Kudos to Shep Brown's
 

A week ago this past Thursday, I was cruising slowly back to our slip at about 10:30 PM. Just off FL3, one engine started to race, and the boat slowed markedly. :eek: Fortunately, I was able to limp back to Shep's on one engine.

The next morning, Shep's service department diagnosed the problem as a failed coupling between the engine and the outdrive.

Monday of last week, Shep's pulled the boat out of the water, confirmed the diagnosis, and found that the other coupling was getting ready to fail as well. :(

Shep's service department went to bat for me with MerCruiser, got the necessary repairs cleared under warrantee, and even got me a no cost upgrade to heavy duty couplings. :)

In the space of less than a week, Shep's service department had both engines out of the boat, replaced the couplings, and reinstalled/realligned the engines.

The boat was back in the water at our slip when we got there on Friday afternoon, purring like a kitten (and so was I at the outcome!) :D

Now, that's what I call excellent service! Many thanks to Steve, Chris, and everybody in the service department for going to bat for us, and for getting us back on the water so quickly.

Silver Duck

That is alot of work in a short amount of time. Thumbs up for Shep's, as it could have been a real season killer. :coolsm:

Thumbs up for Sheps
 

Silver Duck,
Is that a Monterey that you have? If so I was in line behind you at the Service Counter dropping off my new 248LS for the routine 20 hour service. Funny how you cross paths with forum members here and there around the lake. I was SO happy with the service Browns did as they fixed all those little nit picky items I had on my list promptly and professionally.

Hazelnut

P.S. Nice color on your boat, I have the same Cabernet Gel Color.

That's excellent service.

Some techinical questions. I'm just curious

Any idea why they failed? What engines and drives do you have? Usually couplers fail due to lack of grease on the splines or mis-aligment of the engine to the drive. If mis-alignment caused the failure, I hope they replaced the gimbal bearings as well. At least they can be replaced with the engines in the boat if they did not replace them.

My family has had a 248 ls montura for 3 and half seasons now and we love. Shep's is un believable with helping us out. We had a cracked headgasket( i think) they took it in fixed it and we had it back a week later. Even with little stuff they are great. We will stop by un annouced ask them a question they will come out to the boat look at the problem fix it right then and there and we are back on our way. I can't give them enough credit.

My father and I keep saying we haven't found a better boat yet.

Hazelnut:

Just curious with your 248 did you happen to switch the front and rear ladder. We did cause the front was 4 steps and the back was three. The front one didnt need the 4th step cause all it did was hit the ground when we beached it. We also added a handle on the back to help get into the boat. basilly right where the extended platform starts. Might be a couple of things you might want to think of. It makes a world of difference.

good luck you guys with those boats!!!:)

Hi Hazelnut

If the guy in front of you had white hair, it was me alright! Next time you're over there, say "Hi" and introduce yourself! (I really enjoy meeting other forum folks.) And, yes, I'm very fond of the "cabernet" color scheme.

Dave

They're 5.0 Mercs with B3s. I'm not quite certain why they failed, since the couplings were greased at the 100 hour mark and weren't due again (though I've been doing more running at 1200 - 1500 rpm this year, and I'm told that can be hard on them). At any rate, Sheps put in heavy duty steel couplings and I'm going to the 50 hour greasing schedule from now on, so hopefully that will preent it from happening again.

Folks, I'd recommend taking frequent greasing of those couplings seriously. I would not have wanted to see the bill or sufffer the lost boating time if Shep's hadn't gone to bat for me!

Silver Duck

Engine alignment and no grease cause those to fail. Mine was also greased by a marina (in Ohio before I picked up the boat) only to fail 40-50 hours later. When I pulled off the coupler it was dry. Expensive lesson in trusting anyone. Now I grease it a couple times per year myself to be sure. I would at least take a look at the parts to see if there was grease on it. Then make sure they aligned the engine right to prevent this in the future...
Not that Shep's did not do it right but I always like to know the root cause of these things...

Drive couplings are designed to wear out, rather than take out more expensive items. It isn't a matter of if they will fail, it is when. Some go after a season or two, others last for several years. Annual greasing is a must and should be done when the lower unit is pulled. Good time to replace the water pump impeller.

High horsepower/heavy boats will see more wear than lower powered/ lighter boats. It is essential that engine alignment be checked and adjusted if needed on a regular basis, or any time there is a lower unit strike. That prop with a blade missing probably isn't the only damage that occurred. The engine may have been knocked out of alignment. Greasing is must. Unfortunately, the drive has to be pulled off to do that.

The high cost of repair is due in part to the fact engine removal is needed to change the coupling. Good time to replace the bilge pump, if yours is buried under the oil pan.

I had a coupling fail after 3 seasons on the lake. Sea Ray Sundancer with the 454. Heavy boat, lots of grunt. The actual coupling failure happened at idle speed heading out of the marina. All of a sudden, without any noise or warning, the boat slowed to a stop.

A visit to one of the more active marine service shops allowed me to see stacks of worn couplings in the corner of the service bay. Routine repair for some.

I will second the kudo's to Shep's for there service dept. They do great work.