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Sep 7

Written by:
9/7/2010 10:45 AM 

Caraway has always had a fixed VHF radio mounted on the port side to the left of the galley and above the entrance to the quarter berth. It was properly installed and has never let me down. The antenna is a Metz Manta 6 and has remained firmly attached to the very top of the mast in all weathers for at least 17 years!  The antenna is not particularly expensive to replace and thus since I had noticed the plastic top cover had disintegrated and the bolt that fixes it to the bracket had rusted solid I decided it was a good idea to take it off and have it serviced or replaced.

So, I sent a quick email to Metz Communications asking if it could be serviced. I got the following reply:

“I would send back for repair or replacement, warranty will cover – Lee”.

So I contacted the UK distributor Salty John and asked him if it could be serviced or replaced. I was not too optimistic since the unit is so old, however, Salty John was very helpful and asked me to send the unit to him for inspection.  He also kindly suggested I not bother sending the whip which I was grateful for as I couldn’t find a tube long enough to fit it in!

Within a few days Salty John had sent me out a brand new Metz Manta 6 antenna completely free of charge!  Well, what more can you ask for?  Needless to say I shall be recommending this antenna to everyone who has an ear to listen and should I ever need to replace this one I know exactly which one to get.

Another thing which I really like about this antenna is that the bracket remained exactly the same after all this time. I was anxious about this because the mast is tapped for screws and from experience I have learned time and again that companies have a habit of changing these things for one reason or another. And since I would have to fit the antenna by climbing up the mast the last thing I needed was for it not to fit and to have to drill and tap new holes. There was however one improvement. The steel nut that had corroded on the old unit has been replaced by a stainless one. Not sure why this wasn’t stainless in the first place but at least they learned and put it right.

 

Salty John is a UK distributor of what I would call carefully hand selected marine products. He is clearly a sailor himself and knows the value of quality and reliability at sea. He has some interesting products for sale but he is also very knowledgeable about them and helpful with it too. He gave me some useful advice on testing my coaxial cable and antenna with a multi-meter.  I can recommend Salty John as much as I can Mezt antennas.

Now here’s a contrasting experience. Some time in 2003 when I was getting to know my boat I bought a Simrad TP 20 tiller pilot. Well, it wasn’t cheap but I personally hate to go to sea without some kind of self steering. I often single-hand so I need something to steer the boat when I’m making coffee or sitting on the fore deck watching out for ships. I cannot really complain, the tiller pilot steered me all the way down the French canals and all over the Western Mediterranean. It went back to Simrad for repair under warranty which was a nightmare as I was in France and it came back in a worse state I sent it away in. So I took it back to the UK and sent it back here. After that it carried on for another three or four seasons before it started to play up. It would suddenly go off course without reason and under anything but the kindest of sea states it would be completely useless.

Now, being back in the UK I decided to send it off for repair.  Not too surprisingly the lady rattled off a long list of faults including faulty compass, water ingress and damaged circuitry. If you are surprised by the water ingress don’t be, I have taken these units apart a few times in the desperate hope that I can see some obvious reason why it won’t steer the boat and been a bit horrified by the inards. It’s like opening up a washing machine. The only difference is there’s no lump of concrete inside.. but there may as well be. The water seal is a simple rubber gasket which could easily be replaced by the user but do Simrad provide a spare?

So, the quote from Simrad for repair was £279 including VAT and carriage!! gulp! Needless to say I declined their offer of repair and decided to consider alternatives and do some research before buying a new one. But then came the sting! There was an inspection charge of £23 to pay!  So I’d wasted £10 in postage and £23 for the fee just to be told I might as well buy a new one!  What a contrast to the Metz experience!

The experience with Metz and Salty John’s is something rare these days. A company that is prepared to stand by it’s product and give it’s customers a promise it will honour. And a dealer with a no quibble attitude to it’s customers backed up by genuine customer service.  With Simrad however it’s an entirely different story. Instead of having faith in the reliability of their product and offering their customers anything at all for their loyalty they are exploited again with high service costs when something goes wrong. From reading of other people experiences with these units on the web I have come to realise that many of them fail after only one or two seasons. This could easily mean that the unit has managed only a single season before the one year warranty has expired. It would be a very unhappy experience to have a unit fail after such a short service life and then be fully charged by Simrad for repair.

It makes me seriously consider the alternatives when looking for a new auto-pilot.