New Boats
- Thread starter Double Fun
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What You Say .......................
.................... varies from dealer to dealer.
When we bought our new H310, the dealer was a louse.. Everything he did was a big favour out of the goodness of his heart. And he did as little as possible. I saw from a post a month back that he is still up to his underhanded tricks. Seems like nothing has changed in thirteen years. I would say anyone who deals with this con man should follow your instructions to the letter.
However, I do believe there are some dealers who do give good service from what I have seen on these pages.
Unfortunately, both of us got bitten by a couple of real bastards :cussing:.
.................... varies from dealer to dealer.
When we bought our new H310, the dealer was a louse.. Everything he did was a big favour out of the goodness of his heart. And he did as little as possible. I saw from a post a month back that he is still up to his underhanded tricks. Seems like nothing has changed in thirteen years. I would say anyone who deals with this con man should follow your instructions to the letter.
However, I do believe there are some dealers who do give good service from what I have seen on these pages.
Unfortunately, both of us got bitten by a couple of real bastards :cussing:.
That's pretty sad that you guys went through this kind of experience when buyin new. I thought that this was the whole point, to know that a new boat is supposed to be more reliable, designed better, & have a warranty to back it up. But I guess its not surprising. I do think that Catalina would heopefully stand behind their boats a lil better, as a manufacture's reputation is all they have. Although I recall reading in Boat US to stay clear of new Tartans: one had a keel fall off, another sunk from keel cracks, & another had a mast that was 3" off from center on the deck. Seems like a lot of new boats are much more style then substance.
Warranties ......................
If you just deal with a louse of a dealer, the warranty isn't worth the paper its written on. I didn't make much, if any progress on my warranty claims until I contacted Hunter Marine directly and they became involved. I was very pleased with their involvement.
For once I feel like I have a little experience that might qualify me to make a comment or two about the subject of buying a new boat--my wife and I have bought ten new boats over a fifty plus year period from five dealers. We started years ago by buying a Cal 20 which is still one of my favorite boats. The dealer knew I knew nothing about boats and helped where he could. Our next boat was a Pearson 27 and once again, like the Cal 20 it had nothing on it to go wrong. A straight transfer from dealer to me but a different dealer then the Cal. But it was not a boat that I liked, more me then boat though. We traded it in a Ranger 29 and we loved the boat and the dealer. Ed Gove (Gove's Cove) was an outstanding dealer who would invite us to parties, kept us informed on how to take care of the boat--he was priceless. Indeed, I took several people to him who also bought boats. Because we had started racing, we traded the Ranger 29 on a racing Ranger 32 (three quarter ton measurement) and Ed was able to get a number of things on that boat from the builder that we probably would not have afforded. My wife loved that boat and I hated it. It was a fussy boat and I swear it liked women better then men. She could get it to sail and I couldn't.
The next boat that we bought was from a bank. The dealer had gone bankrupted and the bank just wanted to get its money back. It was an excellent deal for us but no dealer to take care of problems....it was up to us. The Sceptre 36 was an excellent boat except it was hull number one. Nothing quite fit below. But it was a great sailor and we cruised all over Puget Sound and into Canada's great Desolation Sound. I found out later that I could have taken the boat back to the builder and he would have fixed some of the problems--but then I didn't know. He was a good building and went on to design and build the Screptre 41, another beautiful boat which I couldn't afford.
But boat building was changing. It was becoming big business and the builders were changing how they built boats. Catalina, Tartan, Pearson, Hunter had large plants that actually had production lines, where the boats moved through much like the auto industry. After looking at a number of brands, I traded the Sceptre in on a Hunter 40. To save money, the dealer let me commission the boat by myself. My oh my did I have a learning lesson. Boat yards are a different country entirely. I feel for some dealers who did not have their own yards. I also had to charter my Hunter 40 to be able to afford it. But because I had commissioned it I knew everything about the boat and could repair as the charterers broke and damaged stuff. The chartering was a low point in my boat owers career but the Hunter 40 was a big step upward in how boats were put together. Through hull fittings were all in hatches that I could get at--the engine was revealed by removing the steps, there was no unfinished fiberglass that we had in previous boats and it came with everything including anchors and line, sails and sheets and halyards, everything. The Hunter 40 was a local dealer and Dick and I became close friends. I don't know how many cups of coffee I had where he and some of his staff would have a gam session. I learned a lot.
But the chartering was not for me. I traded that boat in on a much smaller boat, a Hunter Vision 32--got the same price for the Hunter 40 that I paid for it five years earlier. Same dealer. Nice guy. The Hunter 32 was an interesting boat. Once again, designing and building boats was "a-changing." The 32 had a walk though transom, a BIG interior, all sorts of stuff that one would not have gotten in an earlier boat. However, I never could get this boat to sail well--single large main and a jiblet up front. I never could get it to point and around here in the northwest, you either point or go downwind. After five years we traded the boat in on a new Hunter 35.5 (got a good price on the old boat as the dealer wanted to put it into charter).
Oh my did I love that Hunter 35.5. It was a fast boat, a fun boat to sail and it could POINT. It had a great interior, a great deck layout and the beginning of the B&R rig. I went back to racing and that boat did so well that we won boat of the year in local racing. I really loved that boat. A real sweetheart. But one of my main crew members in racing, died one winter unexpectedly and I got out of racing. Time to go cruising.
So we traded that boat in (got almost the same price as I paid for it) on a Hunter 380 which I believe to this day is one of the best boats that the Hunter Design team ever put together. Yes, there were problems with the boat but not in the design. It came with a faulty rudder which Hunter took care of. It had some other problems which the dealer took care of. But it was a new dealer. Hunter had decided to consolidate its dealers in the northwest in Seattle so my local dealer was out of the picture. But we had a good dealer that worked with us on fixing the problems....sometimes at a large difference--my boat was here in Bellingham and the dealer was in Seattle, an hour and a half drive away. Still once we fixed most things, that Hunter 380 remains one of the best boats that I've ever sailed on (I'm a licensed CG captain and sailed a number of different sailboats). We loved that boat so much that we kept it for nine years, the longest of any of our boats.
Hunter (along with the competition) were continually changing the building techniques. There were new things on that 380 that were practical, intelligent, and valuable. I had a certified marine electrician once tell me that of all the boats, this 380 was the best wired and up to date boat he had been on--all wires were labeled and fused to the latest standards. This was what i found in buy all my boats was that each boat was significantly improved with the latest standards were it equipment or building techniques. I never had to go out of my way to up-grade my Hunters. They were already up-graded.
I loved that 380 and still think it is the best boat we've ever owned overall. Did lots of cruising, just my wife and I but we covered Puget Sound, the San Juan and Gulf Islands and all of the Desolation area. Meant to go to Alaska but we never had the time because we always wanted to go back to some of our favorite places. It was always, "next year."
But the boat didn't change--I did. I found as I grew old and entered retirement time I didn't want to jump down from the deck to the dock anymore. And docking the boat as I had done for years was becoming more of problem then it had ever been. My wife wanted to play with her bonsai plants instead of going sailing so what to do.....we traded the 380 in on a 2009 Hunter 27. Something I could sail by myself, a day sailor or maybe an occasional overnighter. I didn't need much.
I bought that Hunter 380 for $129,000 and sold it for $121,000 after nine years. And Hunter gave me an amazing discount on the Hunter 27...something about loyalty. I didn't have to pay sales tax because we were downsizing. It was the right move. And same dealer but he had opened a local branch in my home town. Still the commissioning was done in Seattle and as usual we had some problems that the dealer and I worked through. It took a couple of years to get everything worked out.
Today I have the best boat for me, a Hunter 27 with a three blade Max prop, beautiful companionway doors (made by Cruising Concepts on this web site), a Webasto furnace (for the first time, heat in the head!), roller furling main and jib, a good looking dodger to shelter me from the winds, a stove to make coffee or tea, even a microwave which I've never used. And best of all a WinchRite (also on this web site) to furl and unfurl the sails. The boat docks like a charm (although I do manage to hit the damn dock from time to time with the bow) and sails like a princess.
I don't know if there are any more new boats in my future but I'll be looking from time to time. I am in the September of my song so don't know now much longer I'll be able to sail. So I went out and bought a new asymmetrical Spinnaker from the local Doyle loft in Lynnwood (WA) that I can fly by myself all from the cockpit. No going up to the mast and fussing with lines. I now fuss from the comfort of the cockpit. Pretty sail.
I think buying a boat from a dealer is a doable activity. It is not the same as buying a used boat, that is clear enough. But I have never had to have the boat surveyed when buying a new one--perhaps I now know enough to check it out myself. No, I'll never know enough. But I'll muddle through.
I've enjoyed all my boats to some degree, well, maybe not that Pearson or that Ranger 32 that my wife liked so much. But they have all been good boats with the latest that building and technology at THAT time. I've probably changed more then the boats have over the years. And I love my Hunters--they all gave me great pleasure....especially my little Hunter 27. It has been a grand sail into the sunset.
The next boat that we bought was from a bank. The dealer had gone bankrupted and the bank just wanted to get its money back. It was an excellent deal for us but no dealer to take care of problems....it was up to us. The Sceptre 36 was an excellent boat except it was hull number one. Nothing quite fit below. But it was a great sailor and we cruised all over Puget Sound and into Canada's great Desolation Sound. I found out later that I could have taken the boat back to the builder and he would have fixed some of the problems--but then I didn't know. He was a good building and went on to design and build the Screptre 41, another beautiful boat which I couldn't afford.
But boat building was changing. It was becoming big business and the builders were changing how they built boats. Catalina, Tartan, Pearson, Hunter had large plants that actually had production lines, where the boats moved through much like the auto industry. After looking at a number of brands, I traded the Sceptre in on a Hunter 40. To save money, the dealer let me commission the boat by myself. My oh my did I have a learning lesson. Boat yards are a different country entirely. I feel for some dealers who did not have their own yards. I also had to charter my Hunter 40 to be able to afford it. But because I had commissioned it I knew everything about the boat and could repair as the charterers broke and damaged stuff. The chartering was a low point in my boat owers career but the Hunter 40 was a big step upward in how boats were put together. Through hull fittings were all in hatches that I could get at--the engine was revealed by removing the steps, there was no unfinished fiberglass that we had in previous boats and it came with everything including anchors and line, sails and sheets and halyards, everything. The Hunter 40 was a local dealer and Dick and I became close friends. I don't know how many cups of coffee I had where he and some of his staff would have a gam session. I learned a lot.
But the chartering was not for me. I traded that boat in on a much smaller boat, a Hunter Vision 32--got the same price for the Hunter 40 that I paid for it five years earlier. Same dealer. Nice guy. The Hunter 32 was an interesting boat. Once again, designing and building boats was "a-changing." The 32 had a walk though transom, a BIG interior, all sorts of stuff that one would not have gotten in an earlier boat. However, I never could get this boat to sail well--single large main and a jiblet up front. I never could get it to point and around here in the northwest, you either point or go downwind. After five years we traded the boat in on a new Hunter 35.5 (got a good price on the old boat as the dealer wanted to put it into charter).
Oh my did I love that Hunter 35.5. It was a fast boat, a fun boat to sail and it could POINT. It had a great interior, a great deck layout and the beginning of the B&R rig. I went back to racing and that boat did so well that we won boat of the year in local racing. I really loved that boat. A real sweetheart. But one of my main crew members in racing, died one winter unexpectedly and I got out of racing. Time to go cruising.
So we traded that boat in (got almost the same price as I paid for it) on a Hunter 380 which I believe to this day is one of the best boats that the Hunter Design team ever put together. Yes, there were problems with the boat but not in the design. It came with a faulty rudder which Hunter took care of. It had some other problems which the dealer took care of. But it was a new dealer. Hunter had decided to consolidate its dealers in the northwest in Seattle so my local dealer was out of the picture. But we had a good dealer that worked with us on fixing the problems....sometimes at a large difference--my boat was here in Bellingham and the dealer was in Seattle, an hour and a half drive away. Still once we fixed most things, that Hunter 380 remains one of the best boats that I've ever sailed on (I'm a licensed CG captain and sailed a number of different sailboats). We loved that boat so much that we kept it for nine years, the longest of any of our boats.
Hunter (along with the competition) were continually changing the building techniques. There were new things on that 380 that were practical, intelligent, and valuable. I had a certified marine electrician once tell me that of all the boats, this 380 was the best wired and up to date boat he had been on--all wires were labeled and fused to the latest standards. This was what i found in buy all my boats was that each boat was significantly improved with the latest standards were it equipment or building techniques. I never had to go out of my way to up-grade my Hunters. They were already up-graded.
I loved that 380 and still think it is the best boat we've ever owned overall. Did lots of cruising, just my wife and I but we covered Puget Sound, the San Juan and Gulf Islands and all of the Desolation area. Meant to go to Alaska but we never had the time because we always wanted to go back to some of our favorite places. It was always, "next year."
But the boat didn't change--I did. I found as I grew old and entered retirement time I didn't want to jump down from the deck to the dock anymore. And docking the boat as I had done for years was becoming more of problem then it had ever been. My wife wanted to play with her bonsai plants instead of going sailing so what to do.....we traded the 380 in on a 2009 Hunter 27. Something I could sail by myself, a day sailor or maybe an occasional overnighter. I didn't need much.
I bought that Hunter 380 for $129,000 and sold it for $121,000 after nine years. And Hunter gave me an amazing discount on the Hunter 27...something about loyalty. I didn't have to pay sales tax because we were downsizing. It was the right move. And same dealer but he had opened a local branch in my home town. Still the commissioning was done in Seattle and as usual we had some problems that the dealer and I worked through. It took a couple of years to get everything worked out.
Today I have the best boat for me, a Hunter 27 with a three blade Max prop, beautiful companionway doors (made by Cruising Concepts on this web site), a Webasto furnace (for the first time, heat in the head!), roller furling main and jib, a good looking dodger to shelter me from the winds, a stove to make coffee or tea, even a microwave which I've never used. And best of all a WinchRite (also on this web site) to furl and unfurl the sails. The boat docks like a charm (although I do manage to hit the damn dock from time to time with the bow) and sails like a princess.
I don't know if there are any more new boats in my future but I'll be looking from time to time. I am in the September of my song so don't know now much longer I'll be able to sail. So I went out and bought a new asymmetrical Spinnaker from the local Doyle loft in Lynnwood (WA) that I can fly by myself all from the cockpit. No going up to the mast and fussing with lines. I now fuss from the comfort of the cockpit. Pretty sail.
I think buying a boat from a dealer is a doable activity. It is not the same as buying a used boat, that is clear enough. But I have never had to have the boat surveyed when buying a new one--perhaps I now know enough to check it out myself. No, I'll never know enough. But I'll muddle through.
I've enjoyed all my boats to some degree, well, maybe not that Pearson or that Ranger 32 that my wife liked so much. But they have all been good boats with the latest that building and technology at THAT time. I've probably changed more then the boats have over the years. And I love my Hunters--they all gave me great pleasure....especially my little Hunter 27. It has been a grand sail into the sunset.
Very interesting chronicle and well written. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Not often we get to meet someone who changes boats like most people change their socks
.
Not often we get to meet someone who changes boats like most people change their socks
.
After working with three used sailboats over a 20 year period my wife and I thought it would be more fun to sail the boats rather than rebuild them. Accordingly we bought our first new boat in 2003, a H466. Our dealer, Signature Yachts, insisted that we spend a weekend on the boat using all systems to 1. verify the operational status of the systems, and 2. to get us as the new owners more familiar with the systems. That weekend trial period was invaluable to us and Signature. Some issues were discovered and resolved during that trial and we took delivery about three weeks after that. Later, the biggest problem we had was the unreliability of the new CO detection alarms. Hunter I think was trying to be ahead of the curve on this aspect but the alarms did not function as advertised...I had numerous phone calls about, "your boat is alarming again". At any rate Signature was very cooperative with those repeated calls and other minor items over a two year period. Sounds like we were very fortunate with boat and dealer. Later, Hunter issued a recall on thru hull valves. Hunter paid for the haul out, removal and replacement of valves and some minor gelcoat damage near the rudder stock hull penetration.
We have had very good luck with Signature Yachts and Greg Emerson of Hunter. Additionally, our Hunter Association of Puget Sound members exchange knowledge and expetise with each other and that helps our maintenance efforts tremendously.
We have had very good luck with Signature Yachts and Greg Emerson of Hunter. Additionally, our Hunter Association of Puget Sound members exchange knowledge and expetise with each other and that helps our maintenance efforts tremendously.
I bought a new Hunter 36 in 2008 from Racine Riverside in Wisconsin. All in all my experience with the dealer was good. There were problems with the boat that the dealer took care of immediately and a few other problems that showed up later that were due to oversight on the part of the dealer during commissioning that I didn't catch (furling line was installed improperly on roller furler and came loose from drum in 30+ knot winds). The big thing that impressed me with Hunter and the dealer is that they honored the 5 year warranty for blister repair. I took the boat back to the dealer for the blister repairs and they did a good job at no cost to me except for moving my cradle from my usual boat storage yard to the dealer and back.
If I were to buy another Hunter I would go back to Racine.
If I were to buy another Hunter I would go back to Racine.
My wife and I recently purchased a new 2012 Hunter e33 in the Vancouver, BC area and could not be more pleased with the support from both the dealer and his service department. For my wife and I it has been a very positive experience and one that I only wish all new boat owners could undergo. BTW, the Vancouver dealer was awarded the 2012 #1 Hunter Dealer of the Year and 2012 #3 Hunter Customer Service of the Year. This is worldwide not just in Canada or North America. They are a very special group of people. Over 60% of his customers are return customers. We are truly blessed to have this dealer and his service manager to work with.
Congratulations on your new 2012 Hunter e33. Couldn't help but notice your glowing report about the Vancouver Hunter dealer. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you but I hope you noticed this recent post here.
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=952412&highlight
I would agree that the Vancouver Hunter dealer gives good service on the boats they sold. I bought an e36 from them last year and with a 2004 33 as a trade in which I also bought new from them 8 years ago.
There are always issues with boats but they tried their best to give their boating customers a good experience.
If anything, they were hard on me with the condition of the trade in!
There are always issues with boats but they tried their best to give their boating customers a good experience.
If anything, they were hard on me with the condition of the trade in!
Thanks Ralph. I have been following the rub rail post. It must have been a very disheartening moment when the new boat came in contact with the piling. I am, however, somewhat interested in how the saga has progressed since the author's one and only post 2 months ago.
As a former Hunter dealer, there are many good dealerships who care about their customers who come back to buy boats. We try to keep the customers happy but sometimes there were cases where we gritted our teeth. I had a large Hunter owner claim warranty to include fishing tackle in the rigging, hose coming off the crapper line all because he failed to have the holding tank emptied as it was overpressurized, tv control messed up due to son's playing with it, dirty boat as the owner refused to clean boat but later reports of blocks breaking, radar falling off, cracks in the ribs of the hull and so forth. Most if not all was a bunch of balarny. I asked him if he ran aground and the answer was no. I agreed to pay for the haul out if there was no damage. Well, boat got pulled with coarl, concrete and steel rebarb embedded in the keel not to mention the keel was seperated from the hull in the back for several feet and the rudder was severely chunked out or should I say damaged to heck. I looked at him and said "you never ran aground?" Then I said, no more warranty but agreed to return to repair items on his boat that were not warranty related and even was kind to give him a ride back to his marina. There were other cases so sometimes when I see some folks complaining, I wonder.
As for a good dealer, he will take care of you. I also included instructors to teach systems, sailing, docking and so forth even if it took a week. This included all small boats as well and tried to stay away from the nickle and diming tactics. This forum is good to find those good dealers who will take care of you and that is very important.
crazy dave
As for a good dealer, he will take care of you. I also included instructors to teach systems, sailing, docking and so forth even if it took a week. This included all small boats as well and tried to stay away from the nickle and diming tactics. This forum is good to find those good dealers who will take care of you and that is very important.
crazy dave
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