Horrific first trip out in new boat

[Buttafewcoe]

Bottom line is....take it for a test drive be4 leaving the lot. Might save you a lot of headaches down the road, or river, or whatever
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[Nafplio]

That sucks. I would hate that as a first experience. I have to agree with Joe though. If you ever get the opportunity, visit the factory. You'll see how they are made. I can't speak for SC, but I had a tour at a competitor's facility before. I am not a mechanic or a boat builder, but all things equal, I think I can put one together.
On the other hand, when the darn thing costs more than a new truck, it should perform better as well. Unfortunately, a good portion of the price tag is market driven.
Bottom line is nobody cares more about your boat than you. Even the best dealer will have limited time to work on one boat only. Please take the time to learn about it and check things out before each trip. You'll have a lot more fun.

[vfrdude]

Just exactly does 'faulty installed water intake hose' mean? There are things that should be checked each time the boat is used, and doing a visual on the hoses/belts, engine compartment in general are some of them.

Not saying that anything is you're fault, but you probably could have avoided the situation.

[mtm_lsv]

Same thing happened to me last weekend. One of many issues I have dealt with during my break-in. See my posting for First 10 Hours: One problem after another...under Service & Repair. What I found was my hose clamp was tight but the hose itself did not line up properly with the intake. The way the hose was molded or bent or cut the angles did not line up. Therefore the hose would be all the against the intake on one side but barely covering the intake on the other. Eventually I had to squish it up around the intake and tighten down the clamp to get the boat back into the slip. This meant the hose was then somewhat kinked.

[bradcraig78]

Similar problem but I had 10 hours on my new XLV. Busted hose, started sinking, scared engine would be ruined. But after taking it to the dealer they had me up and running in 2 days. Engine is fine. Don’t worry SC will make it right.

[edwindenijs]

Saterday i can finally pick up my new lsv. But you scare me with all these story's!
I bought a moomba because i thougt they are very good boats but this year I read a lot of bad things.
Shouldn't the dealer always take the boat for a test drive? Mine does so I hope most bugs are out... and that the sun wil shine for me this weekend.

[cab13367]

Edwin,

Congratulations on the new boat! My suggestion to you is to make absolutely sure that you have the dealer take you out on the water and have him operate everything on the boat and confirm that everything is operational and nothing is leaking before trailering her home. Have them show you how to put up and fold the tower, put up the bimini, fill the ballast bags, run the PP - test everything. I had the dealer install the Gravity III system in my boat and allowed him to talk me out of testing it as they had already winterized it since it was the middle of winter. Well, the first time I used it, the front bag would not stop filling. Every time we were moving, water was coming out of the overflow hole. It turns out that the override switch on the front bag fill pump was activated so that the valve did not close even when the switch was in the off position. Also, the front and the rear starboard bags leaked at the fittings. Not a big deal but something that was not discovered because we didn't test out all the systems prior to taking delivery.

Hope that helps.

Al

[cab13367]

How would you guys react if your brand new $400,000 Italian racer did not start on the first try ? OR sputtered out while cornering? Very common. Why ? They are small quantity productions all hand built.

Wow, Joe, you must be every Ferrari and Lamborghini dealer's dream customer. And I must be their worst nightmare. If I paid 400 grand for a new sports car and the thing would not start the first time and sputtered while cornering, I'd take it right back and demand a refund. I don't care that it's hand built - it ought to start right up and it certainly should NOT sputter while cornering. I used to own an 86 Porsche 911 (granted, it didn't cost anything close to 40 grand much less 400 and it's not Italian) and it always started the first time and never sputtered while cornering (and I drove it on many a racetrack at 9/10ths). I guess I didn't pay enough for it

Joe, please don't take this wrong, but I wonder what line of work you are in that you take such a lax position on quality. I work for a global engineering and construction firm that designs and builds electrical powerplants, high voltage substations and transmission lines, water treatment facilities, petrochemical plants, etc. and for us, quality is everything. So forgive me if I am a little adamant about it.

Al

[BensonWdby]

This is not a slam of SC or Joe or anyone else. This is just a point of view.

I have never paid $40,000 for a boat or a vehicle. My first house was only $75K. I only paid $20k for my Mobius and I expect it to perform flawlessly, which it does most of the time. When it doesn't I get angry, but I am out of warranty so I have to fix it and shut up. If I spent $40K for a boat I would be stupid NOT to expect it to work as designed. It's a boat made by people who all they do is make boats, with many years under their belt.

So I guess you are right - how much you pay for something is not the issue. The issue is this.

A boat has two basic functions:
1. Float.
2. Stop/Go on command.
If nothing else, that boat better do both of those very well before it leaves the plant and continue to do so for most of it's life with few problems. Other things like trailer lights, gauges, stereo, etc... I can see writing off to hadn-made... or whatever.

The whole issue about taking out friends prior to break-in is really irrelevant. The problem is that a hose that was supposed to be on correctly was not. That problem would have been the same regardless of how many people were in the boat. The good news is that with all the people in the boat you had more to help bail to keep from sinking.

The argument that these are hand made is weak in my opinion. In fact, that used to be Porsche's claim to quality. Not sure if that is still true. If something is hand made then it has the opportunity to be manually tested and visually inspected right at time of assembly. This should increase the quality, not decrease it. Yes there is human error, but in the case of the $10K car made by robots you are dealing with a process problem that can only be caught by statiscal sampling. With a hand made boat you have 100% hands on availability during manufacture.

Sorry but I am with the owners on this. I would be pissed, and it is not their fault. If MC or CC or Malibu have the same problems then I would hold them equally accountable.

Dave

[gsi09907]

Well, good conversation! I pick my boat up tomorrow and go on a test ride with the dealer, he has fixed the problem and changed out the starter due to water intake and he says all is well and everything works fine. I will test out tomorrow and if it works then she will come home and sleep in the garage this weekend.

As for the engine inspection comment, the hose was on and tight but the clamp was not properly installed on the hose so when under heat and pressure it slipped off, I'm not a boat mechanic and even if inspected before use would have never checked for that anyway...


peace out!!!!

keep the tower up and the fins down