Mobile Marine Mechanic Recommendation?

J

JVM225

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I cut my season short because of a bad starboard side motor. I'm going to have the boat transported to my friend's shop at the end of the winter where we will put in a brand new motor, maybe even two if the spirit moves me and I find the right deal and.
Anyway, the boat is high and dry with the drives off at my property and I want to change out the bellows and gimble bearings on both sides. I've never done it before and I don't have the specialty tools needed for it so I'm looking for someone reliable and honest to come to my boat and do the job for me.
It doesn't make sense for me to buy the tools for something that I'll do once every 5 years or so and I want to make sure it's done right.
Does anyone have a mobile mechanic that does this sort of thing that they can recommend?
 
I believe that the gimble needs to be aligned with the engine. you may be better off swapping the motor first.. also while your at it make sure to replace any wear hoses / cabels that run through the gimbel. I paid over 1g to replace a $50 coolant hose on my Mercruiser.. best of luck to you..
 
John.....I've been using the same mobil mechanic for the last 15 years.....the guy is GREAT !!!....honest ....knowledgeable.....clean....and a local guy from Copiague. He's Chucks Marine Service....631-789-0755. Tell him I gave you his #.

I stopped using him for the boat maintainance when I sold my boat.......but I have him do work on my Diesel motorhome now. Give him a call..........good luck.
 
I used to use Chuck, highly recommend.
I was going to give you his name but know he doesn't like too many referrals as he is usually pretty busy.
He is honest and methodical. Very clean too.
 
Thanks guys! I'll give Chuck a call next week and see what he says. It's OK that he might be busy because the boat is up now. I'd just like to get it taken care of before I shrink wrap it. That way it will be ready to be taken up here to my friends shop sometime in mid to late March. It doesn't make sense to buy a motor now and let the time on the warranty tick away while it sits for the winter.
I know the motor needs to be aligned after it's put in. It's also a good idea to check the alignment whenever you pull the drives as things could shift around.
Looking at the gimble bearing, it is just pressed in there. No way to adjust it from what I see. I think the only alignment adjustment is the motor itself. I don't mind buying the Mercruiser alignment tool if I can't borrow one somewhere because they are cheap enough online and it's something I'll probably use again.
Buying the specialty tools to do the other stuff doesn't make sense for something I might do once every 5 or 6 years. If I find a reasonable and honest mechanic I'd rather just let him do it.
Right now my gimble bearing and bellows all still look to be in good shape but this is my 5th season whith this boat and I know they are all at least that old. It can't hurt to change them out as long as I'm swapping motors and I pulled the drives for the winter anyway.
 
Hey John... the guys from Steve's Marine always score highly for me with regards to Mobile support. Fast response, qualified, expert approach and overall good guys for what it's worth.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Holy Grail

Hey John... the guys from Steve's Marine always score highly for me with regards to Mobile support. Fast response, qualified, expert approach and overall good guys for what it's worth.

Click to expand...


Thanks!
Do you have a contact number and/or name? I'll give them a try too.
I left a voice message for Chuck Friday afternoon. If I don't hear back from him I'll have to try someone else. Sometimes these guys that are good are too busy and not really looking for any new work.
 
Thanks again for recommending Chuck. We met today and he seems like a good guy. Very knowledgeable. I learned a few things from him. He gave me a fair estimate on the work I need done now, and it looks like I'm going to have him pull my motors for me ASAP since he has a crane guy he works with. I'm leaning towards two new motors and selling my one good used one.
My original plan was to pull the motors in the very early spring, but getting them out now will give me the chance to clean up the bilge before I cover the boat. Over the winter I'll also be able to clean and repaint the pulleys and brackets that I'll be transferring to the new motors.

I'll probably order the new motors in March sometime, put everything on them, then have the boat hauled to my friends shop where we'll put them in the boat.
 
John.....Im glad you finally got to meet Chuck. When it comes to motors ....he's the man.....he knows his stuff. Im sure you will be happy with his work too.

IMHO....I think doing both motors is the way to go.....good choice.

Good Luck.........
 
Chuck is good! Always learned from him and he never minded showing you what he was doing or what.
I remember the first time we met I had picked up the bad gas in my 34' boat.
I watched as he worked his way from tank to fuel rail, removing and cleaning everything.
Then put it all back.
This included pulling bad fuel out of tank.
A issue that probably would of cost an arm and a leg if the marina did it and probably not done right.
 
He has my motors ready to pull and is finishing up all the stuff back by the transom housings tomorrow. I like the way he works and he got to me quickly which is good.
There is a slight change of plans as of today though.
I'm waiting to get a package price for two brand new Mercruiser motors, new manifolds/risers, and block only FWC systems. The vendor I'm most likely to go with told me that getting the package now would be better price wise than waiting for the Spring when everyone else is looking to re-power.
I told him to work up the numbers for me in the next few days because with a good package price I'm going to place the order as soon as the motors come out.
It looks like I'll be doing the project sooner than I thought and Chuck will be doing the whole repower.
It will be nice to know that it's all finished before the shrinkwrap goes on. I can't wait to see it all done. Then the hard part will be waiting until April to take it for a ride.
 
John,
Can you get an extended warranty on the new motors?
If you can and it des not break the bank IMHO woulld be a good piece of mind thing

Walter
 
quote:
Originally posted by walterv

John,
Can you get an extended warranty on the new motors?
If you can and it des not break the bank IMHO woulld be a good piece of mind thing

Walter

Click to expand...


Yes, they come with a 1 year from Mercruiser and you can get an extra 2 years. As soon as I get finished negotiating the price I'm going to look in to the extended warranty. I don't anticipate any problems though. The vendor told me that he has never had a comeback with one of these motors. He not only sells them, but he also installs them in his part of the country.
 
Well, the new motors, manifolds, risers, and fresh water cooling kits have arrived. Chuck is putting it all together for me. He really is a nice guy and does great work.
Meanwhile I took the old motors back up to Farmingdale yesterday on a borrowed trailer and did the autopsy on the bad one today.
It has a bad intake valve in one of the cylinders. I changed the heads on it last year. I'm still not sure why the valve went bad. At first I felt a little bad about repowering for what turned out to be just a bad valve, but the motor was a little tired anyway. Plus the idea of having two completely brand new motors including fuel and ignition systems with a little more HP quickly wiped out any remorse I was feeling. Going to FWC blocks is a nice bonus too.
As much as I would like to have something bigger, my wife really isn't in to the whole boating thing so I can't really justify a move up. It would mean that I would have to give up some of my other toys to keep her happy, and that ain't happening.
I really do love my boat anyway. It is the perfect size for a mix of day trips and overnighting for a few days. Unless something changes drastically I plan to keep it for a while and it'll be nice to not have to worry about the motors for a few years.
I'm going to try to sell the good motor. If it doesn't sell, my friend and I are going to keep our eyes out for a single engine boat that needs a motor, put it in there, and sell that boat. That will offset a little bit of the cost of the repower.
 
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