Hi everyone,
There has clearly been a very significant amount of debate on the forum of late following a recent breakdown, and I thought it would be good for us to update the forum with the details of what proved to be a complex repair.
Firstly it is worth noting that Mr Dalton’s installation was not a simple one, as the gearbox could not be completely removed and could only be moved back 6-8 inches to allow access to the drive plate. Therefore all repairs to the drive plate had to be undertaken in this limited amount of space. The drive plate combination was not standard and had been customised.
The drive plate was removed, and found to be manufactured by Centra although it was coupled with an R&D back plate which was a very unusual combination. We are aware that the Centra drive plates are more robust and are usually installed to deal with harmonic issues in the gearbox. These drive plates and are now a standard installation for Nannie engines, due to their life expectancy and operational capabilities and Beta are now also following suit. The drive plates are not a cheap option and retail at approximately £360, which is over 3 times the cost of a standard R&D plate.
RCR could have replaced this item with a standard R&D drive plate, but opted to try and replace like for like as we did not want to risk repeated failures due to any unknown issues with the installation. The manufacturer was contacted with the drive plate number and we were informed that it was an obsolete part but that a replacement was available. The part was ordered and reassurances that no alternation to the part would need to be made, as it was a like for like replacement of the obsolete part.
The part arrived two days later (due to missing the post deadline) and an RCR engineer returned to fit the part. As detailed in Mr Dalton’s comments the engineer was struggling as the holes on the drive plate did not match up with the holes on the fly wheel. The parts lady popped down to have a look, and it became evident that there was an issue with the holes and that the engineer had not removed the old central bush, but due to the limited working area had not realised this.
Mr Dalton had been told by the local marina, who were unfortunately not in full receipt of the facts that the drive plate could be bought off the shelf. Following discussions regarding the reasons behind the need to replace like for like Mr Dalton indicated that he would accept an R&D plate, and the engineer went to Midland Chandlers to try and match it up. In the mean-time a photo of the part was faxed to R&D, and ASAP supplies to see if they had anything that might fit. R&D later confirmed that this was not an off the shelf product and would have had to have been made to measure.
Having exhausted all avenues in terms of an off the shelf product, although we knew that R&D could have produce one, it would mean sending the current product to them, getting a new plate made and then sent back and would have been a minimum of 3 days turnaround.
Therefore we looked at the option of taking the plate to a machining shop to have the additional holes drilled, however we ran the risk of voiding any warrantee, and therefore the option to return the part to the manufacture in Bradford to have it drilled was the best option.
Unfortunately the parts Lady who was hoping to undertake this was in hospital for an procedure that morning and was not fit to drive. So when Mr Dalton called for an update these option and the reasons behind the decisions were discussed and he offered to drive the part to Bradford if needed. As the engineer was now on another callout, we had to check that he still had the part, and confirm with Centra that they would undertake the drilling and could turn it around whilst we were waiting. This did result in a slight delay in updating Mr Dalton, but he was informed that we would get the part to Bradford and that one way or another we would insure he was on his way the following day.
The part was transported to the manufacturer who confirmed that the holes in the original were not standard and coupled with the R&D plate indicated a ‘custom installation’. The holes were drilled and the engineer returned to base.
All of our engineers were on rescue training the following day, and therefore we knew that we would need to arrange for a contractor to attend, Great Haywood marina was very local to the boat and therefore was an obvious choice even though we have 4 other contractor locally that we could have used.
At approx 11am the drive plate was delivered by the MD of RCR to Great Haywood Marine services and placed in the hands of the ‘Engineer’. He was asked if he had ever fitted one of these type of drive plates before and he confirmed that he hadn’t, she explained what needed to be done, that it was a custom installation and the back plate would need to be refitted. She also explained that it was of utmost importance that the job was completed today as the customer had been waiting a number of days and was rightly getting upset, and finally informed him that should he have any issues or need assistance with the installation to call us straight away.
At approx 3.30pm we had a call from Mr Dalton to update us that Great Haywood could not undertake the work, after a desperate call to other contractors in the area it became clear that no one was available for at least a few hours and as the installation was likely to take 3-4hrs that waiting until the following day to send one of the RCR engineers was the best option.
We fully appreciate Mr Dalton’s frustrations, but assure him that we did pull out all stops to turn his job around, and offer the best solution possible. Unfortunately the custom installation and relying on contractors did result in failures in our service, for which we do apologise.
Confirmation from all parties regarding the information detailed above is available on request. Mr Dalton has confirmed he does not want to make a complaint. The total cost of the repairs was £780 of which Mr Dalton paid £50 as it was covered by his RPC cover. The repair to the heating pipe was done as a gesture of goodwill, even though the customer had been notified of the issue on the original callout before work to remove the gearbox commenced.
As I mentioned at the start of this report, it is complex, and I am sorry about the length of the explanation.
We hope very much that everyone enjoys a good summer of cruising and that the excessive wind that has caused problems today for Mr Dalton quickly subside.
Best Regards
Steve Askew
General manager
River Canal Rescue
