31 Contender with 05 verados

[sizematters]

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.

[DEEP DEFIANCE]

what 22,ooo worth of repairs on two motors in 3 yrs all I can say is that Al and Sam know there shit! and if they cant fix your problem nobody can!I think merc should cough up (2)new motors for you at no charge for all your aggravation but you could probably put the new 300v rods on your ride and that would be A upgrade worth paying A few bucks for!

[bigfish4me]

Wow, sorry to hear about the motor troubles. Its nice to see some one from my neck of the woods...i hope you guys get it straightened out. There is nothing like loosing faith in your power, seem like shitty luck follows us around. We have had the 454 in and out of our blackfin no less than 6 times in the past 3 years....it just seems like it never ends, left Conshohocken at 4 am last sunday to fish behind sea isle in a buddies boat that just had a rebuilt motor installed on it...and you guess it....backing out of the slip it dies, changed plugs,fuel filters....just wouldnt go. So here we are all dressed up and nowhere to go, fresh bunker,clam and a dozen eels and the hand writing was on the wall....which sent us digging in the cooler at 7:30 am....around 10 am we got ahold of a buddy from up home that still had his boat in the water, he revealed where he keeps his keys and we ....liberated his boat from its slip for a while....but the bite was over by then and mother nature cranked up the fans by then.

[sizematters]

Al has been great,If he had more hair Id marry him.As of late friday Merc came in with 8000 grand for 275s and 10000 for the 300s I have to run that by my wife. We have a 150,000 in the boat already.

[DEEP DEFIANCE]

I would def go with the 300vrods assuming that they would give you full warrantty.I havent seen to many 31 contenders with the V300's on the market and if you go to sell it in the future you will def come out ahead in finacial aspects as well as selling it faster.JM2C

[Questsportfishing]

DO NOT BUY ANOTHER MERCURY ENGINE TILL THEY STEP UP AND START BEING FAIR WITH SERVICE WARRANTEES AND PRODUCT!!!!! so friggin' tired of seeing them sponser some people with engines service and parts while others are paying out the nose on all these issues! Buy Yamaha, E-tek, suzuki and let these cats fail as far as I am concerned... American company's should not treat customers like this! Speed is not what makes your day out on the boat...and how fast can you go when your engine does not run anyway??? I do welcome any merc guy to discredit what I have posted!!!

[jawz12]

DO NOT BUY ANOTHER MERCURY ENGINE TILL THEY STEP UP AND START BEING FAIR WITH SERVICE WARRANTEES AND PRODUCT!!!!! so friggin' tired of seeing them sponser some people with engines service and parts while others are paying out the nose on all these issues! Buy Yamaha, E-tek, suzuki and let these cats fail as far as I am concerned... American company's should not treat customers like this! Speed is not what makes your day out on the boat...and how fast can you go when your engine does not run anyway??? I do welcome any merc guy to discredit what I have posted!!!

you tell it like it is !!! i gotta agree with ol' quest here...
those v-rods,flat out junk...i can honestly state,i've yet to see a v-rod powered boat with both engines running at the same time-that's a flat out fact...
these guys have the balls to actually charge you more money for all the problmes you've had ???? these guys are smokin' way too much crack..."F"!!! them !!!

[marlin magnet]

http://www.catdefect.com-a.googlepages.com/home

the collective will of many with a major game changer to work hard, will get the message clear to the engine manufacturers.

[Questsportfishing]

not mercs

[sizematters]

well its wednesday and just got a call from merc. 8000.00 per moter for two new 275 verados, that is their final offer. We have thirty days to respond or the deal is off. This is unreal for the amount of money we shelled out ,the trips back and forth from Cape May to Almars in Del. the amount of down time and worked missed the the verado people have got to get their act together . There is no way I can throw 16,000 into this boat. I wish they would step up to the plate and make this right. buy American .