Good experience with dealer and boat review

[drdurso]

Good experiences with dealers seems to be foreign to many people so I thought I would share this; in September of 06 I bought an 06 leftover SeaFox 236 at the in-water boat show in Norfolk VA. I had not intended to buy a SeaFox, had not even looked at them, although my neighbor has one and has beat the snot out of it without any major problems.I was actually looking at Hydro-Sports and several others. I had read bad reviews of SF on this forum and others.

The dealers chased the Admiral away as they insisted on treating her as someone with no knowledge of boats. She went over to the Nautical Marine display and looked at the Sea Foxes, while my daughter and I looked at the more expensive boats.

The short version is that SWMBO called me over to look at a 236 CC w/Suzuki 150, bimini top, trailer, trim tabs, potti, VHF, and chartplotter for 26k.

She reminded me we have 2 kids in college.

So for less than 30k inclusive we bought the boat. The fit and finish are not up to 100k standards, the hatches are low end, it is an OK boat.

The dealer took us out for 2 hours on the James River and sea trialed it prior to delivey. The dealer delivered the boat to my door; I live 2 hours from the dealer.

When the 20 hour service came due I brought the boat back up to Richmond because there were a couple of little issues; the deck plate over the fuel tank sender did not want to stay closed and it fit oddly, there were a couple of loose screws, the gauges seemed to build up some crud on the glass, and the light that was supposed to light up for service had not.

When I dropped the boat off I gave my little list to the service manager, who said they would take care of everything. I expected some statements about normal wear and tear, or other disclaimers when I picked the boat up.

I picked the boat up and found the gauges had all been replaced with brand new, updated versions. The deck plate had been replaced with new, all screws were replaced and fixed, any issues I had had been addressed with a smile and no problems whatsoever.

The boat itself rides well, it is a little underpowered with the 150, but I am never in a hurry to get anywhere. I have been out striper fishing in some rough weather in the Chesapeake Bay, and have had no problems.

I am not employed by, or a stockholder in Nautical Marine, nor Sea Fox; as this is The Hull Truth I thought this information should be out there....

[CJS]

Congrats on the new toy.

Always nice to hear of positive experiences with dealers
and Mfg'ers.

[ABoater]

Great post!

Sounds like a win-win situation.

Enjoy!

[thundra]

Good to hear that a Dealer took care of you. I suspect that there are many dealers that do well but no one cares to mention it because it should always be the way things should be done.

Not long ago I thought about the 236 and more recently the 256 as they are good boats for the money. Now, how about some pics of that new rig?

[welder]

Not to hijack the thread but I also have had the best experience of any purchase in 46 years with Pacific boats , Ken Leverich at Trade Wind Infatables and Jay at black Lab Marine.
Here I am a year later and my manufacture/dealer support is still with me.

The Pacific team is awesome and makes me feel like i'm part of the company.



Lester

[warthog5]

How did the wiring look on the new SF? Is that with a single 150 on a 23ft boat?

[drdurso]

Wiring is ok; no mare's nest, the runs are logical and connections are good. The main run inside the console could be arranged better. Again keeping in mind this is an inexpensive boat wiring is safe and easily accessed in areas needed. Yes single 150 on 23 footer, with 4 adults and 1 teenager full tank and full fishing load runs about 40 @WOT on flat seas. Running back from CBBT in 2-3 footers with NE wind ran between 25-30mph without getting soaked or pounded to death. I would prefer more horsepower as running WOT everywhere will cause premature wear. If I knew how to post pictures I would...