Free service for local owners of Yamaha boat engines |29 August 2012

Abhaye Valabhji company, in collaboration with Yamaha Japan and the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA), is currently carrying out a project to change spark plugs, engine oil, gear oil, lubrication and other service parts on Yamaha engines in Seychelles.

This is being done on engines with 8, 15, 25 and 40 horsepower capacities and a full inspection of the engines is also done – all for free.

The exercise – which first started around five years ago – is usually done around once or twice a year with the aim of supporting the local fishing community.

An engineer from the Yamaha Japan is also present to oversee the work done, and offer advice where needed.

Well before the event was due to start at 9am yesterday, fishermen and boat owners had already brought their engines to the Yamaha stand at the fishing port’s SFA compound.

A representative of Abhaye Valabhji company, Dinesh Raghavan, told Seychelles Nation that they are also using the opportunity to offer advice to clients.

He also spoke of some of the malpractices of the engines by clients. “We counsel them on how to use their engines properly and the exact time to change the oil, spark plugs and so on. Many people use their engines without really having it serviced at an exact time, and this damages the engine in the long run and can shorten its life span,” he said.

“There is also a proper way to break in a brand new engine, such as for the first 10 or 20 hours, the speed should be limited, and some people unfortunately simply do not know or ignore the proper ways to run it in. But in general, people in Seychelles take good care of their engines and we don’t get many major issues with the Yamaha engines here.”

If there is repair work to be done, the clients are advised on how best to tackle it.

The Yamaha team will be based at the Anse Royale district administration today, at the La Digue district administration office on August 30 and on Praslin on the final day of the activity on August 31.

Mr Raghavan said they are expecting to service over 100 engines during this year’s campaign and are offering 15% discount on all Yamaha spare parts.