Speedo is fixo

[malarson]

Let me preface my post by saying I'm a cheapskate.
This spring my speedometer on my 2006 22v quit working. The fam & I took the boat on a road trip and when we got back home the speedometer needle wouldn't budge. Worked on Sunday, broke on Monday.
I checked the usual suspects. Paddle wheel spins freely, connections look good. I put the voltmeter on the connections and got a readout when I spun the paddle wheel. It must be the gauge. Faria's gauges have a lifetime warranty so I sent it off to them. 3 weeks later and a $50 no-good-reason-fee it comes back. I install it...RATS!!! Still not working.
I e-mail Tige. "It's probably the tri-ducer but we can't sell it to you. Call your dealer"
I call my closest dealer (6 hour drive away from me.) To their credit they had great service and responded to my inquiry quickly. They inform me that the part is $420 plus shipping and it's non-returnable. Plus it'll take 6 weeks to get. After I pull my jaw off the floor, I thank them kindly for their time, and I'll get back to them.
I read a thread on Tigeowners where one owner had replaced just the paddle wheel and fixed the same problem I was having. So I ordered the replacement paddle wheel. 2 weeks and $24 later I install the replacement paddle wheel...DOUBLE RATS. Still nothing. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet. Meanwhile summer is in full swing.

I notice on the tri-ducer that it's manufactured by Airmar. Quick google check and I shoot them an e-mail explaining my problem. 7 days later I get a response. "We can't sell that part to you. Go through our distributor (Gemeco).
So, I shoot an e-mail to Gemeco (quick service and good communicatoin) and after a few tries I find the part number they are looking for. The response "Sorry, we can't sell that part to you. It's sold as a set to Faria. Call them"
I call Faria. I guess they had a little wind storm last month (Hurricane Irene) and they weren't answering their phones. I wait a week. Finally get a hold of Bob in marine sales. His response "Sorry we can't sell that part to you. Call West Marine and have them special order it from us and we'll drop ship it to you."
So, I call West Marine and for $195 and 3 months of wakesurfing without cruise control I have a working speedometer. Halle-frickin-lujah.
Call it how you want but I call this a $150+ savings over dealer pricing. If I had a dealer closer to my home I might be more interested in the intangable "dealer relationship".

[skippabcool]

Glad I am not the only one that goes through some hoops to save money. Some may not like that the dealer was not supported. But then again anyone that does anything from changing their on oil, winterizing, changing the steering cable, storing their own boat, waxing and washing their own boat, etc... is taking money away from their dealer.

This is good information. Do you have a part number?

How was the install?

[malarson]

The install was straight forward. Took about an hour but I could do it in half that time if I had to do it again.

Tige part #U2511
Faria part #SN0031
Airmar part #35-001-1-41

I'm all for capitalism. I like it better when it works in my favor.

[IDBoating]

It seems to me that if everyone in the supply chain, including dealers, did a better job of supporting the do-it-yourselves (DIY) guys out there they'd end up better off. Want a part? Need a manual? Here's the price, happy to sell it to you. Or here's the fast and easy place to buy it. That sort of support would foster enormous goodwill, which spreads on sites like TigeOwners and gives companies a good reputation.

Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of companies/dealers/etc. are terrified of losing that one sale... that one service... and the DIY'er gets stonewalled because he doesn't represent their favorite revenue stream. Well, THAT sort of customer non-service gets discussed here too.

And guess what? The non-DIY guy, the one who needs everything, reads sites like this and talks to the DIY'ers and those reputations - good and bad - get shared and repeated and spread around. Generally the DIY'ers are some of the best and most respected guys in the sport, so their opinions carry more weight with the casual weekend owners.

Finally, even the DIY'ers don't usually do EVERYTHING themselves. When the time comes for the big job, the one the DIY'er can't do himself, he's going to take it to the dealer (or buy from the supplier) that has been helpful and supportive, not obstructive.

Seems to me that when dealers/suppliers offend and neglect and obstruct and ignore the DIY'er they are really only hurting themselves. As the original post in this thread shows, a true DIY'er will keep digging until he gets a solution. "Being difficult" with a DIY'er just gives you a bad reputation, one that the DIY'er will then spread far and wide. Far better to help him out so he becomes one of your best unpaid salesmen!

[MooseX]

^...nicely put WA'