King's Lock Chandlery - a sorry tale

Background story

At the electric boat show in 2024, Steve (of Kings Lock Chandlery) offered to fit the remote control unit for my thrusters.

When I visited him to get the work done, he also decided a heat exchanger was the best way to deal with my generator overheating. I mentioned that I was booked to cross The Ribble Link on the 23rd June 2024 when I would need to have the generator running all day. Steve said the issue was that Colecraft do not put baffles in their skin tanks and that meant the water was insufficiently cooled. This is the story of that job which lasted many months.

Steve arranged for Alec to undertake the work. I had assumed Alec worked for Steve as his sweatshirt has the Kings Lock logo but it turned out Alec was a subcontractor who runs a company called Leaf Marine, this was a crucial factor in how the story played out.

The eventual cost of parts and labour was £3,130.20

Day one - Thu 30th May 2024

Another wet start to the day but there was a short gap in the rain for me to get the boat to Kings Lock. I got there for 09.30 as agreed but had to hang around a while for Steve. He said the main problem is that there are no baffles in the skin tanks. He's looking into a solution using a raw water heat exchanger to supplement the existing cooling. As per canal time, things progressed slowly and Alec will have to return in the morning to finish fitting the remote.

Day two - Fri 31st May 2024

Alec came at 9.15 and got the remote box screwed to the side of the locker. He also fitted my new aerial and found the water leak from the generator. He said it would be better to fix it when he's fitting the new heat exchanger as he will need to drain the system down at that point anyway.
I set off but very quickly realised there was something wrong with the thrusters. They were cutting out after a short while. Alec came and checked them over and found that they cut out when the voltage reached 50v. As my batteries usually give 52 or so this makes a new issue. He will address it when he's heard back from Holland. In the meantime I have to be very gentle with them to avoid them cutting out.

Discussion with Alec by phone on Friday 7th June... Alec now says that the other parts required to connect the heat exchanger won't be available until the start of next week despite Steve telling me he already had them. Alec also said he has work booked for Monday to Wednesday next week so we're now looking at Thursday. I said I would need to move by then so he suggested either Lymm Cruising Club or Hesford Marine as the boatyard so I will head in that direction tomorrow.
He suggested I try to reprogram the thruster joystick. I reset everything to factory defaults and then had to work out how to reverse the thrust. My manual was out of date so I struggled. I eventually worked it out and got the direction working. I also got the stern thruster to work continuously but couldn't get the bow thruster to do the same.

Day three - Thu 13th June 2024

Alec finally arrived at at the marina at 12:40 despite his promise to get to the marina "first thing". Some of the work was done but he left before 5pm and when I asked him if he has the cable for the remote he clearly did not.

Day four - Fri 14th June 2024

Alec eventually packed up at 6pm although he still hadn't finished. He says he'll come back on Monday to do the service and thrusters. I need to let him know where I am on Sunday night.

Day five - Mon 17th June 2024

Alec came to service the generator. As I predicted, he'd forgotten the fuel sensor and couldn't get a cable for the remote. He also failed to get the thrusters working any better than I had, He's now passed the issue over to Joel at Vetus as Steve is away on holiday.

Day six - Wed 19th June 2024

Alec arrived just before 10am and fitted the new joystick controller. Much to my surprise it worked and all was back to normal as far as the thrusters were concerned. He said the Dutch guys knew about the controller issue although the English section of Vetus didn't. He also fitted the replacement for the fuel sensor and made comments about not getting the money back as well as not remembering damaging it. I reminded him that he'd been banging against it whilst fitting the strainer. Unfortunately, he'd not got the correct fuel sensor, he brought a 0-1 volt sensor whilst the damaged one was clearly marked 0-5 volts.

Day seven - Fri 21st June 2024

The pump on the heat exchanger had failed so Alec came and fitted a new one so that I could get across The Ribble Link in two days time.

Day eight - Sat 29th June 2024

The pump on the heat exchanger appeared to have failed again so Alec arranged to return with a new one but having called to say he would be with me by 15:45, then, at 16:00 he called to say that he'd arrived but had brought the wrong pump with him (240v instead of 12v) so he would now have to return tomorrow at 4pm.

Day nine - Sun 30th June 2024

Alec arrived at 15:30 and fitted a temperature controlled switch for the pump having decided this was the best way to switch it on. It seemed the pump had not failed again so that was left in place.

Day ten - Mon 2nd September 2024

It turned out that the coolant going to the heat exchanger never reached a temperature at which it would switch on the pump so that solution didn't work! It was decided that perhaps the overheating might be caused by the lack of a thermostat in the generator. Nobody had thought to check if there was one fitted! I got a call from Alec at Leaf saying that he was now going to come at 9am tomorrow morning as he'd forgotten a part he needed.

Day eleven - Tue 3rd September 2024

Alec sent a Whatsapp to say he was running a little late due to traffic. He did eventually turn up over an hour late and proceeded to tell me that he did not have the fuel sensor. He did have a thermostat but not the correct one. He did not fit a new filter as he now felt that the problem was that the pump was not powered all the time. He rewired the pump so that it was back to the original spec where it was powered from the fuel pump. He feels that the generator will not be over cooled once the thermostat is fitted. I got a call from Steve at Kings Lock asking me to pay his bill and we discussed for a while until he hung up on me. I said I would be happy to pay when the kit was working properly but he claimed that the work was being done by an independent contractor (Alec) and therefore it was up to me to pay for the parts regardless of whether they worked.

Day twelve - Wed 4th September 2024

I got a call from Steve at Kings Lock saying that Alec could come up to get the thermostat fitted and get the job done once and for all. It seems that holding back payment for the parts has had an immediate effect on efficiency. Steve said that the filter that had been supplied by him and fitted by Alec was not the correct one and that a filter designed to sit below the water line was needed. Steve also sent me instructions for the thruster remote as the front thruster was working in one direction whilst the rear worked the other way around from the remote, but I couldn't work out what they meant. Alec arrived just after 1:30. Alec firstly said he didn't need to change the filter to the one Steve had said was needed, but then he changed it anyway. He also moved the pump to a lower position. He has to suck water through to get the pump primed and said that was normal for the first time. He fitted the thermostat and eventually, after an hour or so, managed to get the thrusters working on the remote. When he put the lid back on the generator he managed to put a big scratch on the painted side of the locker. As he was leaving he thrust the Kings Lock invoice at me and asked me to pay there and then on the card machine. He'd clearly been told by Steve not to leave until he'd been paid. He then tried to get me to pay him for his time as well. I said I was not prepared to do so. He said the only reason he'd had to come back today was to fit the thermostat but that was clearly rubbish as he'd sorted out the other two issues and I could have just got a local engineer to fit a thermostat for next to no money. He left in a huff and I'm still waiting for the replacement fuel sensor over a month later.

Follow up - 30th September 2024

I called Kings Lock Chandlery and spoke with Steve. He promised that he would not leave me "in the lurch" and that he would chase Alec to provide the replacement fuel sensor. I have tried contacting Alec several times but he does not return my calls or WhatsApp messages.

Follow up - 10th November 2024

I am now preparing a small claim for the unresolved issues.