starcrafttom
Active member
So where do I start. My boat is 3 years old but has a lot of mileage and hours on her and those that know me know that I use it a lot and use it hard. I like to cruise and fish for hours. I have run to P.L. inlet from the San Juan’s in one day. We have slept in the snow in the San Juan’s three times. What I am trying to say is that I use my boat. But I have been having problems that I wanted to get fixed but just could not stop using the boat long enough to do it. Well the weather sucks and I am taking classes for my dive cert for the next few weeks so I thought now would be the time to get it fixed. The problems are many and should not be problems on a three year boat so I called the factory to see where they want me to take it. My dealer is Les and he is not a dealer anymore and he never did glass work anyway. Wish he did but his shop just does not have the room for it. C-dory no longer does repair work anymore so I was told to take it to Sea Ray marine in Seattle.
Now I was worried about taking my baby to some go fast, wine sipping cruising boat shop. I should not have worried. I started by calling the Seattle office and telling them what needed to be done (which I will get to in a minute). Now I was ready to tell the same story to several people over and over again as I got handed down the line to the right guy, as happens in most places I have done business with. I was told to bring it down for a look and they would take care of it and let me know what needed to be done after the repair shop looked at it. Ok that sounds like a week but you have to start the process some time right? Well I towed down to Seattle and spent 45 min’s going the last 3 mile’s, the whole time looking across the lake at the Sea ray show from the truck. When I got there I was directed to the service department were I gave my name and they pulled out a work order with all my concerns type out all ready. :shock: .Ok they listened the first time, that’s nice. I was told to sign and that the fife service guys would get a hold of me after they looked at it. Fifi??? Yes they towed it to fife for me to save me gas: shock: I walked outside to drop the trailer and they had already done it for me and all I had to do was drive off. So far so good. The next morning I get a call from the service guy, Aaron with a report of the problems with my boat that I had listed and the other problems with my boat that they had found for me. They had a plan already to address all the problems and they wanted to check out a few other things to insure there were no other problems with the hull. :wink: I was surprised and please with the service that I was receiving from a repair shop for the second time in my life. The other being Les when I took my engines there for service. Now all that had to be done was for Sea ray to call C-dory to clear all work.
C-dory wanted to see the boat and go over it. So sea ray towed it over there for me the next day and dealt with the factory for me. Now I can’t say anything bad about the factory except that two of the problems I was having have been worked on before by the factory two years ago and had came back. I have also had a hard time getting some one on the phone there. I have caught them on the phone but never had them call me back but once. They have always been nice and addressed my problems, concerns and questions when I have talked to them. So The factor approved all the work that I and Sea ray wanted done under warranty :wink . So now it was a matter of when. I was thinking that is going to be a matter of weeks before they could fit me into their schedule. Searay said they could start on Monday :shock: Then I get a phone call that the factory, that no longer does repair work, is going to do the work themselves???? I guess that they did not like the price tag of Sea rays repair shop. :cry So now the factory is doing all the repair work and frank, the warranty guy, is doing it himself. I have been told that as long as frank is doing the work that I have nothing to worry about. I just don’t want the same repairs to have to be done in another two years.
So what is being done you might ask? I have been having a mystery leak in the v-berth for over a year but could never find the source. I have also had water under the v-berth at the oddest times. Now the first year we got the boat we had a leak in the bow guard that collected water under the v-berth and the factory fixed it. The weird thing is that the water only collects now when on the trailer when it rains. So I have water coming in some place that I could not find. Last week I found rain water coming in from a pin hole in the side of the boat. Its leaking is from the rub rail and running between the glass and the paint inside the cab and then comes out a hole in the paint. Sea ray found 7 loose rivets in the rail that are the heart of the problem. They also found leaks in the anchor locker. All the foam in the v-berth is soaked thru and thru with water. There are cracks in the corners of the v-berth cut out where the port a potty sits, top and bottom. So all of this is a concern and needs to be fixed by the factory. After talking to (forgot his name :crook ) at the boat show about his boat coming apart I had great concern about the hull and the core. Well Sea ray suggested that we take a core sample to see if there was any water. They had already re-cored a c-dory that had the core rot and soak with water last year. So first they did a water meter reading to the hull but could not get a good reading so we did the core sample. It came back clear and now I don’t have to worry about it anymore which is a load off my mind. Other problems are a crack in the rail near the cabin. I had this fixed before by the factory and it has come back worse now. Sea ray believes that it came back because it was not fixed right and I am of the same mind. It was fixed on the cheap the last time. I also had the fuel tank stays replaced after they pulled out the first year. The factory replaced them with glassed in wood strips. These are now falling and are being redone again. I am told they will be done the right way. There are a lot of fair sized cracks in the transom and motor well that need to be repaired before they become bigger. I also have a lot or cracks in the cabin wall on the driver’s side that needs to be repaired. Now the factory is going to take care of all this under warranty and they will pull the foam out of the v-berth. To do this they have to cut holes in the v-berth so I am getting three hatches like the new boats for free.
So all in all I am impressed with Sea ray and Aaron and his crew. They were quick, polite, informative and to the point. They communicated well with calls and email with photos of the boat and transported it for me. I wonder if the factory will tow it back for me or not?? The factory has been quick to make the decision to fix my problems and did not argue about anything that needs to be fixed just who was going to do it. Now the factory has a lot of different people working there then the last time they worked on my boat so I hope that it get’s fixed right and I have been told that frank knows his glass work and is the guy to do it. We will see how it all turns out soon. The bad part of all this is that I wanted to fish a local derby next week but now have no boat :cry so who want to take me fishing ????? Tim???
Now I was worried about taking my baby to some go fast, wine sipping cruising boat shop. I should not have worried. I started by calling the Seattle office and telling them what needed to be done (which I will get to in a minute). Now I was ready to tell the same story to several people over and over again as I got handed down the line to the right guy, as happens in most places I have done business with. I was told to bring it down for a look and they would take care of it and let me know what needed to be done after the repair shop looked at it. Ok that sounds like a week but you have to start the process some time right? Well I towed down to Seattle and spent 45 min’s going the last 3 mile’s, the whole time looking across the lake at the Sea ray show from the truck. When I got there I was directed to the service department were I gave my name and they pulled out a work order with all my concerns type out all ready. :shock: .Ok they listened the first time, that’s nice. I was told to sign and that the fife service guys would get a hold of me after they looked at it. Fifi??? Yes they towed it to fife for me to save me gas: shock: I walked outside to drop the trailer and they had already done it for me and all I had to do was drive off. So far so good. The next morning I get a call from the service guy, Aaron with a report of the problems with my boat that I had listed and the other problems with my boat that they had found for me. They had a plan already to address all the problems and they wanted to check out a few other things to insure there were no other problems with the hull. :wink: I was surprised and please with the service that I was receiving from a repair shop for the second time in my life. The other being Les when I took my engines there for service. Now all that had to be done was for Sea ray to call C-dory to clear all work.
C-dory wanted to see the boat and go over it. So sea ray towed it over there for me the next day and dealt with the factory for me. Now I can’t say anything bad about the factory except that two of the problems I was having have been worked on before by the factory two years ago and had came back. I have also had a hard time getting some one on the phone there. I have caught them on the phone but never had them call me back but once. They have always been nice and addressed my problems, concerns and questions when I have talked to them. So The factor approved all the work that I and Sea ray wanted done under warranty :wink . So now it was a matter of when. I was thinking that is going to be a matter of weeks before they could fit me into their schedule. Searay said they could start on Monday :shock: Then I get a phone call that the factory, that no longer does repair work, is going to do the work themselves???? I guess that they did not like the price tag of Sea rays repair shop. :cry So now the factory is doing all the repair work and frank, the warranty guy, is doing it himself. I have been told that as long as frank is doing the work that I have nothing to worry about. I just don’t want the same repairs to have to be done in another two years.
So what is being done you might ask? I have been having a mystery leak in the v-berth for over a year but could never find the source. I have also had water under the v-berth at the oddest times. Now the first year we got the boat we had a leak in the bow guard that collected water under the v-berth and the factory fixed it. The weird thing is that the water only collects now when on the trailer when it rains. So I have water coming in some place that I could not find. Last week I found rain water coming in from a pin hole in the side of the boat. Its leaking is from the rub rail and running between the glass and the paint inside the cab and then comes out a hole in the paint. Sea ray found 7 loose rivets in the rail that are the heart of the problem. They also found leaks in the anchor locker. All the foam in the v-berth is soaked thru and thru with water. There are cracks in the corners of the v-berth cut out where the port a potty sits, top and bottom. So all of this is a concern and needs to be fixed by the factory. After talking to (forgot his name :crook ) at the boat show about his boat coming apart I had great concern about the hull and the core. Well Sea ray suggested that we take a core sample to see if there was any water. They had already re-cored a c-dory that had the core rot and soak with water last year. So first they did a water meter reading to the hull but could not get a good reading so we did the core sample. It came back clear and now I don’t have to worry about it anymore which is a load off my mind. Other problems are a crack in the rail near the cabin. I had this fixed before by the factory and it has come back worse now. Sea ray believes that it came back because it was not fixed right and I am of the same mind. It was fixed on the cheap the last time. I also had the fuel tank stays replaced after they pulled out the first year. The factory replaced them with glassed in wood strips. These are now falling and are being redone again. I am told they will be done the right way. There are a lot of fair sized cracks in the transom and motor well that need to be repaired before they become bigger. I also have a lot or cracks in the cabin wall on the driver’s side that needs to be repaired. Now the factory is going to take care of all this under warranty and they will pull the foam out of the v-berth. To do this they have to cut holes in the v-berth so I am getting three hatches like the new boats for free.
So all in all I am impressed with Sea ray and Aaron and his crew. They were quick, polite, informative and to the point. They communicated well with calls and email with photos of the boat and transported it for me. I wonder if the factory will tow it back for me or not?? The factory has been quick to make the decision to fix my problems and did not argue about anything that needs to be fixed just who was going to do it. Now the factory has a lot of different people working there then the last time they worked on my boat so I hope that it get’s fixed right and I have been told that frank knows his glass work and is the guy to do it. We will see how it all turns out soon. The bad part of all this is that I wanted to fish a local derby next week but now have no boat :cry so who want to take me fishing ????? Tim???