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Bruce is Owner and Senior Mechanic of Southeast Marine Services, Inc.  in the Palm Beach, Florida area.    His extensive background, in Marine Mechanical Systems, encompasses both gasoline and diesel engines, air conditioning, and electrical and hydraulic systems.

"Bruce is one of the most 'In Demand' Systems Technicians we have in our area.    His expertise is exceptional!"
(Capt Patrick McCrary, webmaster)





Protecting the GOLDEN GOOSE
Having been in the boating business for what seems like forever, I have always been aware of the fly-by- nighters, the get rich quick, the yes I know what I'm doing but really don't, etc, etc.

In the beginning I was concentrating on building a dependable, quality marine repair facility and did not pay much attention to these types as they came and went on a frequent basis.  But as I get involved more in the industry side of the marine business, I am becoming somewhat alarmed at the statistics that I see. In an economic era that we have in the 90's, our economic growth in the industry is shrinking(nobody will admit this in public, but behind closed doors they are concerned).  

Who do I blame? Well there's blame enough for everybody.  All the way from the manufacturers to the installers, everybody has being killing the GOLDEN GOOSE aka the boating public.

If the marine industry does not wake up and start to solve this problem, we will all be selling used cars. You the public, and we the industry have to start demanding some change in the form of:

    1.  Manufactures selling to anyone claiming to be a marine repair facility.  Dealers need to be set up with protected territories and certified to repair the products they sell.  Schooling and training is a must. An industry recognition like the ASE in automotive needs to be implemented.  Case in point, in a 5 mile area around my shop, there are 7 Crusair airconditioning dealers, each one undercutting the next to get a bid accepted, even going so low as to not being able to do the job properly.  You say, but competition is fair. Yes it is, and it needs to be there to keep the public from being over charged, but not to the point of not being able to do a quality job at a fair cost.  When the boater has to take his boat in 4 times to get the job done right, that low bid does not look so good now.   Another case in point: A boater came to me to install some electronics.  He had already been to the two local discount marine store chains and asked me if I would care to bid on the job as they did not do installations.  I said I would bid on the installation but not the electronics themselves as from past experience I knew I couldn't compete with volume buying.  But I warned the customer with the following, by buying the electronics from them there would be no warrantee for diagnosis, removal and reinstalling the electronics if there was a problem with the units themselves.  If you bought from me and allowed me to make a reasonable profit the job would be warranted for 1 year complete, no excuses.  You guessed, he bought from the discount house.  I installed them and right off the bat, two of the pieces would not even power up. Since the job was completed, he had to pay extra to have them removed, exchanged and reinstalled.  1 month later the GPS gave out.  All tolled he spent more in the long run and was sorry he had not taken my suggestion more seriously.

    2.  The public has to educate themselves more about their boats and start demanding that the boat builders standardize building technics and make the machinery more accessible to service.  Case in point: a bilge pump mounted under a generator platform against a bulkhead.  Pull the generator to replace the bad pump.  Ludicrous. Fastening hoses down under flooring where there are no access panels, thus not allowing the hose to be replaced with out cutting up the boat.  Using poor quality materials that last until the warrantee is up, the list could go on for 50 pages. Builders tell me this is so more people can afford a boat.  If we did it right we couldn't sell more boats and make more money.  But lets face it, not everyone can afford a boat, hey I would love to have a Ferrari, but I don't see them cutting corners to make it affordable to people like me.

    3.  Not supporting repair people that show up in their cars with a bucket full a rusty tools to do repairs just because they charge 5 dollars an hour less.  Don't get me wrong, we all have to start somewhere.  But it takes an investment of both time and money.  A quality business has certain costs that it has to meet, a guy working out of his car doesn't.  The boating public is only hurting itself by patronizing these people.  After 25 years in the business, 30% of my work is fixing poor quality repairs and cut corners.  That's a lot.   The old saying "pay me now or pay me later" is valid.

    4.  Getting involved with the politics and legislation of the industry.  There needs to be a compromise between boaters, wildlife, environmentalists and legislators.  Case in point: personal watercraft.  They are being outlawed in a lot of areas. We all have to learn to live with our surroundings and respect other people and their rights.  One of my pet peave is fishermen, lobstermen, etc.  taking more than what they can consume or catching anything in their nets even if it isn't marketable. Sooner or later it catches up.
If you're a marine related business out there, get involved with your industry.  If you're the consumer, educate yourself and don't allow the industry to walk all over you.  You are our life's blood and we better start treating you better or we'll never survive the massive coronary that we are heading toward.

SMOOTH RUNNING!
Bruce



Past Articles and Equipment Reviews


Mechanical Feature Articles    Mechanical Equipment Reviews    Mechanical Service



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mechanical section / Saturday, February 21, 1998
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