[PUP] Double checking your spares, money well spent

[Scott Bulger]

Boy I just had a great experience based on taking good advice.

 

To set the stage, I'm leaving the US for 6 months in about 3 weeks.  Our
spares kit is fairly well built out and I'm in the final process of making
the boat ready for departure.  On the way down the coast we experienced a
belt failure, not a big deal because the alternator used two belts and we
just lightened the load and continued on one belt.  

 

However that got me thinking about the serpentine belt and how bad that
failure could have been.  We were in 5 to 7 foot seas and when the boat was
on the wing my wife had a hard time maintaining control while I was in the
engine room removing the failed belt so we could continue running.  After I
posted this experience a fellow Nordhavn owner recommended I check the part
number on the serpentine belt, because he was aware some owners had equipped
their belts with spares, only to find they were the wrong ones.  Well, last
week I had a mechanic performing the factory recommended 500 hour valve
adjustment (each valve was .001 off) and I had him pull the shroud so we
could verify the number.  He read me the number and I jotted it down.  

 

Today I went to consult my spares list and guess what?  The number on the
belt was R-123463 and my spare was R-123464.  My first thought was I had
made a mistake transcribing the number.  I found the original spares list
that Nordhavn provided (an excel spreadsheet probably from another boat) and
sure enough it specified R-123464, the belt I had as spare.  So now I'm
thinking I have definitely written the wrong number down.  So I call Barb
the parts goddess at Hatton in Seattle (206)283-5501 and she tells me if I
can get her the serial number of my engine, she can tell me exactly what
belt was put on the motor when it shipped to China.  Well I get her the
number and she confirms the mechanic was spot on, R-123463, not 464.  So I
figure, one is a replacement for the other, not true says Barb, a 463 is
1,613 mm long and a 464 is 1,635mm long.  The different size belts
accommodate different alternators, so between my boat and someone else's
they changed alternators, resulting in a different belt.  

 

There are some really important lessons here:

 

a.        Owners and fellow boater sometimes give you the best advice.  The
challenge is picking out these pearls of wisdom and acting on them

b.      It's never cheaper to peek into some aspect of a part or service
issue then when in a yard doing a yearly service, when knowledgeable people
are aboard

c.       Trusting an excel spreadsheet when you don't know who made it or
where it came from can be bad.  Double check all your source data with the
real manuals and systems

d.      Having access to someone like Barb in Seattle is INVALUABLE.  She is
a wonder and frankly I don't care what their prices are.  She's the kind of
person that would pick up the phone at 4:55 on a Friday afternoon because
she knows someone at the other end may be far away in need of her help.  I
can't say enough good about her and Hatton.  

 

In closing I'd like to thank the Nordhavn owner that made this suggestion.
I don't remember who it was, but if you reply to this rest assured you'll
never pick up the bar tab while I'm around!

 

Scott Bulger, Alanui, N40II, Seattle WA