You know the drill..
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Bamby
- Posts: 1409
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:30 am
- Location: Near Wheeling W.V.
#31
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by Bamby » Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:32 pm
GregF wrote:It still gets down to how you buy your boat. If you are at a big dealer you might be buying right off the floor or out of his lot but the smaller dealers around here order your boat, built to your specifications and at that point, there is no advantage to not getting it shipped, factory rigged. At least that seems to be how it works from what I see.
As you see form the "what kind of boat do you have" thread, I don't buy a lot of boats but I do have neighbors who do.
It brings a tear to my eye to watch them buy a brand new boat, seldom use it and it rots on the lift. A few years later they decide that one is shot and buy another new one, promising themselves they are going to use it more this time.
Greg you're so called dealers sound as if they are working out the they're driveway or home garage. Their simply ain't no way to get a good price or deal on the entire package that way. Most dealers around here are actually pretty darn small also but it appears they're actually running a real business. Take this one for example
http://www.jimcartermarine.com/pages/sweetwater.html I've been to his dealership and it sits on about an half acre of land. I've meet and dealt with him some but I know his father far better..
They work out purchase orders with the builders well in advance every year for a minimum quantity of boats in a variety of floor-plans to be delivered to his dealership as released. He hast to purchase them this way to receive favorable competitive pricing on his boats. Sometimes he even orders several boats specked specifically for his franchise that the builder typically doesn't offer. I'm sure he's already placed his spring order for delivery already. He offers competitive pricing and exemplary service to all his customers. But it's got me thinking that what you're implying and calling a dealer is really stretching things quite a bit.
Maybe they're just going up the road to a real dealership to purchase the boat complete, then tow it to their garage and marking up the price-point and pocketing money for practically nothing...
Respect Our Recreational Resources
Leaving Only "The Footprints of Your Passing"
Boating the Muskingum River
1972 35' Crest Pontoon Houseboat
2007 90 hp. Yamaha
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GregF
- Posts: 3323
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:47 pm
- Location: Estero Florida
#32
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by GregF » Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:50 pm
The guys I am talking about are more in the storage and maintenance business than the sales business. (I think I said that days ago). Their prices on a "total package boat" was not really that horrible. They just could not compete on a box motor.
I suppose if you are looking for the best bottom line price the big volume dealer is probably where you should go but I have had horrible luck with them as a service customer.
Big dealers tend to want to sell you a service "package" that includes a lot of things you don't need or want. A "100 hour" service can easily be $300-400. That would be costing me $1200 a year, no thanks.
The smaller dealers seem to have better mechanics (not part throwers) from what I see and they will actually do just what you want, not high pressuring you into things you don't need simply because it is a high profit item for them. The guy I like was the one who actually figured out my cooling problem on my 60 and when he was done it was a "no charge" warranty call. TWO big time dealers BOTH charged me well over $100 for a warranty call, selling me "maintenance" parts (not covered on warranty) that were not bad and not fixing anything. One went out of business and the other one will never see another dime of my money.
BTW the Mercury rep who got involved seemed interested in my story but I doubt he actually did anything and I never got any money back. What he did do is let my mechanic in on the fact that this was a known problem but my mechanic actually came up with the fix. I am guessing Mercury used it in other places.
1974 Harris
70 HP 4 stroke EFI Yamaha
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ToonGuy
- Posts: 968
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:34 am
- Location: Lake Wawasee, Northern IN
#33
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by ToonGuy » Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:01 am
Bamby wrote:Greg I'll allow that most of them are rigged as far as controls as shipped from the factory. But I've seen a lot of trucks hauling new boats across I-70 and haven't observed motors on any of them. One of my boats as delivered new came rigged for a Honda motor as shipped, as it was a special order boat. The only thing the dealer had to do was hang the motor, plug in the existing harness as shipped, then add the motor oil and we slipped it into the lake and motored away. No real brains needed or necessary even a "Floridian" could have done it.
And this was also purchased at a pretty small dealer too.
You can have any boat you want
Powered by any motor you want
At somebody's restaurant...
You need to look closer. 70% of the time the motors are in the crates, on the same trailer hauling the toons. I know people in the pontoon manufacturing business, and also the head PA for one of the largest (and no I'm not naming any one). Many of their toons leave the factory rigged and with the motor mounted or in a crate for the dealer to mount. They can get you any motor you want, and thier discounted buying power would astound you. Like Greg said some larger dealers buy motors direct, and choose to order the toons with no motor. Most smaller dealers don't, when you see the HP options it simply meaans they will order YOUR boat the way you want it, and probably not that they will change the power on the one sitting in the lot. And I certianly wouldn't consider a small dealer that does over 2 mil a year operating out of his garage...
Just one boat...after another, after another

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Bamby
- Posts: 1409
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:30 am
- Location: Near Wheeling W.V.
#34
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by Bamby » Sat Dec 31, 2011 11:55 am
We'll I can be as hard-headed as anyone here on the board.

But in this case damn-it maybe everybody is both right and wrong. In the case of purchasing our first pontoon boat we shopped extensively. I mean everywhere from two hundred miles from home all the way down to Texas when we were visiting relatives there, (a big mistake not buying the boat we encountered in Texas). Anyway as in most cases the boat in Texas was way overpowered as sitting for the mud-puddles we have to play in up here. But as in most other dealerships we've encountered up to that point and time we were escorted to another area and the salesman pointed out "an extensive selection of new in the box crated motors". All we had to do was select one they'd have it mounted and we could be boating in it the next day..
Now as power in most cases you can have your designated boat manufacture and floor design and also your choice of engine and manufacture, but in some cases you must be willing to travel the distance to pair the two together if you're hard-headed enough that is..
Edited: Here's an example slideshow from one boat manufacture
http://www.southbaypontoon.com/ watch it through and scroll to the bottom all engine manufactures appear to be represented in the presentation...

Respect Our Recreational Resources
Leaving Only "The Footprints of Your Passing"
Boating the Muskingum River
1972 35' Crest Pontoon Houseboat
2007 90 hp. Yamaha
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GregF
- Posts: 3323
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:47 pm
- Location: Estero Florida
#35
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by GregF » Sat Dec 31, 2011 5:00 pm
Perhaps dealers on the coast operate differently than they do along the Mississippi River. Dunno.
1974 Harris
70 HP 4 stroke EFI Yamaha
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GregF
- Posts: 3323
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:47 pm
- Location: Estero Florida
#36
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by GregF » Sat Dec 31, 2011 5:26 pm
Maybe the whole thing simply comes down to every motor Bamby saw was sold "to a hull", they just haven't entered the HIN yet.
1974 Harris
70 HP 4 stroke EFI Yamaha
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Bamby
- Posts: 1409
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:30 am
- Location: Near Wheeling W.V.
#37
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by Bamby » Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:58 pm
Respect Our Recreational Resources
Leaving Only "The Footprints of Your Passing"
Boating the Muskingum River
1972 35' Crest Pontoon Houseboat
2007 90 hp. Yamaha
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Leisure Kraft
- Posts: 170
- Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:08 pm
- Location: Crossville, TN
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Contact:
#38
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by Leisure Kraft » Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:08 pm
Honestly guys, we don't make any money from selling the (Suzuki) engines. What we're banking on is that if somebody buys a motor from us they're likelier to bring it back to us for service and to buy parts. It's more of a relationship thing after the sale, in other words. Suzukis are wallet-friendly when it comes to maintenance so it's not like we're making a killing on the service. We just realize that a customer who comes back for spark plugs later might also buy other things as well. And who knows, in five years they might think of upgrading their entire rig?
So that's why we do the discount game on the motors.