Tower Color Fading

[winebrad]

Has anyone experienced excessive tower color fading? I purchased my 216 in April of 03 and had West Coast powder coat the tower yellow. I noticed a considerable amount of fading the first summer and have complained to my local dealer as well as the West Coast Rep. The response is that all colored towers fade and that is a major reason the newer towers are either grey or annodized. My boat was sold to me with a 5-Year bumber to bumper warranty but it seems that tower color is an excluded. Any thoughts out there?

Brad, 02 Air

[wakejunky]

With most reds/yellows or anything with that pigment, you're going to get fading, look at cars too same thing. Something to do with the pigments and how the sun reacts to it.

Chris

[OldFart]

And the warranty is from the factory for factory components; which the yellow was not unfortunately. OF

[AbunDiga909]

My family's 216's tower is powdercoated blue and we have no fading at all. About the warantee issue though, the deal is that our tower was originally supposed to be painted by Ram-Lin down in Orlando. But, CC forgot to send our tower to Ram-Lin down the road and shipped our boat with it bare. The powdercoating was done as a last resort locally. However, it was all a blessing in disguise because the powdercoating does not show scratches as easly. But the thing is, CC is not covering our tower underwarantee. I think that is bull... If the boats in the catalog have colored towers and you can order the colored tower through the factory, like we did, it must be a factory option, regardless of which dude in which building sprays the paint on... CC should cover this under warantee, its the right thing for them to do...

Sorry for the long post/rant, I know its irrelivent a little but just letting you know that we are probably not the only one's with tower color issues w/ CC.

[OldFart]

909, EVERY business shows items they do not necessarily offer & they did it upfront. CC does not offer all colors. I imagine they cover the tower, just not the coloring.

[AbunDiga909]

OF, I see what you mean. But I think when CC said that if the tower got many scratches or did fade, that they would not cover that, as in "cover the tower." But in a company's catalog, I think that should show nothing more than what the company offers. Sure, a Nautique may look better with 6 NVS Addictions and a light bar and a Tower Bimini, but CC doesn't show that b/c they can't offer that... Like I said, I just think the catalog should represent the company and only the company and what it offers, nothing more, regardless of what looks cool.

[ag4ever]

Welcome to the world of marketing.

You really should not worry about your tower fading within the warranty period. it should take much longer than that.

Also your dealer should cover the warranty on the powdercoating, as they are the ones that had it done I'll bet.

[redelf75]

I agree that there should not be any fading within one or two years. Is it blotchy, like only on the top where the sun hits it? CC doesn't warranty painting done by locally at the dealer because they have no control over quality. Ordering painting through the dealer for painting done by CC (say Ramlin) still falls into a gray area and is not covered by CC. However, if our tower did get painted by Ramlin, they would have warranteed it. Of course, geting it back to them is another issue.

But I think West Coast is taking the easy way out. It's possible it was just a bad job and needs to be re-done. Unfortunatelly, it'll have to be stripped first and that's more money. I think you'll have to pay something to get it done again. Ask about other towers painted by the same supplyer. Are they all fading after 2 years? I doubt it, but they are, the dealer should have made that known to you before having the job done. Good luck and keep us posted...

[winebrad]

Thanks for the support guys! My tower was bare when it was shipped to West Coast CC in Sacramento. I had the choice of colors and I chose Yellow since my boat has the Black Primary and Yellow Secondary. I do not know who performed the service. My dealer indicated that West Coast would take care of the Powder. At the time no one indicated that there was a fading issue. Suddenly when I complain after the first season it is common knowledge. If I had known of this I would have forced the issue and demanded the Powder Coating had the proper amount of UV Protection. As it sits I will have it redone at the end of the season by a local Professional and the job will be done right. It is a little unnearving when the local dealer and the West Coat Nautique Rep both blow you off. So beware and read the fine print of any so called "Bumper to Bumper" Warrianties or "Bow to Stearn" in this case.

[AbunDiga909]

I find it very dissapointing that in a relatively small company in a relatively small industry where everybody knows everybody, the customer service is far below par, much lower than it should be, especially for a company with such high expectations and not to mention, price.

[OldFart]

909, As a businessman i disagree. 1. it appears that almost everyone on this post agrees it was not the company's fault. 2. i do not recall any co. that covers the fade/finish for which they have no control. Unfortunately we sometimes learn that through experience.
BUT BRAD, go back to the rep with another option - they assist you in the expense as a GOODWILL JESTURE. Sometimes i have to agree to disagree, but can still offer some assistance.

[NautiqueJeff]

I'll also have to disagree with you, Austin. I deal with a few dealerships fairly regularly, and I have always received great service. Keep in mind that the dealerships are independantly owned, and service levels can vary widely dealer to dealer. There will probably always be a few not-so-good dealers out there, but there are also some outstanding ones.

[AbunDiga909]

Jeff, OF, I really understand where you're coming from, and I do agree with you for the most part. However, sorry if I wasn't clear, I was talking about specific instances, like mine. If you order your tower bare from the factory and do whatever to it locally, powdercoat or paint, I agree with you in that CC shouldn't cover that b/c they have no clue what is being done to the tower. But, if it is ordered colored through/from the factory, by their guy, then I think it should be coverd, in that it is them who is deciding who does the painting (ramlin in this case). And specificially for my case, our tower was done locally only due to the fact that it was their fault that they forgot to have their guy do the job.... do you see the difference?

Sorry if that wasn't totally clear... but you see where I'm coming from...?

P.S. Just one more thing... if anything is controvertial (sp?) about whether the company should cover anything under warantee or make the customer pay for the job, I always think the company should give in first and give the customer the advantage and benefit of the doubt--that's what I belive.... I guess I'd make a good manager for customer services, but then again, I'd cost the company a **** of a lot of money... 8-)

[AbunDiga909]

Wow, I just read my post and realize how stupid I sound...

Let me rephrase, I agree with everyone here that anything done locally not accociated with CC should not be covered under warantee. It is only when the option is placed through the company's factory using the company's local person to do the job when it should be covered under warantee. In this case, that's Ram-Lin. But I still do think that whenever in the gray zone, like my situation, the customer should always get the benefit of the doubt...

That sounds much better...

[OldFart]

could be a communication problem. someone correct me if i'm wrong, don't think cc supplies a colored fct. of course, i forgot yesterday so what do i recall. but, someone should have explained up front that the color will NOT be done by the boat mfr.
it would kind of tick me off that the "supplier" wouldn't make some kind of concession. did rep ever approach Ramlin. of course by now, brad may not care BUT 909 sure is fired up Potential lawyer fighting for the "little guy" (& big guy also).