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Not really a question , just venting.

Not really a question , just venting.

Not really a question , just venting.

(OP)
Ok Now that I am retired I work unpaid as chief of maintenance for a sailing club.
One of my jobs requires that I keep their outboard motors running. I have mentioned this on here before.
So this week, one of our more ham handed members tilts up a propane powered motor ( The club has 4 of these.) without making sure there are no obstructions, and mashes the gas hose on the handle of the adjustable motor bracket, bending up the fitting and cracking the stainless steel gas line just inside the motor.
Ok no problem I have a spare one of these in stock, just bring the motor home and change it out.
I take off the old line and start installing the new one. At this point things start going sour.
The old assembly had a banjo fitting at the base of the heated gas evaporator so that you could just change the line.
The new fitting has that area with a welded/brazed assembly so now you have to change the evaporator as well. More work and more disassembly, I finally get all of that done now the only thing left to do is to assemble the gas evaporator to the demand valve with another banjo bolt. I get everything started, and bingo the bolt bottoms out with a 1/8th inch gap.
I check the old evaporator and the new evaporator and sure enough, there is an 1/8th of an inch size difference between the heads of the two. I call the maker of the motor and get a sheepish " Oh yeah we know about that, I will send you the new bolt." I said does it have a different part number ? " Well no I told them they aught to, but they decided not to." so now on this motor I have two banjo bolts floating around with the same part number , one being an 1/8" shorter than the other.
You do not have to reply to this unless you want to and there is nothing you can do for me, I am a little steamed right now.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

A fine example to prove that "no good deed goes unpunished".

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

I hope that sailing club also has a bar... that guy owes you a drink.

Please remember: we're not all guys!

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

Sounds like bad design all around but that's a cardinal sin to not change the part number when they parts are not interchangeable. I've got to say, I fail to see the advantage of propane powered outboards.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

So you needed a banjo bolt, and they sent you a ukulele bolt?

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

At least you don't have to figure out lute screws. And suffer the jokes about how you must have to screw lutes.

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

Advantage of propane outboards: Fuel leak does not contaminate waterway, deck of boat, bilge, boat shoes --> bar carpet....

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

Screw lutes? That reminds me of the one about the octopus and the bagpipes...

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

I would send in a complaint to the company saying "You should have listened to (customer support guy's name) when he said changing the part but not the part number was a terrible idea."

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

yeah, you'd want to complain about the part number, but stay quiet about the helpful guy.
Or possibly commend them on the helpful guy and stay quiet about the part number.

Jay Maechtlen
http://www.laserpubs.com/techcomm

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

1) Based on my fellow employees from various back grounds and posts often seen on here I suspect many in the engineering field and as such many companies don't have a clue when it comes to configuration control so no real surprise there. Aerospace/Defense, big automotive and medical etc. are/should be better but even then individual employees may often not have a clue.

2) If you want a reference for the letter suggested by 1gibson then ASME Y14.100-2004 section 6, especially 6.8, may be applicable.smile

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

(OP)
Thanks guys and gals for the support, I was P***ed when I wrote this. The company that makes these Propane powered motors, is a young company, and several of you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned " configuration control." Part of their problem is that they have grown too fast too soon, but of course they don't know that. The other problem they have is that like a lot of other companies their stuff is made in China. The problem driving me nuts with these people is that they recently bought out a company in north Carolina that made Propane powered lawn mowers, which had a much bigger facility than they did , so they closed the local facility and moved everything from LA to NC, now my support is one guy who works out of his house, and everything ships from NC. so what I used to get overnight now takes a week.
I think I will send the CEO a copy of Innovation Abyss, not that I think it will do any good.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

This is the Pub, Berkshire - we all have to vent some hot gases, from time to time.

STF

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

(OP)
Sparweb,
I considered posting this in the pub.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

RE: Not really a question , just venting.

(OP)
Ok ,
I got the new banjo bolt Wednesday , fitted it , got the motor running, Now its back in service.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

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