How a $2.00 part can cost you over $6500.00

[Giulietta]

This could be the anatomy of a perfect disaster...for real...

A few weeks ago, my rudder started showing a little gap so I got the boat off the water to readjust the bearings, which is normal and done once a year, just to make sure all is OK..

The year check consists of adjusting the rudder shaft bearings, as the shaft is aluminium, and exposed to high stress when we sail fast and things move and contract, so basically you insert a shim between the rudder tube and the rudder quadrant, pulling the rudder up, so it jams more into the tappered bearing. Off course it helps if you understand the shaft is conical, so the further up it goes the tighter it becomes. There is a teflon wear disk in that area.

Anyway, have look at how a small $2.00 part can cost you a lot of aggravation and the need to buy a new rudder, with one of these babies selling at over $6500.00

This is a side view of my rudder, basically its a CF tube with a cross reinforcement, and inside it there is a teflon tube, with a stop ring in the middle.



The bearings as the one bellow are 2, one is tappered and installed bellow, with a collar that goes up against the stops in the middle of the tube, the upper one is not conical as the shaft is straight further up.



Because the rudder floats, its always trying to enter the tube, where the lower bearing holds it, see bellow



by using a collar that goes between the bearing and the stop.



YES..IT'S TRUE!!!!!

I am very very irritatated and pissed off....the ingenious worker assembled the rudder and forgot to install the collar between the lower bearing and the stops!!!. So we went sailing, blowing 25 knots out there...

The screws on the lower bearing held all they could..at 12 knots almost lost the rudder!!! it jammed against the hull and vibrated sideways over a foot...talk about stress...thank God the builder really did reinforce the ruddder tube otherwise....I don't even want to imagine if the tube broke the hull, water getting in, thru a 10 inch tube...disater...for sure...


because of a $2.00 part and an idiot!!!! He left the collar out and to help threw it away in the garbage, thinking it was useless part lying around...we were lucky to salvage it, because during the holidays the garbage pick up+s were not done...an ugly sight...

To help this mess, when the upper bearing moved up, it jammed inside, and we were only able to remove it, by hammering it down...

CONSEQUENCE???

LOOK BELLOW it broke....



So now I am waiting for a new bearing to be made and sent to me....they ordered the PVC block today and said they would be machining a new bearing for me...(yes..these are not stock).

I am really pissed off...

Sorry for venting here guys.....DRY AGAIN!!!

Alex

[CharlieCobra]

Well, that sucks Alex. Sorry to hear it but with this outta the way you can start '08 on a good note. Hard to get good help these days.

[blt2ski]

I know the feeling. It does not seem to matter what the item is, but how often a 2 bit/euro/dollar part will cost multitudes of times more when it breaks, get left out, installed wrong etc! because it screws up something muc more expensive!

marty

[Freesail99]

I do hope that the yard is paying for the part and the repair.

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by Freesail99

I do hope that the yard is paying for the part and the repair.

Off course they are.....I am pissed off and mad, and told the guy I am just that....but he is a good guy...just dumb

What pisses me off is having to pay for both "dry" and "wet", as the boat was supposed to be in its place in the water, not dry.

We're all friends in the end, but its one of those things...kinda like when Luis scratches my car...I get pissed off, but its my kid...you know...

Its a lesson for all. Me in particular...no one touches my rudder again...

[wind_magic]

Alex, it is things like that which make me wary of letting anyone do mechanical work for me. I will pay a very select few to do work, but I seem to always get burned when I get stuck or in a hurry and use someone I don't know.

Perfect example is this past week. The truck wasn't charging and it was nearly Christmas. Normally I would change an alternator or something like that myself, but it being near Christmas I thought, well ... why not ... this one time I'll not only pay someone to change the alternator for me, I'll pay someone to change the oil too. Talk about luxury! So to make a long story short, I got stranded 150 miles away from home after that job because of some really simple mistakes the mechanic had made. That kind of thing happens all the time, it seems like whenever I have someone else do work when I go back and check it the stuff is never right. And the worst part of it is that it's usually something really simple, not tightening a belt when you are done, not taking the time to set the timing right, forgetting to put oil back into something, forgetting filters, not wiring things up right or at all, etc.

Another example is just a few days ago. I needed a new battery on another vehicle and the kid at the parts store changed it out for me. He puts in the battery and the terminals aren't tight enough to fit it, so, what does he do ? Does he go in and get shims or suggest changing the terminals ? No, of course not, he just tightens it as much as possible and leaves it. I'm standing there watching and I say ... hey, don't you think that's a little loose ? And I reach over and start moving the damn battery cable around on the battery, it just jiggles it's so loose, there's no way it would have even stayed on and I doubt the vehicle would have started with it like that. But this kid couldn't have cared less, he would have let me drive off like that and wouldn't have thought a thing about it. After confronting him about it he went in and got a terminal to change for the really loose one and shimmed the other connection, but he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't standing there giving him crap about it.

[teshannon]

Giu,
That really does suck!! The good news is things can only get better in 2008 (I hope). I'd say it's time for a drink. Good luck.

[Giulietta]

I've got a head start on you guys already...Giulietta is cooking a nice dinner and we're appreciating a glass of Portuguese red...

Fred plays golf on his Wii, Luis plays around the house, couldn't be better...I am enjoying this moment...for real...no boat, no stress...

can you imagine if the ruder tube broke? the boat would have sunk...ouch...

[RAGTIMEDON]

And this is why we all need to know how to do our own mantenance, and do it ourselves---some folks think we do it to save money!

[Giulietta]

I agree 100% with you, and I do most of the stuff on my boat myself, except painting and the heavy stuff...but this time we started together, then I had to go home for family time...that's when the "crime" was commited...