Preface:
The correct course of action would have been for the Marina to call, describe the problem found, and get authorization for the work. Also, holding the boat hostage was a bad idea.
Some thoughts to ponder though:
How old were the impellers? Being a formula, I'm guessing it has Mercruiser Bravo drives. If they were more than 2-3 years old, they really needed to be changed, they age with time and/or use. It's not a pleasant job and doing it in the water is risky because the pump inlet hose will let water pour into the boat unless you pinch the hose off, but that's not really good for the hose. $406 for parts and labor on a pair of Bravo impellers is pretty reasonable. I know I would not change one in my own boat for less than $200, They are mounted low and are a pain.
I can see how a marina could jump to the conclusion that a customer would like the boat to be operating properly when the customer says to get it in the water ASAP. I know I'd be pretty disappointed to head up to Laconia for a day of boating and discover that my boat is in its slip, but is not useable, and probably needs to come out of the water for the work to be done (and who knows when they could get to it???).
Question to the OP:
If you had driven to Laconia to use the boat and discovered that it was not working correctly, would you have been willing to pay $406 for immediate repairs that "saved" the weekend?
If the answer is yes, then maybe it's not really worth the aggravation of pursuing this problem further. Just take your business elsewhere next time, if you are still bothered by it come Autumn, and enjoy the Summer.
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