Crossed over to ATX, but it has not been the most enjoyable experience.

[BrentB]

I made some negative comments above so I feel inclined to say something positive. Although the boat industry may be having some “issues” with QC as the technology advances at a dizzying pace, the customer service from Tige has been, in my experience, phenomenal. I bought my boat used from a Mastercraft dealer and do not have a local Tige dealer nearby. I’ve therefore had to contact Tige directly for a few minor issues. The response has always been immediate and they’ve taken care of things.

For that reason I’ll likely keep coming back to Tige when it’s time to upgrade and buy new. And by that time I’m optimistic that these QC bugs will be worked out. I definitely don’t get the sense that Tige doesn’t care about their customers.

[Fabricator909]

Seems to be the norm unfortunately.
Buy brand new boat for 100+K and then spend the first season waiting on the dealer to fix the little crap that shouldn't have been wrong to start with.
Lots more to go wrong on these newer boats.

I think all the brands need to slow down a bit and implement better QC at the factory, yes it will cost them some money but what it costs will easily be gained back in reputation IMO. It's a daunting task, just take a look at all the "moving parts" on the new boats. Just looking under the dash will make you dizzy. My gut tells me that the manufacturers weren't / aren't prepared for how quickly these things went from work truck to luxury sports car.

Can't agree more, these new boats are going to be like European cars, you'll have to buy new before the warranty runs out, or you're going to get hammered with repair bills. These boats are holding their value for the moment, but I think once all the gadgets stop working, and people start catching on to how expensive they are to fix, the depreciation is going to drop like a rock once warranty runs out. They went from Chevy Silverados to Audi A8's in a few years.

[freeheel4life]

Fast forward to today. The boat is now worth 10x that price, and the motor is the least complicated component on the entire boat! Fluid dynamics, water pumps types, tabs, fins, towers, oh my! A lot of the dealers didn't keep up. Tige has the boat for 2 hours after build to make sure all the parts work. Honestly, they probably all work from the factory. But bad actuators, relays, **** like that happens. (For reference, my Dad has an 2019, $80k super duty that had 6 recalls on it fixed today. It happens in cars too). The issue IMHO is the dealer network hasn't responded. For every Freeheel, there are 15 technicians that are rushed, under trained, inexperienced and/or not thorough. Plus, they probably work on 3 or 4 brands of boats ranging from center consoles to cabin cruisers.


All of this saying - it's an excuse. If I spend 80k or 200k I expect a luxury level of service. Sorry you are having a bad experience, and I hope it works out. Tige has always taken care of me, and seems like they do a good job in general... But there seems to be some misses here.

I could say a lot about this but will just say that GOOD techs are hard to find normally. When the government handed out an extra 600/wk starting back in April its been almost impossible. Many folks were making 4k a month on unemployment here in Idaho. I bust my *** and maybe make that much if I have a good month on commissions but for most folks it made more sense to stay home rather than work.

Marine techs are in demand. I keep an eye on Indeed and there's job openings in SLC, across town here in Boise, Idaho Falls, N Idaho, Seattle etc. About the only place I know of in the Northwest not hiring is AWS in Portland and I'm guessing if I dropped a resume they'd be hiring, just not advertising.

I came from diesel/equipment so was used to hydraulics, electrical, power train, engines, etc. These boats have gotten complex. Biggest problem I see is techs that can't use or multimeter or they can, but cant interpret the readings (they see 12v on a ground side and the light bulb doesn't go off that they have an OPEN GROUND).

The other problem is techs that dont ever get a chance to get out on the boats, or worse dont care to. Hard to diagnose when you dont understand the core principles behind how it works or what the end user expects from their boat.

Sorry for the rant/derail. Just throwing on my .02 from a dealer perspective.

[freeheel4life]

How many wakeboats have been in continuous production for 10+ years?)

Sanger 215 lol

[sandm]

Sanger 215 lol

mb b52
mc xstar
mc prostar?
sante 210/230
supreme s238
'bu lsv?
'bu vtx?

[Zackdogg]

I think there is a lot more backlash as price has gone up Josh. Not going to go into stuff that will get me in trouble (and thats a rarity) but suffice to say, a manufacturer from TN is getting a MY21 built at a MY20 price to appease a very unhappy customer. This boat has had a ton more problems than OP(some Indmar, some boatmate, some manuf)


At the end of its the name in the side of the boat and thats all customer cares about. As oldwakedoc has said, its not his problem that vendors supplied bad parts. Its his vacation that got ruined.

All that being said, this is why after we have a boat in for service I recommend a quick trip to local lake before relying on the fact that boat works before a trip. Things can be great on the trailer. Much different in the water. Not trying to defend anyone and feel for you oldwakedoc. Cant help but wonder if you and Zackdogg are at the same dealer...

Had the exact same question, when I read Tahoe. And it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[UNSTUCK]

I’ve never really bought in to the Ford assembly line vs Tige “one off” hand made line. Yes, robots are perfect in there movements. But they also don’t think and reason. If a robot is programmed to install a seat and turns to grab it and pick it up, it has no clue if it is actually holding a seat or not. Then it goes on to either install that seat or the air it’s holding.

With every hand made motion at Tige for example, a person is left to think for themselves. They have the option to choose if what they just did was good enough. Too often I feel the choice was incorrect.

Case in point, someone at Tige drilled 1” holes in the fiberglass in order to mount seat cushions that 1/4” studs would pass through. Then someone installed that seat cushion and used a 3/4” fender washer and lock nut to secure it in place. Now a 3/4” washer is too small for a 1” hole. What did he do? Shove the seat over a bit so the washer would land on some glass and kind of hold.

I wonder if the guy that built my RZX would want his name on a plaque in that boat? He would then know to expect a phone call from me asking why he used a 3/4” washer instead of a bigger one.

[D&P Powell]

I’ve never really bought in to the Ford assembly line vs Tige “one off” hand made line.... Case in point, someone at Tige drilled 1” holes in the fiberglass in order to mount seat cushions that 1/4” studs would pass through. Then someone installed that seat cushion and used a 3/4” fender washer and lock nut to secure it in place. Now a 3/4” washer is too small for a 1” hole.

Josh - your reasoning is contradicting your own argument! You never really bought into it, but if the same hole drilled into the fiberglass, followed by studs, followed by seat cushion placement and washers was on an assembly line like a Ford Automobile, the error rate would, at least in theory, be reduced significantly.

If automobile manufacturers thought the "one off" hand made line was a more efficient way to build automobiles, they wouldn't have progressed to the manufacturing processes in place today.

[talltigeguy]

How many wakeboats have been in continuous production for 10+ years?)

Good point. And some of those that carry the same name are far from the same boat. A 2010 Malibu 23 LSV is not the same as a 2020 Malibu 23 LSV.

[UNSTUCK]

The point I was trying to make (apparently unsuccessful) is that at least the person hand making the boat has the ability to think for them selves and in theory should then produce a product that is much better than what a robot can do. Now if Tige, or any other manufacturer cannot get employees that care enough to do it right, that is another issue.

Maybe we need a manufacturer to start outsourcing to China. The boat would be half the price and we could then rightly say we got what we paid for. Paying the American made premium and not getting the American made quality that we have come to expect isn't much fun.

[BrentB]

The point I was trying to make (apparently unsuccessful) is that at least the person hand making the boat has the ability to think for them selves and in theory should then produce a product that is much better than what a robot can do. Now if Tige, or any other manufacturer cannot get employees that care enough to do it right, that is another issue.

Maybe we need a manufacturer to start outsourcing to China. The boat would be half the price and we could then rightly say we got what we paid for. Paying the American made premium and not getting the American made quality that we have come to expect isn't much fun.

I understood exactly what you meant. And I agree. And I also understand that your “China” comment was simply to make a point (lest you get lambasted for it).

[freeheel4life]

UNSTUCK https://www.thedrive.com/tech/36274/...rade-fake-wood

^^if you give humans a choice they will do stuff like this lol.

[MikeB313]

Maybe dealers can make some extra money selling a "break in" service where your boat gets ~10 hours of detailed run through. You basically buy ten hours of a technician's time to focus exclusively on that one boat, going over everything a seasoned tech can think of and pre-handling any warranty issues for you.

It's the opposite actually! Customer's want money off because of the hours! Many people on this forum get the concept because they have read these threads and have owned several boats. Try explaining to a new wake boat customer that we need to put 10-20 hours on the boat to make sure everything works!

[UNSTUCK]

It is frustrating sometimes that I think so highly of humans. Can't help it.

[UNSTUCK]

MikeB that made me laugh. "Uh, you know that $150k boat you just bought? Yeah, it just came in. My family is going to spend the next 2 weekends on it braking it in cause there's a good chance it doesn't work. We don't want you to have to deal with it".