Hi Waffle, I guess we will be paying for the survey, but make no mistake that we have all ready advised by letter that we are refusing an in water delivery as long as the problem is not resolved. My husband and I have are eyes wide open and no one should accept a new boat in this condition. If our requirements are not met very soon then our intention is to return the boat and the money we have spent to prepare it for the summer. It's unfortunate that after a week, we are still without any aknowledgement from Catalina. Our dealer is definately not a fault. The quality control at Catalina seems to lack like many other company's. Thanks
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You have been told twice.
To make this perfectly clear...if you have contacted Catalina yourself and have not heard back from anyone, read the following carefully: Call Frank Butler!!!!!! The number I have in my cell phone is...818-884-7700. I believe it is still good. This man has impeccable integrity and does not tolerate poor service in his company. If he is not available when you call, I can attest to the fact that he will personally return your call...repeatedly if needed. As my issue was ignored by me until my boat was out of warranty and it was repaired to my full satisfaction even though I was only trying to find out the best way to fix it, I am satisfied that the fine print in their warranty is simply a tool to deal with unreasonable people. The man is gruff and doesn't suffer fools, but he is fanatical about customer service. Mistakes get by, final quality control is the responsibility of the dealer. How a company addresses mistakes is the measure of their merit and I am fully satisfied that as long as Frank is CEO, Catalina will be at the top of the list. He does not respond to email Call him....Please.
To make this perfectly clear...if you have contacted Catalina yourself and have not heard back from anyone, read the following carefully: Call Frank Butler!!!!!! The number I have in my cell phone is...818-884-7700. I believe it is still good. This man has impeccable integrity and does not tolerate poor service in his company. If he is not available when you call, I can attest to the fact that he will personally return your call...repeatedly if needed. As my issue was ignored by me until my boat was out of warranty and it was repaired to my full satisfaction even though I was only trying to find out the best way to fix it, I am satisfied that the fine print in their warranty is simply a tool to deal with unreasonable people. The man is gruff and doesn't suffer fools, but he is fanatical about customer service. Mistakes get by, final quality control is the responsibility of the dealer. How a company addresses mistakes is the measure of their merit and I am fully satisfied that as long as Frank is CEO, Catalina will be at the top of the list. He does not respond to email Call him....Please.
Zoulu GOOD!
It may be nothing to worry about and it may be serious. A friend of mine got a powerboat a few years back with cracks around the waterline. He called the manufacture and they say sand then out. I guess they were only in the top level of the gel coat. You problems sound more serious. you need to know if there was a probelm in the manufacturing process, did the truck driver damage, did the dealer's yard drop the boat etc etc etc... Not your problem yet!
It may be nothing to worry about and it may be serious. A friend of mine got a powerboat a few years back with cracks around the waterline. He called the manufacture and they say sand then out. I guess they were only in the top level of the gel coat. You problems sound more serious. you need to know if there was a probelm in the manufacturing process, did the truck driver damage, did the dealer's yard drop the boat etc etc etc... Not your problem yet!
I was wondering the same thing
Its a long ride from the Catalina Factory to Canada. I wonder if the shipping company didn't have a part in the condition of your boat, not that it couldn't have happened at the factory. I find it hard to believe that something like you've described in multiple places would have left the factory like that Some shippers are wonderful although I have witnessed a few things that made me cringe so you never know. Some truckers are gentle on cargo and others don't think twice about potholes. One big pothole can wreck havoc on cargo and no boat is designed to take the hard jolting impact of a few tons on the road like that. Either way its not your responsibility. The dealer and Catalina are paid by you (good money too) to ship it to you in good condition. If the shipper caused the problem then its the dealer and Catalina who should go after the shipper for the problems
Its a long ride from the Catalina Factory to Canada. I wonder if the shipping company didn't have a part in the condition of your boat, not that it couldn't have happened at the factory. I find it hard to believe that something like you've described in multiple places would have left the factory like that Some shippers are wonderful although I have witnessed a few things that made me cringe so you never know. Some truckers are gentle on cargo and others don't think twice about potholes. One big pothole can wreck havoc on cargo and no boat is designed to take the hard jolting impact of a few tons on the road like that. Either way its not your responsibility. The dealer and Catalina are paid by you (good money too) to ship it to you in good condition. If the shipper caused the problem then its the dealer and Catalina who should go after the shipper for the problems
Hi, I have spoken today to Kent Nelson at Catalina and he has made us aware that Frank Butler has our file and will be calling us on Monday. We were told not to worry that everything would be taken care of. There are some things that Kent asked us to check so we may better inform Mr. Butler. Were hopeful that they will take good care of us and hopefully get some sailing this summer. Thanks for everyone's advice, this forum is great. We will keep you informed of our progress. Zoulu
Who cares if it is cosmetic?
A new boat should be perfect. Refusing acceptance is the right thing to do. I would not accept a new car with scratches in the paint even though it has nothing to do with its operation or safety. Gelcoat cracks will happen but they should be YOUR gelcoat cracks, not from the factory. P.S. In my humble opinion the best way to use this forum is to see if a consensus develops. No one person is always right or wrong.
A new boat should be perfect. Refusing acceptance is the right thing to do. I would not accept a new car with scratches in the paint even though it has nothing to do with its operation or safety. Gelcoat cracks will happen but they should be YOUR gelcoat cracks, not from the factory. P.S. In my humble opinion the best way to use this forum is to see if a consensus develops. No one person is always right or wrong.
With all due respect
the concept is not necessarily to gain a consensus, but to provide the person who provided the question with different points of view. Other than electrical and plumbing connections which only have one way to do it right (not systems, I mean), Michel has received some varied and useful input. He's been kind enough to provide us with his feedback which is welcome for us all to keep abreast of progress. He, however, is the only one who can make the decision, it's his boat, and, not to rhyme, it's his vote, not ours. Glad to hear something positive is happening. Since none of us can actually SEE his conditions, as well as he's described them, I appreciate his determination and perseverance in following this with both the factory and with us. Thanks, Michel. Also, while a new boat would be expected to be perfect, it is obvious that many are not. We've all heard stories from people who may not have been aware of issues, cosmetic and otherwise, because of their enthusiasm with their new boat, only to "discover" later issues that may been there all along. Works both ways.
the concept is not necessarily to gain a consensus, but to provide the person who provided the question with different points of view. Other than electrical and plumbing connections which only have one way to do it right (not systems, I mean), Michel has received some varied and useful input. He's been kind enough to provide us with his feedback which is welcome for us all to keep abreast of progress. He, however, is the only one who can make the decision, it's his boat, and, not to rhyme, it's his vote, not ours. Glad to hear something positive is happening. Since none of us can actually SEE his conditions, as well as he's described them, I appreciate his determination and perseverance in following this with both the factory and with us. Thanks, Michel. Also, while a new boat would be expected to be perfect, it is obvious that many are not. We've all heard stories from people who may not have been aware of issues, cosmetic and otherwise, because of their enthusiasm with their new boat, only to "discover" later issues that may been there all along. Works both ways.
Stu, you are a gentleman and a scholar...
...and there aren't many of us left.
I know it does not come down to a vote but I do feel that when a consensus begins to develop it can help a person sort through the various responses. Of course, the final decision is the boat owner's. For me, any defects in a new product are unacceptable. Humbly yours.
...and there aren't many of us left.
I know it does not come down to a vote but I do feel that when a consensus begins to develop it can help a person sort through the various responses. Of course, the final decision is the boat owner's. For me, any defects in a new product are unacceptable. Humbly yours.Hi Stu and Eugene, The crack under the mast will be sanded out and repaired this week as this is the more serious one. You are right with one thing. In the 80's, boats were built better then today as they were often not production boats. Today is a whole different story. Before buying this boat we owned an 1983 First 30E from Beneteau. We spent 2 entire years repairing everything but gelcoat. We have rebuilt the entire electrical and plumbing system. We know very well that even with a new boat things will probably malfunction as they always do. Lucky for us we have the experience with our past boat. While we are waiting for our repairs we have been very busy preparing our hull and last weekend we installed our new wind generator so we may have more independance when not connected to shore power. Our next adventure is to change all lightbulbs to LED's. We will start with the anchor light as this one sucks alot of power. ON ANOTHER NOTE, if one of you wants to install a wind generator, the best one for the size of our boat is the SUPERWIND which comes from Germany. This is our second one. We had on the Beneteau the Aerogene 4 which was silent and sufficient for our needs. The superwind can generate up to 30 amps per hour in very windy conditions and is very silent. Contrary to what many may think, we had the calculations done between the wind generator and solar panels and the wind generator will produce more amps because the solar panels need to follow the position of the sun. Alot of boat owners in our region have installed both as for us the generator has always been sufficient. We are still in the process of analyzing the consumption of every electrical system on our boat. Once this is done then we will proceed with the installation of higher quality batteries. This is the reason why we do very well without solar panels. Have a great day Annick and Michel
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