Gearbox update
June 3rd, 2010I got a call from Fox’s this morning – they’d spoken to Bob Knowles, who seems to be The Man To Know when it comes to marine gearbox repairs, and he was unable to offer a repair on my PRM Delta ‘box, instead offering a reconditioned box for £650. Apparently the gearbox is no longer made and some of the parts can no longer be obtained. I said I’d go over there in the afternoon to place the order and go ahead. Meanwhile, i cracked on with writing an encyclopedia article that will also form part of my thesis (two birds, one stone, hopefully!), finished it off and submitted it.
Afterwards, I had a quick look online to see if I could get a second opinion or a better price on a reconditioned gearbox. I spoke to a helpful guy called Chris at Calcutt Boats who said he could supply a reconditioned box to me and would accept 20% off the price for mine in part-exchange. After speaking to him, I also spoke to another helpful guy called Chris at Maestermyn Marine who called me back and explained that actually all the bits could be got for a PRM Delta apart from the input drive shaft. He did have one, but couldn’t offer me a part-ex on my old one. Still, he was very helpful.
This afternoon I drove over to Fox’s, met Gary and Alan the mechanics just as they were breaking for tea and they said yeah, fine – get a new box wherever you can. I called Calcutt back. No problem to supply a replacement box, but their mechanic is away Mon-Tue next week so it might take a few days. Fine – I’m going to be in Poland anyway. Now I have to send the gearbox to Calcutt (who are in rural Warwickshire), so I get a handy cardboard box from Alan and pack it up. This evening I’ve ordered a courier service from DHL via parcel2go.com which has cost me the princely sum of £8 to ship a 22kg parcel. Brilliant!
If everything works out neatly, the new gearbox will arrive at Fox’s on Thursday or Friday next week and then they’ll be able to fit it for the weekend. The current incarnation of the cruise plan shows a departure on Saturday 12th, but if the gearbox is delayed for any reason then the departure is likely to be Mon/Tue. I’ll keep you posted.