[nickc]

Dudders and everyone, Thanks thats superb, I will go to the shop tomorrow armed with all this information.

[MariahMan]

Good luck Nick! Let us know how it goes.

[nickc]

I have taken the boat to the shop and after a week am still waiting on there feedback as to if it is under warranty or not. When i took the boat up tho i got the impression they were going to be difficult.

What is the best way to go down should they say its not under warranty?

When changing an alternator belt on a 3.9l mercruiser, Would you undo the two large bolts which hold on the engine mount to the hull? It looks like these have never been fitted and this is what caused the strain on the engine mount and casing.

[nickc]

The shop have came back and confirmed it is not under warranty. Still waiting on the reason why not!

One positive out of it is that Mariah with the 3.0l mercruiser fit the two engine mounts to the side of the block where as the normal engine mount is front mounted, So instead of replacing the block where the casing is damaged at the sides we can get away with fitting a front mount. Where's best to obtain one of these and can anyone see any further problems with moulding a new mount onto the fibreglass?

[dudders]

Thats really bad news mate, let us know why the reckon its NOT under warranty. Sounds like you are being a bit hard done by.
If you can get pictures of the damaged area, the guys here with heaps of knowledge on this sort of thing should be able to help you along a bit more.
Good luck Nick.
PS: Can you please let us know who the dealer is you are going through, and what country.

[WetWilly]

Hi nickc and dudders,

Sorry nickc, I know this isn't helping your situation, but I think this is why they won't cover you under warranty.... If my information is correct, Mariah's hull warranty is 10 years for the second owner (hull warranty does not cover the stern drive) and the Mercruiser warranty is 1 year from first purchase and I believe you said your SX18 was around 14 months old at the time of the failure. This means you were basically out of warranty due to time, not usage.

Is there any other repair facilities near you where you can take your where you are? I ask because if you intend to continue doing business with them, see if you can bargain the repair costs down with this shop. They have pretty good idea how much income to expect from a customer for yearly maintenance and potential product sales and so forth, are they willing to lose all of that over something that's not going to cost them as much as losing you and any possible referrals from you? If they are, I would not patronize their business!

Best of luck and I hope things workout in your favor,
WetWilly