Either Feast or Famine!

Since last July, My business has been way off, which has kept me busy only half days.  But the two recent heavy snow storms, which dropped record snows in this part of the country, sank a bunch of the boat docks around the lake here.  Now there are hundreds of boats that went under water, all with starters and alternators that will need repaired.  Two of the marina's have already brought me quite a bit of work and a lot are waiting the insurance companies to come out and assess the damages and issue checks.  I heard one estimate of around 80 million dollars worth of damage around the lake.

So how does that affect me?  I now have loads of work and presently don't see the end of it for some time.  Though water getting inside of starters and alternators does not destroy these units and they will a lot of times function after their drained and dried out, or in some cases operate while still wet, they will eventually fail if not taken apart and properly cleaned up.  I much rather get a unit in immediately after it gets sunk, than to get it after it has set for months, as it can be easily disassembled and cleaned up.  Those units that come in after they have set for a while will be all rusted up and corroded and take much longer and be more expensive to repair.

Most alternators only need to be disassembled cleaned up and dried out and the bearings replaced.  Water usually doesn't affect the other components as long as there is not excessive rust or corrosion.

With starters though, they usually need the solenoids, drives and bushings or bearings replaced.  I can usually re-use the brushes if they are not worn down very bad.  I have to replace the solenoids because most of today's solenoids are rolled and sealed and they can not be taken apart and dried out like the older solenoids could.  I have to replace most of the drives as water gets into the roller clutches and will rust them up causing them to fail.  Most small shop rebuilders don't have the equipment to open these drives up and rebuild them.

Bottom line is if you have a unit that gets wet or goes under water, the quicker you can get it to me, the easier and cheaper it will be to repair!