affiliation with manufacturer?

[fairtide]

While it appears that Albin, the manufacturer of our fine boats, has no clear representative as a group member, I wondered whether I was missing something.
It might be nice to have someone from Albin respond to many of the questions that are submitted. If the manufacturer is aware of a common problem, it may provide a fix that is better than some jerry-rigged solution that we discover.
In addition, if it is desired that a manufacturer's agent becomes involved with this group, future Albin owners would benefit from the fixes that come to the attention of Albin. My understanding is that Albin, as a boat manufacturer, wants to produce boats that are as good as they can be for the price.
So, let's post some replies to the poll and see whether someone from the company is listening or is already with the group. Does this make sense to all of you?
Howard (Fair Tide)

[jcollins]

Fairtide,
apage is the member name of Andrew Page of Albin. When you get a chance read the interview that's posted. Over time I truly feel that this site will attract more attention from Albin. Many dealers are recommending the site and I know that Andrew tells many folks about it.
Thanks for your comments. I'm interested in what other members have to say.

[Mariner]

Albin Marine's business model is to allow the extensive dealer network to be primarily responsible for customer service and marketing. We have had direct representation from Albin in the form of Andrew's involvement, but have had only minimal participation from the dealer network. A few dealers have joined the board, but few have posted much of anything.

Ultimately, it is up to them to get involved and represent their product. I expect that eventually they will begin to do that. For right now, Andrew's involvement is greatly appreciated and we are thankful for it.

Personally, I can see where, as a business, Albin Marine has good reason to believe that simply allowing us to exist, while using their name and logo, without any censorship or criticism, is all the support they need to give us. Since not everything said on here is always 100% positive about the brand, I can see where they would be within their rights to simply pull the rug out from under us. They don't do that, which, in my opinion, is more than enough.

[Butch]

If I were the manufacturer, I would have plenty to gain by listening, and nothing to gain by commenting, which I am sure Albin is doing.
However, If I were a Dealer, I would be involved like Joe Smith. I also agree that this forum will only get stronger as time goes on. I have learned so much, and I think Albin has too.

[Veebyes2]

A big problem comes when there is no dealer to go to. All is well & good when you buy new & buy from a dealer.

The majority of us have bought used & don't have a clue as to who the original dealer was. I don't. Furthermore, I don't have any Albin dealer within 600 miles of me. Buying a boat is not like buying a car which has a huge dealership network to take care of customers wherever they may be.

Albin cannot sit back & say "You did not buy it from us. We don't want to hear about it. Take it to your dealer." Fortunately with boats most of our problems are not builder related but problems with 3rd party items which the builder has purchased to construct the boat. Engines, plumbing systems, electrical systems come to mind. The boats themselves don't fall apart.

I recently joined the RV world. The builder mindset there is a whole lot different from what the your average boat builder wants to do after the sale has been made. For the most part, in the RV world, the customer is KING. Builders & dealers fall all over themselves making a special effort to keep a new customer & give him reason to be loyal.

For example, I am going to an owners Rally in Oct in Albuquerque. It is limited to 24 RVs. I have what I consider to be an Albin of the RV world i.e. not a high volume builder but one that is respected for producing a better than average trailer. I understand that there will be a manufacturers rep there to answer questions & give advise. How many boat builders would do that?

[apage]

Hi All:

In my opinion there is some truth to all the threads posted here. The problem with getting too involved in the site is that someone like me would have to dedicate a tremendous amount of time to answering specific questions about all the models in the line.

The problem with that is, we change vendors all the time and each boat can have various components that are the same in some boats and different in others.

Truth be told, I am a mechanical moron (which is precisely why I am in sales). It is much better to have specific questions answered by dealers who have had the boat line for a while. I, in fact, direct people right here.

There is a greater likelihood that that someone here can answer a specific question because they might have run into the same problem.

Thanks,

Andrew @ Albin

[fairtide]

The several responses to my question about the group's including someone from Albin were helpful and interesting. I am glad that apage is included in most if not all of the discussions here.
As long as we have such a fine audience, and as long as I am still getting used to what I should and should not do with the new Fair Tide (now with 17 engine hours on the clock), here is another question that I am sure will be answered with authority by a number of owners: is it kind to the engine (Yanmar 315 hp) to allow it to run under load at low rpm so that the boat (28TE) runs at about 7kts for an hour or two?

While I do not fish (sorry), I do like to just move at displacement hull speed for a while, perhaps much as someone who trolls baits might do. I do run the boat on plane (between about 10 and 19 kts) when not running slowly. My experience with the 27 (78 hp engine) was to run slowly, as I had little choice. The naturally aspirated engine did not have potential turbo problems, of course, and the engine was always reliable and cheap to run despite the claim that diesels need to be run hard, say 200 rpm shy of the redline.
Fair Tide

[Richard]

The Yanmar manual that came with my 315 hp engine covers this issue. It is down in the boat right now so I dont have it handy to quote but as I recall they recommend not running for extended periods at low RPM. if you have to do that, you should occassionally take it up to a higher RPM for a short period of time to break up the time spent at low RPM.

If you have the manual, you might check and see exactly what it says.

[Maye Marie]

If I wanted a dealer I would go find one that suited me. When I need to talk to a manufacture, I give them a call. When I need to talk to friends with similar interest I come to this site. Let’s not mess this up.

[Mariner]

The general recommendation is that turbo diesels can experience problems, particularly related to the turbo, from extensive running at low rpm. But, keep in mind that ALL motors can be damaged and experienc excessive wear from running at high rpm. So, the key is just to not overdo either.

Just make sure that every once in a while, you run it up in speed a bit. And by every once in a while, I don't mean every five minutes, I mean at least once every other time you take it out.