SoWhat asked: "What is preventing you from rebuilding existing Lehman's?"
Current Lehmans are 225SP's that have had the intercoolers bypassed because the PO failed to do the regular maintenance so they have been bypassed and "de-tuned" to 180hp.
My "mechanic" (another story that I could, and probably will, write book about) removed, and then re-installed incorrectly, the cold-start solenoid on my port engine which caused the fuel rack to be pushed into the full throttle position so that when they started the engine, it started in full throttle position and it would not shut down until they disconnected the fuel from the secondary filters. Call it a "mini-runaway" and now the port engine is seized.
Wanting to get back to Seattle, even if only on one engine, we headed south the the good starboard engine. Because we thought the run-away was caused by a failed turbo, I had the turbos rebuilt and had the mechanic reinstall. Well after installing, they failed to bleed the cooling system so I ended-up with an air lock that caused all the coolant to boil out. There was so much white smoke coming out of the engine room I thought we were electing a new Pope!
So why not rebuild the SP225's?
To begin with, the engine itself is bit of an odd ball (of all the engines Lehman put together, the SP225 and 275 account for only 10% of the total production run). Brian does not have the parts for the rebuild and needless to say, I don't trust either engine. Add to that the cost of $40K+ (includes in, out, rebuild and reworking the exhaust system) to rebuild a 35 year odd-ball engine, think I'm better with a tried and true (will certainly have it throughly check-out) FL120.
What are you Rodin about he mechanic that f'd up both engines?
I'm an attorney (not a litigator) so I have hired a maritime attorney to review my claim. We sent the mechanic a demand letter and he immediately turned it over to his insurance company. Unfortunately in Washington, one cannot sue for negligence (which is covered by his insurance) for damaging the thing he was contracted to repair (i.e. the engines). In other words the claim lies in breach of contract not the tort of negligence.
Funny, not really, but if the boat ended up on the beach because the engines failed and his negligence was deemed to be the cause of the failure, there would be coverage and a new boat.
So unless he has something akin to errors and omissions insurance (in the mechanic world called "shopkeepers coverage") or has a specific endorsement covering his E&O, I'm left going after the company for breach of contract.
Assume we went to trial and I was awarded everything I asked for (i.e. all the money I paid him together with running engines) he is probably an empty bag and would shutter his company and run away into the night.
So when having a yard or firm do work on your engines or boat, ask if they have shopkeepers insurance or E&O coverage otherwise you could be SOL.
Don't want to hijack this thread but through I should add some context to the reason for my search for new power.