Found a few things, Am I being to fussy with our new Competitor 205 Tiller

So after giving our 205 a complete trailer and hull wash down from the trip home from the dealer. I found a few small issues.

1) A scuff in the road armor on the trailer in 2 spots. 1 on the fender and one up near the tongue both are down to the metal and starting to rust already, very minor rust but still.

2) There are 2 scratches on the bottom of the hull, 1 looks like it’s from an exacto knife, the other I can’t tell if it’s in the aluminum and painted over or just in the paint.

This picture is deceiving, this actually a thin scratch from knife or something. My phone camera took a weird pic of it.

I also found a few issues inside the boat.
1) Missing rivets in the center battery storage area.

2) I don’t have a pic of this one but the console plate that has the buttons and gauges is not flush to face, screws seem to be
stripped out of the plastic, so this console plate is not sitting flush.

Am I being to picky, for a boat at this level? Generally, I’m very impressed with it and the quality of the paint, on the bottom of the hull, there is zero imperfections in the paint, all the rivets look solid and it almost looks like gel coat!

I’m just not sure if I should be looking for something from the dealer for these issues.

I assume this is a new rig?? or was this used /reconditioned???

If new, I would not be happy. Would you accept a new truck with a deep scratch in the hood?

Minor blemishes that will be bigger issues later need to be addressed

Randy Wieland wrote:

I assume this is a new rig?? or was this used /reconditioned???

If new, I would not be happy. Would you accept a new truck with a deep scratch in the hood?

Minor blemishes that will be bigger issues later need to be addressed

X2

Ya this is a new rig, I looked under the boat before I bought it but didn’t “crawl” under I looked for obvious dings etc.

gregl2017 wrote:

Am I being to picky, for a boat at this level?

No! IMO you are NOT being too picky. The dealer should be embarrassed that THEY didn’t catch this stuff and fix it.

I would never let poor fit and finish like that go on a new rig in that price range. Would you accept all those scratches on a new car?

As an aside, those are exactly the kind of horsesh!t quality issues I see on virtually every freshwater aluminum boat at boat and sport shows. Build quality in freshwater walleye boats is absolutely horsesh!t, there’s no other way to put it. Why? Well for one reason because buyers let them get away with it.

Grouse

This is my second new boat, the alaskan was pretty plain jane so not much to miss. This one is far more decked out interior wise. They haven’t done the pdi on the motor yet, I brought it home under the agreement I wouldn’t start it, because they had it sitting outside and I didn’t want it sitting the winter outside, and would have had to pay for shrink wrapping.

I also noticed this.. It’s the rope from the shipping shrink wrap I imagine.

Unfortunately, that is American made quality and customer service nowadays. Pride in ones work is a lost quality in Americans. People want to be highly paid, but don’t want to put in the time for quality work. Its all over. I spent several days in a rental sleeper house this winter, it happened to be a brand new Ice Castle, we were the first ones in it. What a disaster, I can’t even begin to list all the problems we found, and they were all just lack of doing it right.

I am an ass when I buy things new like that, I won’t stop complaining until it is right, and you shouldn’t either, even if it means a new trailer and boat.

My inlaws bought a brand new pontoon last year, not a cheap brand either, $25k+, and the upholstery was horrible, stains in the coloring, stitching already pulling out, and the back ratchets on the seats would slip so if you leaned back with any pressure, they would fall and you would be looking at the sky. Well, I took over arguing with the manufacturer, and after 2 re-uphulstering and 3 new captain seats, they finally replaced the entire furniture with new, now it seems to be OK.

Push it until you are happy, new should be new.

Yeah. That is B.S. for a new boat. I wouldn’t hesitate at all about bringing it back and having them make it right. And I’d do it soon (I’m told open water season may occur this Spring, but who knows).

To be honest, the dealer should also make up for your time/expense of hauling it back, too. Throw in something etc. for your troubles.

Absolutely complain about that. If you aren’t going to bring it back to the dealer immediately take pics, and email them to the dealer as soon as possible. If you can send them direct to the boat builder as well, with your hull number, it wont hurt. Don’t just call. You need a “paper trail” to prove how long the issues have been there. The longer it’s in your possession without documentation the easier it will be to say it could have happened on your time. I have seen and been involved with things like this lots of times. Often times the customers would get resolution solely because they were diligent on establishing a time line.

Thanks EVERYONE! I have notified the dealer and sent pictures to Alumacraft but they told me to talk to the dealer

I’m going to email the sales guy. I feel like they should be ordering a trailer and hull for us.. but I don’t think that’s even an option here in Canada.

I will reserve judgement until I see his answer, also I have held off rigging anything.

toddrun wrote:

Unfortunately, that is American made quality and customer service nowadays. Pride in ones work is a lost quality in Americans.

No, this is not correct. This is Midwest walleye boat quality.

The manufacturers have simply figured out they can get away with this kind of slob job because a) the average Midwest buyer won’t complain and b) the average walleye guy in the Midwest uses his boat only a few days a year and puts about 10-15 engine hours per year on it at most. So even the cheapest, nastiest construction will hold together long enough before the average guy starts seeing problems.

There WERE exceptions like the Alaskan. But over time…

If you want to look at real quality, look at a west coast Aluminum design by North River or HughesCraft or several of the other west coast makers. These boats are designed for ultimate performance in rough conditions and for longevity.

Also, I’m not suggesting walleye guys BUY one, but if you want to know what boat build quality really looks like, look at the attention to detail and construction quality of a bluewater class center console like a Pursuit, Grady White, Boston Whaler, Midnight Express, Hells Bay, etc.

Pay particular attention to how neatly the wiring is run. Look at the latches and hardware. Note the double stainless hose clamps on all water fittings.. Notice no cheap plastic corrugated water lines. Notice the neatness of fitment on basically everything. You won’t see any wires running through a bare hole drilled in metal in these boats and you sure as hell won’t see one at a dealer or at a boat show that has aluminum shavings all over the carpet.

Then look at your average Midwest walleye boat… And since I know somebody’s going to say we can’t expect that build quality due to cost, I’m calling BS. Replacing pot metal hinges with stainless and using decent latches would add $20 to the cost of a walleye boat. Most quality issues are just sloppy build anyway. It would cost $0.00 to fix these if the makers had any QC at all.

Grouse

I’m glad you said it and not me grouse

I agree 1000%.

This also comes down to the dealer staff as well, if they take a product in to sell. They have to care enough to look the product over thoroughly to make sure it is in top shape for their customers.

Oh also, I emailed Yamaha directly but does anybody know how the model years are identified. My bill says 2019 Yamaha VMAX SHO 115 hp but actual sticker on motor says manufactured 08/2018.

The only other Yamaha I’ve purchased new was ordered from Japan because none were in stock so it was manufactured the year I ordered it, that was cool! It was actually manufactured the month before I received it

gregl2017 wrote:

Oh also, I emailed Yamaha directly but does anybody know how the model years are identified. My bill says 2019 Yamaha VMAX SHO 115 hp but actual sticker on motor says manufactured 08/2018.

The only other Yamaha I’ve purchased new was ordered from Japan because none were in stock so it was manufactured the year I ordered it, that was cool! It was actually manufactured the month before I received it

Might not be a 2019 SHO available yet. Shouldn’t have been written up as a 2019 if they didn’t have one or access to one.

Randy Wieland wrote:

I assume this is a new rig?? or was this used /reconditioned???

If new, I would not be happy. Would you accept a new truck with a deep scratch in the hood?

Minor blemishes that will be bigger issues later need to be addressed

Randy Wieland wrote:

I assume this is a new rig?? or was this used /reconditioned???

If new, I would not be happy. Would you accept a new truck with a deep scratch in the hood?

Minor blemishes that will be bigger issues later need to be addressed

I would not be happy at all. As a proud Alumacraft owner….WOW. Push back hard!

D

Your scratches look like the knife or razor blade when they cut the travel wrap off.

Grouse – X100!!!!

I have had two Lund’s over the last 23 yrs – a pro-v and a tyee….good fishing boats, but I always felt like I was the only one seeing lack of workmanship/quality when I looked closely. Everyone in the Midwest seems to correlate Lund/alumacraft/crestliner with high quality….. and I just don’t see it. The wiring, fixtures, and general fit and finish just seem to be “good enough to get by”.

Don’t get me wrong, my boats served me well, and a ton of great memories have been made in them, but the tyee is being sold this yr and is being replaced by a Hewescraft. I am looking fwd to it! It seems to be a significantly better constructed rig in all aspects.

If I remember right Yamaha might not give the engines a “model year” designation anymore. Just stamp the date on the plate and that is it. It might be more obvious on a new model for a given year. I can’t confirm this but thought I remember hearing it in the past.

I would also push back about the fit and finish issues. Get what you paid for and don’t feel bad about it.

I really appreciate everyone’s input & opinions! I looked over the boat very carefully last night and am preparing an email for the dealer, since Alumacraft told me to go through them. Here’s a couple more issues I found.

Also, if anybody has a Competitor 205 in there garage, would you mind looking at your keel, mine looks like the rivets were not fully compressed (only way I can describe it). There is some kind of gasket between the keel and hull for about the first 1/3 from the bow back. It seem like they didn’t add it to the rest of the keel. See pictures below.

So, if you have one and the keel is tight to the hull all the way back would you mind sending me a picture, so I can bolster my complaint.

Here’s the issues I found last night.
1) Found a couple more dents, which definitely happened before the paint process because the paint is not damaged.
Here’s the location

Here’s the dent, I’ll only post 1 pic because the other one is the same in a different location but same distance from the bow.

Here is a differnt type of dent, you can see the rivet is not even evenly spaced!

Keel Issues?
Here is a pic where the gasket stops, is this by design?

Here is the uneven tension on the rivets, atleast that’s what it appears to be.

I suspect this is from the molding process, but I’m not sure. This is the stern of the keel.

On to the interior issues!

1) Carpet, when drooling at the dealers, I thought the fibers were just lying differently but it’s permanent mark, I can’t get it out. This would be minor but all these little things are adding up!

2) Did a video for this, this is the console, screws are stripped! You can see that the panel over the switches is not sitting flat! How much rain is gonna get in there and corrode the connections!

https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=0ED2200FF3FDB8D5&resid=ED2200FF3FDB8D5%21206447&authkey=AOmBdZvmXQG6U9g

As smart as we all here think we are your dealer is the only one that can help you.

The only way dealers will allow products to leave their business like this is because they’ve got away with it in the past. For your own sake and that of other future buyers, call them out on it and if they cannot take care of it in a timely manner please share the dealership name and any information/names you can.

Totally agree Dutchboy & buckybadger

Everybody seems to agree these issues are not acceptable, especially because they are adding up. I guess you could say I feel validated that I’m not being to fussy! THANK YOU EVERYBODY, EVEN THE WIFE AGREES!!

I’m more looking for those that own a 2018 – 2019 Competitor 205 model year to compare to mine, so when I’m talking with the dealer it’s apples to apples comparison. To make sure this normal and not quality that was ignored on mine.

Greg, it’s a total bummer to have this kind of poor quality issues on a new boat. I’m really feel your pain and I hope this gets worked out to your satisfaction. It’s one thing to buy something like a furnace or water heater that is a necessity and then have to deal with quality issues, but on a purchase where you’re supposed to use it to have fun.

One piece of advice. Document EVERYTHING. Date, time, who did you speak to, etc.

Personally, I would send a certified letter that you can prove was delivered to the sales manager at the dealer documenting all of the defects found to date. You will definitely want proof of when you alerted them to the defects and the nature of each defect. Hopefully you’ll never need this, but just in case. The letter should also put the dealer on notice that you mean business.

Grouse

Thanks Grouse! I’m giving the dealer the benefit of doubt. If I don’t have a response by the middle of next week. I may just do that!

It’s a long weekend here, so my sales rep might be off today.

I would give your dealer the opportunity to correct these problems, but as stated, for sure would have an email trail of everything you discuss with your dealer, as there seems to be a lot of issues that at least some should have been caught before picking up the boat. Year on the motor is just the way it is now, if their haven’t been any changes, you get it titled as the year you bought it. Saves them having to discount them. A good dealer is an important part of a good boat buying experience.

Hey Ed,

Thanks, I just sent the email today, so not expecting a reply until mid next week because it’s a long weekend here.

This is when a dealer show’s their true colors. I am trying to have faith because they were very attentive before the sale, let’s see if it’s the same after the sale

I see myself as one of the easiest customers, hang the motor, do your PDI and I’ll do the rest as far as rigging all the add-ons etc. I’m pretty flexible as well, I probably would have let little stuff just go and never say anything but we are up to 8-10 issues now at least. To many items to ignore so now I’m complaining

Not that it matters but where are you located? Where is your dealer?

Greg
FYI…Motors no longer have model year per sey…. this changed many years ago..
It will show date of mft on the motor, more than likely 2018. But when registering it it will itemized as a 2019 and warranty registered as such.
This is all motor companies….

One less thing to have on your worry list

Thanks Dean! I suspected it was like that just wanted to be sure! Not like isn’t still new it was only manufactured Aug 8 2018 lol!

Sorry we couldn’t grab a boat off ya! Maybe next round when our dollar is stronger and no tariffs!! Cal was great, huge help answering questions!!