build quality on my new 210

[speck]

i picked by my new 210 team last thursday. everything was right, the colours and options and colours i mean. the trailer (eagle) looked great (very impressive, great welds, paint, fit and finish). i was pressed for time because of closing weather, so we hooked up and were off.
I got it home into the garage and noticed sloppy alignment on alot of the vinyl details. also the rear cleats were crooked. also the ski pylon was off centre. the steering wheel was off centre. the starboard side rubrail at the stearn bow in instead of out.
i need feedback as to members boats and what would they do. am i being too anal? i dropped alot of money, and had high expectations from "the best" towboat builder in the world. the boat is solid, looks good otherwise and i am confident will run great.
the issues that i am concerned about here are the little things that have more to do with employee execution and quality standards than with design.
here are the pics. one is of the steering wheel, and yes i tried to adjust it to no avail. another is the rubrail, note how the hull and deck bow in a little, this only happens on the starboard side. another the the rear seat, note the pylon does not line up with the engine latch (the pylon is a half inch out centre to centre), the piping is crooked (half inch out of horizontal) the embroidery is slanted more still and is out of centre the other direction. in the bow pic the whole piece on vinyl is tilted, making the stripes slant and the emb out of centre.
as for the mystery flight clip spacers, here they are. they give you clamps from the 05 racks, and want you to use the half with the four holes to "space" out the clip from the tower. countersunk bolts long enough to reach were not supplied, so off to home depot i go, although my dealer did offer to send some.
so what would you do?

[speck]

clip

[speck]

rear seat

[speck]

steering

[speck]

rubrail

[CHassmann]

Take it back and tell the dealer you'll pick it up when everything is corrected.........no later than spring.

[92Excel]

get it right, I agree, take it back. Is that back seat crooked? Way unacceptable there I'd say!

[Rhode]

My immediate reaction is that there is NO WAY the 2005 Flight Clip brackets are going to work on your 2006 Flight Clip Tower. Period, no ifs, and, or buts, uless you failed to photo some other spacer. This is so obvious I will not bother to detail the shortcoming to other board members whose intelligence would be greatly insulted by doing so. I will simply say that the 2006 billet is 3/8 inches thick while the 2000-2005 billet is 1 1/4 inches thick approx.

The rest of the issues you raise are so obvious as to prompt me to simply say nothing other than challenge someone from CC to stand up for the company and respond on this board. This is a travesty!

Rhode

[Rhode]

This is really and outrage and I will re-post here something from another thread:

Look forward to the pictures, Speck, and I will start brushing up on my "me too's."

If I were CC, I would appreciate such feeback from this board, even if they have to endure a derisive comment or twenty along the way. It has struck me as simply wrong since joining this board that our site admnistrators are seemingly getting nothing but a few t-shirts and tickets to the opening of laundrymats as remuneration by CC for providing this forum of important feedback to CC. The least they could do would be to extend some at-cost offer from time to time to this site's members. Then, we would stroke Jeff and Luke for hooking us up. No?

My best guess is that it is an echo chamber of praise and a culture of back-slapping and that-a-boys among staff at CC HQ; the best evidence of this is that so much stuff they get horribly wrong is first aired on this board. They might even have to hire a critically thinking person or two in the area of customer service in the absence of PN, assuming that their business model is NOT to just to throw it on a plate and tell us to shut up and enjoy the burned toast when it comes out of their kitchen. If they think their captive dealer network is going to tell them the truth about how they feel, nevermind us, they are even more inbred and delusional than I think.

Bring on that new thread, Speck, and let's get on with this day of reckoning. I should be hearing positively about my "board rack spacer" filing this fall at the U.S. Patent Office. Proceeds of my settlement with CC will be shared with the PN membership; perhaps, as a donation to the site.

Rhode

[skinautique]

First off, there are members on this site that work at the factory. I won't tell you who they are and no I am not one of them.

Second, I see some of your concerns and I agree with some of them. On a couple of them, I think you are being way too anal. The lettering in the vinyl being off is pretty bad and I think this could/should be corrected. The pylon / rear hatch lever being off is in need of an answer from the dealer/factory. I don't know what to tell you there. As for the rubrail, this follows the curve of the deck. I doubt you have ever worked with a rubrail but it is not an easy task at all. As for the steering wheel, I would have the dealer look at it. It could be caused by a number of different things so I won't speculate on that.
I am sure some of you are going to bash me but I guess I opened myself up for it so let it out..........

[Rhode]

Skinautique,

Your "Silence of the Lambs" about the Flight Clip spacers was defeaning. Your other points are reasonably well taken, and I can't imagine anyone wanting to "bash" you for making them in the spirit of us all getting better "next" boats. Having said that, though, the fact that CC delivered Speck's boat with some bogus no-fix, 2005 Flight Clip spacers only suggests that the company is not monitoring this space. (I don't doubt that company employees are PN members; perhaps, their "Silence of the Lambs" is a response to having had to purchase tickets to the CC Christmas party.) Last word: Could have there been more discussion about the 2006 FCT/Flight Clip combo prior to Speck having been jacked?

Rhode

[speck]

ok ok, two things i want to stress here:
please Rhode, i understand your frustration, but please don't get this thread locked, it is very important for me to get some opinions and feedback.
secondly, as for the spacers, you are to only use the half of the clamp. have the open end face the tower, put the clip up to the outside, and slide a 2 1/2 inch bolt through the tower, spacer and clip all at once. so the ] shaped spacer has the open side facing the tower, the rounded outside side touching the clip as it did in 05. so you just use the half with the holes in it, and save the rest for a rainy day project.
weird solution i guess. it should work i think. i am going to make small rubber "gaskets" between the tower and the spacer so the square edges don't gouge (sp?) the billet at all

[speck]

the main point here it that none of these things are issues with my dealership, i have nothing to be mad at them for. all of these things are quality control issues at the factory. has anybody seen this sort of stuff on there 210's? is your vinyl straight? steering wheel staight? pylon straight? am i the exception or the rule?

[aaron]

Speck, while it is not the dealer's "fault" that you have a crooked boat( from the pics), give the boat back to them( the dealer) for them to get it right....either on their own or with the factory. Stay out of it for now.CC boats are usuallly of the highest build and I, like the others in this forum are proud of the brand and its products( altho not necessarily the management).
I wouldnt accept that boat in the condition.In the US , i am sure there is a consumer protection type law, start reading.In Malaysia and the rest of the world, the Sale of Goods Act protects consumers.
In the meantime, CC may decide to replace that boat, or return your monies paid....but let your dealer handle it .But dont give them too much time.CC will be closed for the holidays and u wouldnt want this worry looming over you during the festive season.

[NautiqueJeff]

skinautique is right, as usual. Correct Craft customer service people do certainly monitor PN on pretty much a daily basis, and I'm confident that they've already seen this thread. I'm not sure how the vinyl in the bow got missed by QC at the factory. That one is pretty obvious. Same with the steering wheel. The other items (with the possible exception of the rubrail) I would be concerned with as well, although I can see how they might have been overlooked by QC at the factory.