New Member and glad to be here but need help!!!! No Bashing please just help!! Thanks

[Gprsh924]

That is unfortunate. We just bought our 2012 200V from the same dealer and the delivery captain was out on the boat with us for almost 3 hours going over all the features and letting us get comfortable with the boat.

[Nordicron]

Wow! Crazy thread here. boathouse are pretty good guys from my experience. Can't believe they are f'n this up. If your real I feel bad for u.

This is definitely a he said she said game. I can see their stance on it could have been u that screwed the strainer on wrong which is easy to do. But what is unacceptable is the BoatHouse not fixing this dang boat correctly! Come on boat house your reputation is on the line here! I know they watch this site...


Pretty boat though! I actually was looking at buying this one off their lot last august!

[Quinner]

You guys are kidding yourselves if you think the average new boat customer, Nautique or any high end brand for that matter, participates in brand forums or will be as meticulous or knowledgeable as you guys seem to expect. Would be willing to bet a majority of these buyers spending way north of 100k are far less experienced then you would think.

To the OP, you did leave in one "Boat House" reference so I guess the Cats out of the bag, and being from Crystal Lake and the pics on the Fox River pretty much nail it down along with Nordicrons post. Certainly hope Eric or someone else from the Boat House participates in this thread as there are 2 sides to every story.

Couple questions to the OP, looks like the boat is not on a lift, was the bilge pump on? Are you saying you never touched the strainer so it was clearly delivered to you that way?
Difficult to point fingers at this point but it certainly sounds like there are not any earth shattering issues and it's likely either the dealer misspoke or you misunderstood with reference to the "boat never being right again".

[nyryan2001]

Luxury-- ok I am going to take a few mins here and write you up a way ahead for this situation. need you to listen, put your ego and pride aside and listen. I can tell you this plan of action will get you to a better happy place faster than the road you are on and any other route you are considering taking. Most folks wont take the time to communicate with guys like you on this as we doubt you'll listen. we'll see.


FACT: the flooding of the boat is 100% YOUR fault. As in negligence. Own it. Even if that sea strainer came to you cross threaded and leaking, a prudent owner should have discovered and remedied during pre launch checks and inspection. There is a basic level of competence required. You don't know your boat or what to look for. Further.... its clear you left the boat unattended... it has the cover on it while near sunk at the dock. Boat owners know if they are leaving a boat (especially one they don't know well) unattended in the water for any period of time they are supposed to close the seacocks. that would have prevented all of that mess 100% even with a leaky sea strainer. you need to learn boating basics in general. Terrible set of circumstances, but its the facts.

Step 1: stop with the letters, emails and everything else to anyone other than your dealer OWNER or the dealer SERVICE MANAGER. <---- read this 5x. Stop talking with the sales team. <---- read this 5x.

Step 2. Call your SERVICE MANAGER NOW. NOW. Apologize for the lack of experience, newbie mistakes and the mess you've caused. Straight up. You've cooled your head and now are ready to move forward to a better place. Ask him PLEASE when is the SOONEST he can meet you at the local ramp closest to the dealer with his DIACOM scanner for 1 hour. CLIFF NOTES: SERVICE MANAGER LOCAL RAMP WITH SCANNER 1 HOUR. Today? Tomorrow? You tow your boat up there, you aren't entitled to extend range service calls at your local lake. You bring the boat to him. Call now.

Step 3. When he arrives, thank him for meeting you and ask him to take 10 mins and have him walk you though pre launch inspection and how to ensure you boat is ready. Exterior, running gear, engine fluids, seacocks, electrical, diagnostic...DRAIN PLUG, dock lines and bumpers. Move quickly and pay attention. Take a second and think about what it means to have a master marine mechanic on your boat at the ramp in peak season focused on solving the problems you caused.

Step 4. Let him take over and run the boat on the trailer, and out in the water. He'll know and scan for the over heat code and if the sound you think is a problem from the tranny is really a problem. it may not be. **** your mouth and listen to

Step 5. Work a plan of action to get these last few issues worked off. He takes the boat back to the shop right then? Next week? how soon? Be reasonable and patient here. They've already spent a ton of time on your boat.

Step 6. Don't mention AMP tuning. Silly. Worry about that later. Get your priorities straight.

Step 7. After your boat is running fine, ask him to link you up with the semi- pro 17-25yr old kid that works in the pro shop. Set a time in the next two weeks to get that kid on your boat at their lake or yours to teach you how to dial your boat in for surfing, wakeboarding and to ensure you have the right gear, boards and lines to do it. no kids on boat or family. Maybe your wife so you can both learn together. You might ask this of the OWNER. tip the kid $25/50hr for his time, it'll be money well spent. Skip this and you still have no idea how to really use your boat or what its capable of.

Step 8. Call the paperwork lady NOW and ask her nicely where your registration is and when you can expect it to arrive. Is there anything you owe them that's holding up the process?

After you get through all this, and your boat issues are worked off, and you'll start to get an idea of what this is all about. Stop by your local dealer with $25 gift cards and give one to everyone in sight that's helped you and say thank you, you appreciate it. Don't forget the lady that does the paperwork. This is how you start to repair the damage to the relationship with your dealer.

[Nordicron]

Great write up Ryan! I'm with u here, boat left in water(who does this to a new G!) not dealers fault. My issue is even though not directly on dealer he did take to dealer to fix and make it right and obviously it's not been done. What got done for $5800 dollars!!! My god at $100 labor rate that's a solid week labor and some parts!

I'm also in no way blaming Nautique here either! No other boat company out there will bend over backwards for their customers like Nautique will in my own personal experience and I know boat house has never let me down with warranty issue stuff either. I'm pretty sure there's more to this.

[Jeb1974]

Wow, I cannot believe how some people are jumping on this guy. He tried to keep names out and even provided pictures of the boat when people said he might be lying about any of this even happening.

A leaky strainer is negligence? Come on, what a joke. (I would caveat this with if he was the one who took it off then it is his fault). He could have closed all the seacocks but that's easy to say with 20/20 hindsight. I'm on my second boat and I've never closed my seacocks - guess I'm incompetent and should give my boat to someone more deserving. Everyone I know at our lake doesn't do it either - they must also also be morons. Have a look in a 2015 owners manual - here is a direct quote :

Engine Cooling Water Intake
Valve Your Nautique is equipped with a valve (seacock) on the engine cooling water intake. The handle has a slide mechanism to prevent the valve from being shut off inadvertently. The valve is used to shut off the water supply in the event a hose failure or water leakage occurs. The valve is open when the red handle is in-line with the valve body and the valve is closed when the handle is perpendicular to the valve body. Leave the valve open at all times unless an emergency condition requires you to close the valve to stop a leak or the possibility of a leak.

I didn't see anything about closing it when mooring. NYRyan, please send CC an email telling them their manual is wrong.

I also keep my brand new G23 in the water sometimes if we're only gone for a couple days - we don't have the benefit of lift because our canal regulations don't allow them.

Also, please point me to a book that has Cliff Notes on what you need to know when owning a new boat. Should he also have done a compression test on the engine before taking delivery? Is that part of his responsibility too? Please provide us with a list of everything that needs to be checked upon delivery so the rest of us know.

[Markonline]

Where is the water strainer located on a G-series? Isn't it supposed to be above the water line?

[Jeb1974]

It's between the batteries and the vdrive. Below the waterline.

[Quinner]

Great write up JEB, I am with you!!
Not nearly enough info to jump to any conclusions and surely some of what is being called incompetence or negligence is absolutely ridiculous.

"Need you to listen and put your pride and ego aside", lmao, unreal

[seachicken27]

Water in the boat is not his fault. It's a brand new G. If the water strainer was cross threaded at the factory and not discovered until the owner finds it, that is on the dealer. When you spend this kind of coin on a boat, you expect five star service. This is peak season, and this guy has spent a lot of money to be on the water with his family. I'm guessing he could care less if there were an issue or 2, but it is costing him a lot of precious time on the water. A lot of us on here get to use our boats 1-3 times a week 6 months a year, and the reason you buy new is to not have to worry about issues. I would just try to be straightforward and let them know you just want to be on the water this summer, not on the phone with a service manager.

[Markonline]

It's between the batteries and the vdrive. Below the waterline.

Is it the flimsy plastic one? Because those aren't easy to screw on correctly. Mounting it below the waterline strikes me as extremely poor design on Nautiques part too.

[ericchile]

nyryan2001[/B]]
FACT: the flooding of the boat is 100% YOUR fault.

Step 2. Call your SERVICE MANAGER NOW. NOW. Apologize for the lack of experience, newbie mistakes and the mess you've caused. Straight up. You've cooled your head and now are ready to move forward to a better place

I didn't know brand new G23s were prone to flooding.... consider myself educated. I was once a newbie too.

The arrogance of this dealer in the way he is treating this customer on a public forum is outrageous. I can't imagine how this customer was treated when everyone is is not watching.

The continued overheating could indicate that the leak is still not fixed. After all this guy has gone through after spending 120k, the dealer is asking the customer to apologize so the dealer will be willing to fix the problem??

There are ways to fix issues without having to admit guilt and move on....

[nyryan2001]

ok Quinner and Jeb. give him a better plan to get him moving forward faster than mine. we are all ears. The plan isn't pretty... but it gets him fixed FAST.

Nautique engineer has been on here in reference to the seeping G ballast issue saying to close seacocks.

[Jeb1974]

ok Quinner and Jeb. give him a better plan to get him moving forward faster than mine. we are all ears. The plan isn't pretty... but it gets him fixed FAST.

Nautique engineer has been on here in reference to the seeping G ballast issue saying to close seacocks.

The engineer said to turn off the seacock on the ballast bags, not the cooling for the engine so it's a totally different issue. They've also put in automatic shut-offs mid 2015 to deal with it. Water coming up through the engine intake shouldn't be a problem unless something is leaking (otherwise I'm sure Nautique would have done the same thing on the engine water intake.)

We've only heard one side of the story but from we know here, he has taken the boat to the dealer, filed an insurance claim to get on the water faster, took the boat in for repair and it's still not working (and not being fixed). He told the dealer about the water issue when he first saw the problem and the dealer said to just make sure the batteries were on.....but it's still 100% his fault??

It sounds like the dealer's position is that the owner took off the strainer and caused the leak - If that is actually the case then it's up to the owner to figure it out with insurance but if it was by the dealer or at the factory then IMO someone else should step up and fix this. I don't see why the owner would take this out (since he's such an inexperienced boater) and you would never even think about removing it unless something was stuck in there causing overheating issues. You also have to really reach back to get at the strainer. Unfortunately it sounds like a blame game and I'm guessing we'll probably never know who did it.

I like the OP's idea of sending a letter to Nautique directly. It sounds like the dealer isn't willing to file a warranty claim on behalf of the customer. My only experience with Nautique was a factory tour and they said that they will do what they have to in order to get their boats functioning properly (admitting that boats are hand made and can have problems). Hopefully it gets resolved.

If the dealer and/or Nautique don't want to help I really don't have any other suggestions. Taking legal action sucks because it is expensive, takes forever and he'll lose even more time on the water.

Attacking him on this forum telling him it was 100% his fault isn't acceptable though. I don't see how sucking up to a dealer that blames him will help either.

Hopefully he gets it fixed soon but it's a crappy position to be in.

[nyryan2001]

Great points Jeb and all valid... and yep its also 4th of July weekend and summer is burning away. Good luck with that plan.

First and most immediate need is he needs a good mechanic on his boat ASAP with tools to figure out the overheat and tranny problems.... and quickly get him back on the water soonest. the rest can be worked out over the rest of the summer.