, Silverheels via maillist <
> wrote:Quote:Price gouging in the marine industry is nearly ubiquitous, and
why not? We’re all rich yachtsmen, right? But when you become a
squeaky wheel you will often get some grease – or at least a
little Vaseline.Recently, I needed a couple of parts from Henderson (Whale) Pumps
and discovered to my dismay that they insist I buy an entire
parts kit – actually 3 parts kits – to get all the pieces I
wanted. Those kits cost more than a new pump! And all I really
needed was a little rubber flow valve and a couple of O-rings to
make my otherwise perfectly good Henderson pump operational
again.Well, it pissed me off and I am not one to take that sort of
thing passively. Long story short, I so harassed them about their
rip-off policy, emailing offices and officers, threatening to
raise hell and point the finger at them in my books & articles,
in this forum, on Facebook, to the MMA, the SSCA and the damned
ASPCA (!!) that some exec there finally ordered Customer Service
to shut this guy up! They sent me two of each of the parts I
needed – without the kits I did not need – for free, with
apologies for the inconvenience.Guys (and ladies), when you take pricing abuse lying down you do
us all a disservice. If they find that their customers are
getting too mad at their gouging, they will tone down their
greed.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
Quote:
Original Message
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I find it interesting that boat fixture manufacturers clearly know that their cruiser constituency is very vulnerable to parts failure, ie stuck in foreign ports or exotic places, but with the exception of a couple engine manufacturers, none of them seem to care much about post sale service.
This sounds like a lost opportunity to me. Given the choice, I’d buy the pump from a company that gives me a number or email, a name, and a commitment to immediately ship me any part. However, I’m just buying one pump. Maybe the company would rather sell 1,000 pumps to the new boat builder who wants it for cheaper and doesn’t really care if you get good service 20 years later.
Tor, maybe an article in CW on getting replacement parts from less than cooperative sources?
Quent -
Alas, Quent, I doubt any major sailing magazine would print such
an article unless it’s sadly watered down. Those same companies
about whom I would be writing are the magazine’s income source.
They’d be biting the proverbial hand to print such an
inflammatory article.(Yes, “proverbial” is the Word of the Day.)
Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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One of the things you’re forgetting is that most of our v – drives are 30
plus years old. Try getting a dipstick for a 1978 Impala.Edson and Whale and Henderson feel they are providing safety equipment and
what’s your life worth? Wrong, but that’s what they think.Bob
Pardon the brevity. I’m typing this on my phone and I hate typing on my
phone.
On Dec 1, 2014 10:32 AM, “Silverheels via maillist”
wrote:Quote:Alas, Quent, I doubt any major sailing magazine would print such
an article unless it’s sadly watered down. Those same companies
about whom I would be writing are the magazine’s income source.
They’d be biting the proverbial hand to print such an
inflammatory article.(Yes, “proverbial” is the Word of the Day.)
Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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One way I dealt with part issues when I was cruising years back was to build a close relationship with a local distributor. For example got to know the Ft Lauderdale Volvo engine dealer well before I left for the Caribbean. The impeller in the raw water pump died in Jamaica and I discovered the spare in my kit was the wrong part. Called the shop in Ft Lauderdale and they took one straight to the airport and sent it Delta Dash the same day (great service by the way if you need a small part urgently). Of course getting the package cleared through Jamaican customs was another story.
This won’t save any money if the manufacturer sets ridiculous prices but it can get you an essential part quickly.
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There are a few companies that have come through for me over the years and I will put them at the top of my list when buying new gear. A couple that have come through recently.
Forespar – sent me free parts for a 20 year old whisker pole I purchased used (and I told them that).
Shurflo pumps – needed a small part for a washdown pump which was only available in an expensive kit. Called tech support who just sent me a whole new pump.
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Yes, John, of course you don’t want to cut off your proverbial
nose to spite the whatever. But even after the fact, after you’ve
done what you must to preserve your boat, you can raise your
voice. If enough people make enough noise, the walls may tumble
and the greed may subside, if only a little. I believe it is much
the same with politicians.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
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Right as usual, Bob. But doesn’t Wolter still manufacture a very similar V-drive to ours that might use the same dip stick? I know they offer factory rebuild services for the R-20, having had mine done a couple of years ago. Seems likely they’d have boxful’s of these parts and may well still make the dip sticks. For $92 I suspect my local machine shop could fabricate one, custom.
Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
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That’s true, Tor. For 92 dollars, I’ll fabricate one. Maybe two in case I
lose one in the bilge.Bob
Pardon the brevity. I’m typing this on my phone and I hate typing on my
phone.
On Dec 1, 2014 11:16 AM, “Silverheels via maillist”
wrote:Quote:Right as usual, Bob. But doesn’t Wolter still manufacture a very similar
V-drive to ours that might use the same dip stick? I know they offer
factory rebuild services for the R-20, having had mine done a couple of
years ago. Seems likely they’d have boxful’s of these parts and may well
still make the dip sticks. For $92 I suspect my local machine shop could
fabricate one, custom.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
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Agreed, Skip, and I always write those good people a thank-you
note and share the news around. Happily, post-sale service and
fair play is a many-shaded issue. Lots of companies do the right
thing and then some.I just recently called Stanley Tools for the little tightening
screw that dropped out of my brand new 12″ right angle, rendering
it useless. I felt it was a design flaw that the piece could fall
out so easily and mentioned it. (Other brand right-angles I’ve
owned don’t have that problem.) Stanley didn’t send me a new set
screw. They sent me 3 (three!) entire, brand new right-angles!
Wow.Tor
Silverheels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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