January 31, 2007

Fond Regards to New England Correct Craft and Boat U.S.

I have been boating for 30 years and can count with 3 fingers, the moments when my boat made contact with anything but water, or trailer bunks.

Finger 1. I heard the propeller scuff the bottom as I picked up a friend one morning before a set. I was not familiar with her waterfront, she said there was plenty of water (and was wrong), the propeller made contact with the gravely bottom, and right about then I nearly lost my breakfast.

Finger 2 (same hand). In an act of ultra macho stupidity, I was launching my Ski Nautique from the public ramp, by myself, and heard the rudder bump the ramp as I swam it off the trailer. The words I just used to describe this can not possibly illustrate how dumb this was - both in concept and execution. And it was a dumb thing to do the three times I successfully pulled off this same maneuver before. Broken down into parts, the "Solo-Jackass Boat Launch Swim Meet" (which can only happen at a vacant ramp by the way, so please don't get the idea I was doing this at 9am on a sunny Saturday in July) consists of backing the boat into the water, swimming it off the trailer, swimming her out 30 feet and putting her at anchor, swimming back to the tow vehicle, entering the tow vehicle (which has already been prepped with towels. Important!) parking the tow vehicle, swimming back to the boat, and then later jogging back to the ramp to pick up the tow vehicle. Stupid. I know. But you'll be happy to know that this incident marked the last time I ever attempted a solo boat launch at a public ramp without a temporary dock. That is a team effort, kids. Period.

Finger 3 (other hand). This was the big one. It gets its own hand on this 1, 2 3 count.

The short version of the story is that as we were lining up to pull the boat out of the water, we were edged to the side of a narrow access waterway by a swarm of bass boats, and the boat made contact with a large, unseen, unmarked rock that sits in about 6 feet of water - and damaged the gelcoat in the process. The damage was superficial but this boat has 120hrs on it and aside from my wedding ring, is my most prized physical possession. I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a lump in my throat when I first inspected the damage.

But my wife and I made a few important decisions when we bought this boat. We didn't cut corners on insurance and obtained a policy with Boat U.S.. It isn't the cheapest policy writer under the Sun but when faced with filing a claim, we were treated with trust, guidance, and for that reason they now have been added to the "folks that have been nice to us" link section on this Web site. We don't give those slots up very easily. Every link you see on the right-hand list of links represents a personal connection and for that, our clear support. Boat U.S. had a process and a method of obtaining the information they needed, but there were no flaming hoops to jump through, no 2 hr long phone calls, and no irritating interactions. I think between myself, my wife and a friend who helped us with some of the logistics around this incident, we spent a combined 30 minutes on the phone with Boat U.S.. This is excellent because I hate the telephone and its strange cousin; the Fax.

So now that the insurance situation has been worked out - who would be awarded the coveted contract to repair the gelcoat on The Wakeboard Report's flagship?

While this was not a $5000 repair job, it was not a $45 dollar repair job either, so we wanted to ensure that this work was performed with master-level precision and we did not want any visual reminder of the incident. So the work would be best done by someone experienced in working with gelcoat, and with tournament inboards; so we decided to have the work done at a dealership. We were very close to joining the Correct Craft Promotional Team a few years ago, but due to some unfortunate timing and unexpected circumstances, the deal fell through at that time. However during that process, we got to know Craig Warner and his team from New England Correct Craft very well. We decided to have the gelcoat repair work done there, and the job they did can only be described as perfect. Whether it is insurance work you need to have done, or just need some cosmetic enhancements made to your boat and you are in the New England region, I would suggest you call them first.

So I realize that this may not be the most electrifying topic in the world (stay tuned for our series on Library Card renewals!) - but it does illustrate a point. Maintaining a good relationship with a local dealership, keeping an insurance policy with a company that can be trusted (and trusts back) proved to be very useful during the past several months as we dealt with this.

» New England Correct Craft
» Boat US

Posted by erik at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 20, 2006

Upholstery and You (with me riding shotgun)

I am aware of situations in which potential buyers of wake boats have placed buying decisions on the condition of the upholstery. Ok - not terribly exciting stuff - but I just wanted to offer this philosophy on upholstery that has been handed down from many generations of Wakeboard Reporters.

When looking for the best deal on a lightly used tournament inboards, you will probably find boats that are gorgeous and pristine in many ways, with upholstery that isn't as perfect as the rest of the boat. Time is more gentle on gelcoat than on vinyl, as is the Sun, which is why in most cases I would not weight the condition of the upholstery extremely highly. It is of course going to be a consideration because overtly apparent bad condition of and part of a boat indicates a rough past.

Many spots can be patched easily with cheap commercially available kits. You can even sew certain upholstery problems. But I would definitely not recommend dismissing a boat that has a few cuts in the upholstery or even some cracking at the seams. And if you did decide to purchase said vessel, I would also not reccomend going off and completely reupholstering the thing. Chances are, you'll have the cuts in the same spots in a year or two and you could have used that money toward an automatic ballast system or a plasma television. My advice is pretty basic, and it is to let upholstery get pretty bad before it gets addressed (see above). People with $75,000 gussied-up wake boats will disagree with this, but I personally think of upholstery as little more than padding and protection from bumping around, or whacking your elbows and shouldn't be worried about. Nicks happen. Someone is going to glance their fin off the side of the sun deck or engine cover - and it isn't the end of the universe. If you pay to have that thing reupholstered, you'll just be worried every time someone brings a tool near the boat or if a kid is in there with a toy. You'll have everyone removing their figure skates before they get in your boat and you may not even let them bring their javelin. Nobody wants to be around someone like that, you killjoy.

Please enlarge the thumbnail above. It is the seat I sat in for at least 5 years. IT needed to be reupholstered. I finally did have it done. But I used it in that condition for quite awhile.

Posted by erik at 11:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 28, 2006

A Friendly Water Pump Impeller Mandate

Change your water pump impeller every year. No exceptions. It is just not worth the hassle and fear of letting a $32.00 part do thousands of dollars worth of damage. I am done being reactive to issues related to a dried & dead impeller and from now forward will change the water pump impeller each and every time I prep the boat for summer.

This may sound like overkill, but have you ever heard of a cheaper insurance policy? As I am embroiled in issues related to an overheating GT-40 powered Super Air Nautique, with about 80 hours on it, and it is pretty much brand new to me, it doesn't sound like overkill to me today...

I pulled this rubber carcass out of the water pump housing yesterday, which I was indeed not thrilled about.

Posted by erik at 02:32 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack