31 Contender with 05 verados

[DEEP DEFIANCE]

I thought it was $10,000 for two new 300's! that would be A upgrade.But you say that its $16000 for the (2)275's that you already had on there originally thats ubsurd!!!!

[sizematters]

Thats right,16,ooo for two new 275s, well the boat is still at Almars, another striper season missed, and the kids miss out again.

[KEY-LIME-PIE]

Man I know your pain! I really thought Mercury would have stepped up to the plate! Are you getting the motors? I have dealt with Almars on several occausions. They are good to deal with. Their mechanic "Tom" is really good!I know the trips to return broken motors...Annapolis to New Castle De. close to 100 miles one way. No easy trip. Best of luck.

Capt Tom

[sizematters]

Tom, I dont think we are ready to dump more cash into this right now. We are still trying to deal with merc. You would think they would want to keep hard workin customers happy and their moters running. The name you gave me hade no email address I could not contact him . still buy Americsn

[Dunk]

After reading Admin John's story, I decided to post my first thread. In April of 2005, my partners and I bought a brand new 31 foot Contender. We made a decision to by American and opted for the 275 Verados. What a mistake. From the minute we purchased the boat, until present, the boat has been in and out of the shop. My partners and I live in Valley Forge, PA. The boat is docked in the Breezy Lee Marina in Cape May, NJ. The Merc dealer/mechanic is located in Newark, DE. To lose a day's work, drive to Cape May, and then drag it to Delaware has been getting very old. As of today, Almar's has covered over $22,000 in repairs to both motors. These repairs include a blown power head, corrosion issues on both motors, numerous floats, and the list goes on. The motors only have 700 hours on them. My partners and I bought the boat with our children in mind. They all love Sea Bass fishing at the Wrecks. We have lost total confidence in these motors, and refuse to risk our kids safety. We have limped in with one motor too many times to take that chance. As of Wednesday of this week, my partners and I met Merc's Regional Tech Rep at Almar's Marine in Delaware. This was our 3rd attempt to meet with a rep. The prior two other times, the Reps left Almar's prior to us arriving. Again, multiple days of work were lost. When we met with the Rep this past week, we were informed that he would contact us on Friday with a resolution from his superiors. We received no call. When we reached out to contact the Rep, we were informed Merc would install 2 new motors for $16,000. Needless to say, my partners and I are very upset and the boat remains in the shop. Another Striper season goes by, no boat, or kids fishing.

If they are still under warranty I'd tell them to keep patching them up. Let Merc keep spending money till they figure out replacing them would be cheaper. When they do run there's only one rpm I'd run them at..

[cadillac rob]

I PURCHASED A BOAT LAST YEAR WALKED AWAY FROM TWO BOATS BECAUSE THEY HAD MERCS SOME PEOPLE TOLD ME NOT TO BUY A BOAT WITH THE 300 HPDI'S I DID AND HAVE BEEN VERY HAPPY WITH THEM THEY DRINK BUT THE RUN GREAT. THE GUY'S I KNOW WITH THE MECRS HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS.

[CaptGorges]

I have never had a problem with Mercury or Yamaha, only Evinrude... However, they should replace the motors if still warrantied.

[frank daleo]

if its warranteed and its been back numerous times, isnt there a lemon law like cars.....if they are fixing it and they are not chalking it up to operator error then they should replace them....wasnt this the first year for the verados that merc had some major issues? I could have sworn I recently saw a tread somewhere that someone else had an issue with these and merc replaced them...final offer..no deal and press the issue more..

[gradyfish265]

As far as I'm concerned a good motor brand would replace your engines for free, or better yet....fixed them the first time and given you trouble free boating. As far as I'm concerned if you go with new mercs you are screwed if anything else ever happens to the new ones. Once you take a "settlement" on your issue they will laugh at you with new claims and will never help you again, they will claim we can;t help you this time we did last time...we made a settlement by giving you a "deal" on these new engines...can't help you this time. I would shy away from that. These engines were obviously lemons...or better yet as jaws says...JUNK!!! I would rather spend more money and get an engine that will last and more importantly keep you on the water without extensive repairs or maintenance. You need to put more pressure on them...ask how many guys put mercs on contenders....push how you wanted to be different and promote their engines and now they treat you this way...no wonder you don't see many.

No matter how bad times are, Merc should replace them for free..period!! To them 2 engines are nothing in their overall sales, these eignes and their maintenance records warrant a big issue, if Merc had class they would replace them to show they were a stand up company...this would go way further then their actions now. Instead of shelling out 2 new engines and having you promote them and rave about how they treated you well, they tick you off and make you unhappy...and now get an even worse rep for the Verado engine, lossing potential sales from those you might talk to ro read this. Foolish move on their part if you ask me. I know of builders who sell engines that cost 3 or 4 times that that would replace the engine free of cost, or just charge labor at most to resolve the problem if the engine has this type of a track record.

BTW...did Merc ever tell you why new engines would be any better...have they done anything to redesign the engines to prevent any of the issues you and so many others have had....why won't these have the same issues in a few years? If you do go with them make them give you an extended warranty to back their engines....if they are so confident in them they should not think twice to atleast do that to make you happy...for all the crappy service you've recieved you deserve atleast that.

[sizematters]

Well , we have been back and forth with Merc . They gave us untll Jan. 24 for our answer or all deals are off .Two year warrenty on our 05 junk, or two new 275s for 5000.oo a moter installed,they keep the old moters. We went with the new pieces of junk , just dont have the cash to switch out to jap moters. All I can do is cross our fingers and hope they got it right from 05 till now. Buy American