You Get What You Pay For.Sometimes that’s water in your gearbox.
One brand-new boat, three shortcuts and why the cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest outcome.
We love a bargain as much as the next boatie. Cheap bait? Yes please. But when it comes to work on your boat, the cheapest quote has a funny habit of becoming the most expensive decision you’ll make.
Case in point: a brand-new boat, with its outboard fitted elsewhere, rolled in for its first 20-hour service. It should have been a quick oil change. Instead, our technicians ended up playing Spot the Shortcut.
The washer that gave up
The gearbox drain plug (the bung) seals with a small washer. Its one job: keep oil in and water out. At pre-delivery, someone tightened it so hard the washer split apart.
So, water got into the gearbox oil. That milkshake-coloured stuff in the drain pan? That’s what it looks like. Left alone, it means corrosion, chewed-up bearings and gears, and potentially a gearbox failure a long way from the ramp.
One of these washers is doing its job. The other was tightened into pieces.
The fix: Good technician experience (Gasket seats + 45 degrees or tighten to 7Nm) and ten seconds of care.
The mystery filler
The plate fitted to the transom had been stuck on with a strange foam filler, applied unevenly and oozing out from under the edge like an overstuffed sandwich.
Transom fittings should be bedded in proper marine sealant, so every hole is sealed and the load is spread evenly. It’s what holds your engine on, after all.
“Squirt and hope” is not a recognised marine technique.
The water shield that became a water funnel
Where wiring passes through the hull, a chrome cable shield keeps water out. Its opening should face down, so water runs off.
This one was fitted upside down. Now it’s a funnel, catching spray and rain and feeding it straight into the skin of the boat, where you can’t see
Opening to the sky. Every raindrop gets a free ticket inside.
So why does this happen?
It’s simple maths. When a quote is impossibly low, the only way to make it pay is to rush boats through the workshop in an impossible time. And speed is exactly where corners get cut.
So here’s the bit we really want you to hear: choose the cheapest, get-it-done-ASAP provider and you are literally putting your life in the hands of somebody motivated to cut corners.
You can’t get a quality job at a price that doesn’t pay for the time it takes.
✗The bargain job
- Tightening“Until it feels about right”
- SealingWhatever’s in the van
- Final check“She’ll be right”
- The outcomeSurprises on the water
✓The job done right
- TighteningTorqued to manufacturer spec
- SealingThe right marine sealant, applied properly
- Final checkInspected and tested before handover
- The outcomePeace of mind
It’s not just about money
A split washer is annoying. A gearbox that lets go offshore is dangerous. Your boat carries the people you care about most: your partner, your kids, your mates. Whether it’s a new-boat fit-out or a repower, their safety depends on the job being done properly. That’s not the place to save a few hundred bucks.
⚓ Before you hand over the keys, ask:
- Is the timeframe actually realistic?
- Are your technicians factory-trained on my engine?
- Will everything be torqued to manufacturer spec?
- What happens if something isn’t right afterwards?
If the answer is “don’t worry about it”… worry about it.
Our take
At Northside Marine, we’d rather take the time to do it right than do it twice. Precision, thoughtfulness and craftsmanship are how our workshop runs, on every boat.
If a quote looks too good to be true, it probably is. Be wary. Don’t do it.
Northside Marine · Putting people on the water since 1965
