We often hear the bad of boat yards but what about the good.
I just came from visiting with my sister-in-laws father who bought a Hunt Yachts Harrier 29 (power boat) a couple of years ago. The boat summers in Camden Maine and winters in Dataw Island, SC. The Maine broker and yard he bought if from have treated him EXCEPTIONALLY well, not unheard of in Maine.
When he bought this boat he wanted a relationship with the yard due to his age and the fact that he does not want to do the work himself.
This relationship includes transportation to and from Maine to South Carolina each fall and back to Maine in the spring. All servicing, bright-work and basically anything and everything the boat needs is done by the yard in Maine, and all facilitated through the broker he bought it from. They even got him an amazing slip in Camden's inner harbor, which is darn near impossible to get.
In October the boat was hauled, bright-work done and all servicing completed before being loaded onto a trailer and transported to South Carolina. When he got the boat he took her out and within about 30 minutes the engine just stopped. This was on a Friday at about 2:00 PM. There were no alarms, high temps or anything out of the ordinary. The boat has a 435 HP Volvo D6 diesel with counter-rotating prop out-drive. He called his boat yard and they began the trouble shooting over the phone. Perplexed they hung up and called back about 15 minutes later.
"I am looking over the service record and notice that we did not have a line item for the out-drive gear oil though I see the labor for draining it. Can you have a local mechanic check the gear oil?"
Sure enough, no gear oil..Doh'!:cussing:Yards make mistakes, even good ones, but it is how they deal with them that makes the "relationship" really work.
Within an hour the yard in Maine had located a brand new out-drive located and was having it Fed-Ex shipped to him in SC. They put their mechanic in a van on Friday night and he was in South Carolina Sunday. The out-drive was installed, at 100% zero cost to him, and he was back on the water by Monday afternoon.
Not only did the yard 100% admit fault, they actually had the records to indicate that they were at fault, and freely owned up to it. Instead of whining or trying to get out of it, or shoving it off on a local mechanic in SC, they sent their own guy 1300 miles to fix the problem ASAP....
When he buys a new boat where do you suspect he'll buy it? Not all yards are deceptive or dishonest!! Merry x-mas..!
I just came from visiting with my sister-in-laws father who bought a Hunt Yachts Harrier 29 (power boat) a couple of years ago. The boat summers in Camden Maine and winters in Dataw Island, SC. The Maine broker and yard he bought if from have treated him EXCEPTIONALLY well, not unheard of in Maine.
When he bought this boat he wanted a relationship with the yard due to his age and the fact that he does not want to do the work himself. This relationship includes transportation to and from Maine to South Carolina each fall and back to Maine in the spring. All servicing, bright-work and basically anything and everything the boat needs is done by the yard in Maine, and all facilitated through the broker he bought it from. They even got him an amazing slip in Camden's inner harbor, which is darn near impossible to get.
In October the boat was hauled, bright-work done and all servicing completed before being loaded onto a trailer and transported to South Carolina. When he got the boat he took her out and within about 30 minutes the engine just stopped. This was on a Friday at about 2:00 PM. There were no alarms, high temps or anything out of the ordinary. The boat has a 435 HP Volvo D6 diesel with counter-rotating prop out-drive. He called his boat yard and they began the trouble shooting over the phone. Perplexed they hung up and called back about 15 minutes later.
"I am looking over the service record and notice that we did not have a line item for the out-drive gear oil though I see the labor for draining it. Can you have a local mechanic check the gear oil?"
Sure enough, no gear oil..Doh'!:cussing:Yards make mistakes, even good ones, but it is how they deal with them that makes the "relationship" really work.
Within an hour the yard in Maine had located a brand new out-drive located and was having it Fed-Ex shipped to him in SC. They put their mechanic in a van on Friday night and he was in South Carolina Sunday. The out-drive was installed, at 100% zero cost to him, and he was back on the water by Monday afternoon.
Not only did the yard 100% admit fault, they actually had the records to indicate that they were at fault, and freely owned up to it. Instead of whining or trying to get out of it, or shoving it off on a local mechanic in SC, they sent their own guy 1300 miles to fix the problem ASAP....
When he buys a new boat where do you suspect he'll buy it? Not all yards are deceptive or dishonest!!
Merry x-mas..!
