Guy Crudele: A Class Act

Readers will recall that early in September I terminated a scheduled 1000 hour maintenance visit with Hansen Marine as a result of that their attempt to overcharge me $600 for a number of engine parts. See my article "Hansen Marine: Lazy Greedy and Stupid."). Noteworthy is that my part price calculations compared Hansen's estimate to pricing from Wheelhouse Technologies, my online maintenance program, who freely admit that their pricing exceeds retail. Hence, Hansen's overcharge may well have exceeded $700. I'm too lazy to figure the exact amount. Hansen's estimate for the project was $7,732, which included 39 hours of labor.

Meanwhile, I obtained an estimate from a Caterpillar dealer in Florida. They came in at just under $13,000. Their estimate consisted solely of a list of the 1000 hour scheduled maintenance tasks. Missing was a list of required parts and their prices, their labor rate and their estimated number of hours. Very sloppy. Oh did I mention that the Cat dealer only services the engines. Hence, the maintenance required on the transmissions and generators would be extra and would need to be performed by another shop. Add at least $1,000 more to complete the project.

The Cat dealer was literally double Hansen's price. Maybe I should have bit the bullet and had Hansen do the work. Unfortunately, Hansen's defensiveness and belligerence eliminated that possibility.

So, back to the drawing boards (i.e., the internet). I researched Caterpillar Authorized Marine Dealers and found Guy Crudele Repair in Ipswich Massachusetts. I reached out to Guy Crudele and two things happened. First I learned that he was very busy and was unlikely to be able to fit me in. Second, his wife and partner, Kim, responded to my request for an estimate with part pricing that was at retail across the board.

Guy called me in response to my desire for a labor time estimate. His position is the labor time is what it is. He records his start and stop time each day and that what you pay for and nothing more. He went out of his way to explain that he does not pad labor time. He listened to my description of how the boat is operated (i.e., 1400 RPM or 30% load) and proposed to borescope the heat exchanger and aftercooler. His position is that there is no reason to spend the enormous amount of time to remove these items if they are in good shape. I ended the call saying I would like to work with him if he could fit me in.

Well he did (find some time). Working with Kim I arranged dockage at Cape Ann Marina in Gloucester for Monday October 3rd ($480 on a weekly - a good deal). So on Monday, accompanied by my sister, Myrna, I cruised the boat north to Gloucester on a beautiful fall morning.

Guy arrived on Tuesday morning with his assistant and went to work. 22 man hours later the project was completed. Guy found problems with a raw water pump on the 12 KW generator and the coolant pump on the 16 KW generator, which added additional parts and labor cost (included in the 22 hours.) Bottom line. $6,032 for the entire job and Guy arranged a meeting with an engineer from Soundown to address a problem with my transmission coupler.

Did I mention that he left my engine room spotless?

Kudos to Guy Crudele and his wife Kim. Guy Crudele Repair, Inc. is a very high class act.

Did I mention that we had a good time in Gloucester? Stay tuned for an adventure in Gloucester article.

Written by Les.