Mid Size Power Boats

- Continued from page 15 - 

Today, the industry and its leading association, the National Association of Marine Manufacturers, is deeply worried that too many first-time boat buyers have become last-time boat buyers.

New boat sales are declining, year after year, even in boom times. Boat owner surveys show that customer satisfaction rates are poor and going lower. Dealer satisfaction rates are even worse.

If all this reminds you of the pickle the US auto industry found itself in the mid 1970’s, with Japan stealing its market right out from under its nose, you’d be right-on, the result of unbridled arrogance and greed.

The problem we have is that there is nowhere else to turn for boats because the fact remains that, although often highly flawed, no one does it better than Americans.

Sure, there are a few imports that are superior to US products, but how are you going to find out about them when it proves exceedingly difficult trying to find out about American boats?

Yet another part of the problem with high cost and poor reliability stems from increased complexity and sophistication of the product, combined with increased luxury and equipment that is no longer optional but standard.

When the buying public demands all the bells and whistles, all the luxury and pizzazz combined with a myriad of electronics -- and all at an affordable price, too -- the net effect is to drive quality and reliability down as the builders struggle to keep prices down.

So why can’t we have our cake and eat it too? Let me lay it out in fast format here.

• Boaters want “reasonable cost,” luxury and every amenity imaginable. There’s no way you can have a reasonably priced boat plus good quality plus all the bells and whistles. Something has to give, and that something will always be quality.

• Largest Interior Spaces. The shape that would provide the maximum interior space that so many people demand would be a square or rectangle, though I trust you understand why square boats might be a problem.

To yield best performance, a boat hull has to have a certain shape. That shape is not conducive to achieving floating hotels or patios. Hence, the majority of boats perform poorly even under moderate conditions.

• Boaters want fuel economy. The type of hull design that is most fuel efficient is also the one that is least sea worthy. Flat bottom boats will go fastest with the least horsepower and lowest fuel consumption. It also yields a ride that’s like driving a car on a rail road track.

• Boaters want to go fast, at the same time not spend a fortune on fuel. Therefore, they opt for diesel engines, not knowing that squeezing high horsepower from a diesel drastically decreases reliability.

• Boaters want low maintenance. Low maintenance is achieved by using highest quality materials with a minimum of complexity. That flies in the face of low cost fanciness and luxury.

In other words, what most boat buyers really want is a contradiction in terms, even an oxymoron, but that doesn’t have any bearing on wanting it. However, if you understand this, you’re now better equipped to make more intelligent choices.

Warranties

Many people make product selections based on warranties.

This is in contradistinction to those for whom the primary criteria is the assessment of product quality prior to purchase.

Warranties are nice, assuming the manufacturers ability to deliver adequate service. This is often a false assumption in the marine industry.

Taken as a whole, the track record of the industry in honoring warranty claims hasn’t been good. Too many try to squirm out of resolving serious claims, too often forcing boat owners to hire legal counsel.

This situation seems to ebb and flow with the state of the economy; during downturns claims tend to be more strongly resisted apparently based on the builder’s financial health.

Then, too, there seems to be a correlation between the amount of defective product a manufacturer has and how much resistance he puts out to claims.

When manufacturers make big mistakes across the board, they seem to put up much more of a fight.

Another part of the problem is based on economy of scale. The vast majority of boat builders have only a regional, not nationwide market.

Many are so small that their primary area of distribution is only a few states. The fact is that only the very largest builders even come close to achieving a nationwide dealership network that is capable of handling warranty claims with the degree of service most have come to expect.

So what do all the other builders do? Well, they are forced to either job warranty work out to subcontractors, or demand that you return the boat to the their nearest dealer.

Such situations can cause major hardships for the customer. If you are one of those who intend to rely heavily on a warranty, it’s a good idea to investigate the builder’s ability to provide the kind of service you want before you buy.

Many builders, or at least their dealers, will make extravagant claims about warranties. I strongly recommend that you read the warranty from beginning to end; this may prove very enlightening as to what “limited warranty” really means.

A “life time” hull warranty sounds great until you realize that most builders won’t survive long enough to make good on such extravagant claims.

Bear in mind that when companies get sold, it is most often only the assets that are sold, rarely the liabilities.

Warranties are liabilities, and so the new owners are unlikely honor the claims against the previous owners who are nowhere to be found.

The sad truth is that customer satisfaction with warranty service is generally abysmal in the pleasure craft marine industry.