First off, sorry to the Catalina owners who may have seen this before. I posted it in the wrong forum. I'm looking for the names of good Marine Electronics Dealers in the Rhode Island area that people have had good luck with. I've gotten some quotes that vary widely in price and installation hours. Please let me know about who you've worked with, and wether your were happy with the price and quality of workmanship. Regards, Chris
- Status
- Not open for further replies.
B
Bob
What kind of work?
Hi Chris, Just exactly what are you in need of? There's a guy right at Norton's who (according to many) does excellent work. Cheers, Bob
Hi Chris, Just exactly what are you in need of? There's a guy right at Norton's who (according to many) does excellent work. Cheers, Bob
C
Chris Hyland
Kinds of Work
Hey Bob, We were going to go down to the yacht club open house last night but figured the roads would keep people home. As for the kinds of work: Autopilot st6000 with T1 linear drive, Stereo, TV/VCR and a bunch of basic stuff. Cay's wants 22 hours to install the autopilot Challenge marine says it takes 8 hours. So I'm looking around. As for stereo and TV/VCR I'm going to buy them and pay to have the stuff installed. The stereo from Cay came to 17 hundred for basically a car stereo. About 9 hundred was installation, that's just absurd. I’m not sure how you justify 14 hours to install a car stereo, unless you have to feed the guys crack habit! Challenge said it would take 4 hours total to install. I think the Challenge hours and prices are reasonable but I don’t know anyone how has used them. Spring’s on the way! Chris
Hey Bob, We were going to go down to the yacht club open house last night but figured the roads would keep people home. As for the kinds of work: Autopilot st6000 with T1 linear drive, Stereo, TV/VCR and a bunch of basic stuff. Cay's wants 22 hours to install the autopilot Challenge marine says it takes 8 hours. So I'm looking around. As for stereo and TV/VCR I'm going to buy them and pay to have the stuff installed. The stereo from Cay came to 17 hundred for basically a car stereo. About 9 hundred was installation, that's just absurd. I’m not sure how you justify 14 hours to install a car stereo, unless you have to feed the guys crack habit! Challenge said it would take 4 hours total to install. I think the Challenge hours and prices are reasonable but I don’t know anyone how has used them. Spring’s on the way! Chris
B
Bob
Electronics Work...
Hey Chris, Sounds like some pretty basic stuff. These are things that anyone with a reasonable working knowledge of shipboard electrical and electronics, and can follow instructions should be able to do. You will also find that owning a copy of "Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual" by Nigel Calder isn't a bad thing. As far as the installers you've spoken with so far, I've not heard of them but I know a screwin' when I see it. But then again, you know what B-O-A-T stands for...Bring On Another Thousand. Cheers, Bob
Hey Chris, Sounds like some pretty basic stuff. These are things that anyone with a reasonable working knowledge of shipboard electrical and electronics, and can follow instructions should be able to do. You will also find that owning a copy of "Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual" by Nigel Calder isn't a bad thing. As far as the installers you've spoken with so far, I've not heard of them but I know a screwin' when I see it. But then again, you know what B-O-A-T stands for...Bring On Another Thousand. Cheers, Bob
T
Tom
I'm not justifying the installers pricing. But I'm
in the process of doing some work on my own boat myself. And don't think that running wires and doing installation on a boat is all that easy. I think one of the vendors might be grossly underestimating the time it take to do a *quality* job. Yeah it might take one 8 hours to do the installation. But make sure you know what you are getting when it comes to routing a wire. For instance, lets say you are mounting the autopilot display on the pedestal. Is he routing all the wiring internally through the small diameter in the pedestal guard, or is he just going to run the wiring on the outside. (it may seem easy but in actuallity it takes a lot of steps to do everything.) But with that said I think the other guy (22hours) is trying to make a tidy profit. Personally I think the autopilot deserves a couple of extra hours work...It will be an important part of your boat and the linear drive might take some extra time to mount (fiberglassing?) to do a good installation plus running the wires nicely like I said before. But the stereo?! What you were quoted is ridiculous! ...There isn't too much special work that needs to be done to route a speaker wire and cut a hole for speaker and the actual stereo.
in the process of doing some work on my own boat myself. And don't think that running wires and doing installation on a boat is all that easy. I think one of the vendors might be grossly underestimating the time it take to do a *quality* job. Yeah it might take one 8 hours to do the installation. But make sure you know what you are getting when it comes to routing a wire. For instance, lets say you are mounting the autopilot display on the pedestal. Is he routing all the wiring internally through the small diameter in the pedestal guard, or is he just going to run the wiring on the outside. (it may seem easy but in actuallity it takes a lot of steps to do everything.) But with that said I think the other guy (22hours) is trying to make a tidy profit. Personally I think the autopilot deserves a couple of extra hours work...It will be an important part of your boat and the linear drive might take some extra time to mount (fiberglassing?) to do a good installation plus running the wires nicely like I said before. But the stereo?! What you were quoted is ridiculous! ...There isn't too much special work that needs to be done to route a speaker wire and cut a hole for speaker and the actual stereo.
M
Mike Beaujean
Marine Electronics in RI
An excellent source for Marine Electronics in RI would be Pawtuxet Marine Electronics 69 Fort Avanue, Cranston, RI 02905 Tel (401) 941-6565 They can't quite compete with West Marine and Co. for price, but they work on the equipment right there and they are very knowledgeable about their products. Also, if they work on your stuff and it isn't quite right, they will make it right. It might be a few dollars more but, I think it's worth it to have knowledge behind you. I would also think they would be "reasonable" for installation costs. Remember, boating season is fast approaching so I would guess that the calendar is beginning to get booked up. Regards, Mike Beaujean "Timeless Flight" C-27 Hull #5258
An excellent source for Marine Electronics in RI would be Pawtuxet Marine Electronics 69 Fort Avanue, Cranston, RI 02905 Tel (401) 941-6565 They can't quite compete with West Marine and Co. for price, but they work on the equipment right there and they are very knowledgeable about their products. Also, if they work on your stuff and it isn't quite right, they will make it right. It might be a few dollars more but, I think it's worth it to have knowledge behind you. I would also think they would be "reasonable" for installation costs. Remember, boating season is fast approaching so I would guess that the calendar is beginning to get booked up. Regards, Mike Beaujean "Timeless Flight" C-27 Hull #5258
P
Paul Akers
Here's Two
Chris, Two reputable ones here in RI are Cay Electronics (Portsmouth & Tortola, BVI). The other is Custom Navigation at Brewer's Cove Haven in Barrington, RI.
Chris, Two reputable ones here in RI are Cay Electronics (Portsmouth & Tortola, BVI). The other is Custom Navigation at Brewer's Cove Haven in Barrington, RI.
C
Chris Hyland
RE: Paul
Paul, Cay is the company that I think is outragous in price. They do everything by block time. If you have three items to be mounted on the helm they charge ypu three tomes to assemble and disassemble the components. I hope they're not actually that stupid! I must say I don't have any real problem with product pricing. I don't even have a problem with labor rates. Just the block installation time. Bad news if you ask me, it's a license to steal. Regards, Chris
Paul, Cay is the company that I think is outragous in price. They do everything by block time. If you have three items to be mounted on the helm they charge ypu three tomes to assemble and disassemble the components. I hope they're not actually that stupid! I must say I don't have any real problem with product pricing. I don't even have a problem with labor rates. Just the block installation time. Bad news if you ask me, it's a license to steal. Regards, Chris
P
Paul Akers
RE:Chris
I understan your dilema. Many of the established companies charge "boat bucks". Whomever you decide upon is your choice. I've never used Cay, but know some folks that have - mainly because they were heading to the BVI and their warranties were carried there. Check around the boatyard. There are quite a few independent people that will do a quality job at reasonable rates. I've seen a number of people go that route, also. Good Luck.
I understan your dilema. Many of the established companies charge "boat bucks". Whomever you decide upon is your choice. I've never used Cay, but know some folks that have - mainly because they were heading to the BVI and their warranties were carried there. Check around the boatyard. There are quite a few independent people that will do a quality job at reasonable rates. I've seen a number of people go that route, also. Good Luck.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.