Picking up the new boat today...again.

[SummerObsession]

The guys from Skiers Wharf are delivering our new boat today (8 hours one way for them!).
Hopefully she is running like a top and we are over the initial issues!
They have tested it for serveral hours and everything appears to be running well.

I'll try to post some pics tonight if possible.

A tremendous thanks to Skiers Wharf for fixing the boat, delivering it to us, and bringing their guys to finish our wakeboard lessons!
They have gone above and beyond the call of duty (especially on a brand new boat), and I appreciate their efforts!!

[TeamAllen]

Did they tell you what the final problem was? Enjoy the boat!

[poohpotta]

Congrats, please do post a few pics when you get time.

[SummerObsession]

Well, we made it back from picking up the boat. It was a hectic day, and we, of course, forgot the camera.

I'l take a shot or two inside the shop and post them.

The boat appears to be fixed, although they never did find a "smoking gun" problem that you could point to and say "that's the problem".
After removing the entire fuel system including lines, injector rails, etc and blowing air through them (Marine power suggestion), it appears there must have been a small obstrution or something that caused fuel starvation.
The boat did die on us once after idling for some time changing riders, but it fired right back up again with no further issues. We are going to run the heck out of it and see what happens.
Should the problem return, so will the boat to Tige`. Skiers Wharf and I are BOTH in agreement on that one! We'll see.

As far as Skier's Wharf goes, they have been nothing but GREAT!!
They have worked hard to correct the problem, delivered the boat to MY lake (18 hour round trip for them), and sent our instrutor and a service guy to finish our lessons and make sure everything was running fine.

It really is unfortunate for both me and Skiers wharf they had to spend so much time fixing this brand new boat!

They did everything they could for me, but the reality is I have a brand new boat that was delivered to me with 12 hours on it (for testing) and has been apart further than most at least twice.
I feel Tige has let both of us down somewhat, as I have never even received one phone call from anyone at Tige`, but then again i never really expected one.

We love the boat and are hoping it stays running for us! If not, we will buy another brand of boat, but still buy from Skiers Wharf.

[SummerObsession]

I have hesitated in bringing up this old thread again, but I feel that some additional info might be of help to others.

First of all, I actually just got the boat running this last weekend. The next time out after the last post, the boat acted just as it did before: dying after idling for a minutes or two, stalling coming on plane, running rough, and generally acting as if it were wither vapor locking or starving for fuel(as I had explained to my dealer several times).

After several calls to my dealer (Skiers Wharf) and getting nowhere, I finally e-mailed Andrew with Tige` and got in touch w/Marine Power directly. I spoke to the owner, Eddie, and we both agreed that the fuel was getting too hot. He had another customer in Arizona (Andrew told me this as well) that had the same problem, and had fixed his problem by re-routing the raw water line to the fuel cooler.
I got in touch w/Skiers Wharf and finally came to the conclusion I would have to either fix it myself, wait for Marine power to send someone, or haul the boat 6+ hours to their dealership in Kansas City to have it fixed.

The fix was really no big deal, so I contacted Lee (warranty manager) at Marine Power, and he quickly sent me all the parts I would need.
Last weekend, I removed the crankshaft mounted water pump and replaced it with one that is identical except for the fact it has a small hole drilled and tapped for a 90 degree fitting on the pressure side of the pump. I removed the line from the heat exchanger (why put hot water through the fuel COOLER, I have no idea!), and simply attached the line to the fitting.
Now, instead of taking hot water out of the heat exchanger, running it across the TOP of the hot intake manifold, down the side of the motor and THEN into the cooler, the water is taken directly from the lake and pumped into the fuel cooler.

After checking for leaks, we ran the boat 4 miles up the lake to normal operating temperature, idled for several minutes, and throttle response was instant! We tried everything we could to get the boat to die, stall or even cough, but it seems to be fixed for good!
The only hesitation I have now is that the water was 8 degrees colder and the air was nearly 20 degrees colder than the last time it acted up, but I'm fairly confident that it won't matter.

Tige` has done all they can to help me get my boat running as it should. It was definitely a Marine Power issue, and NOT a Tige` issue. Andrew was great to deal with, and was genuinely interested to see me back on the water! He and Tige` have promised to try to help make up for my basically lost 1/2 season (I originally picked the boat up August 1st), and I'm sure they will. Marine Power was great to deal with as well.

As for Skier's Wharf, well, the owner won't even return my calls anymore (they had promised to make things right as well) so I guess there is a lesson to be learned there.

Sorry for the long post, but I know others have experienced this same issue with the 380hp 6.0 liter Marine Power (Tige`) motor, so I hope this might be valuable info.

[pup]

sounds like a great repair. it would make sense to build them all this way. great info, i'm sure it will help others. good luck Don.

[dogbert]

Glad things finally worked out. Dealer support is exactly the reason I ended up with a Tige to begin with. I've never regretted my decision.

[zeda]

"Tige` has done all they can to help me get my boat running as it should. It was definitely a Marine Power issue, and NOT a Tige` issue."

I somewhat disagree with this statement. Yes, this is a Marine Power issue, but Tige should take some responsibility and help resolve any issues with components that are installed in their boats. It seems that they would have more PULL with Marine Power than the boat owner.

[SummerObsession]

zeda:

The way I would expect problems to be handles with a new boat (regardless of brand) would be:
1. Dealer
2. Tige` (Manufacturer)
3. Marine Power (vendor)

Well, the dealer in this case tried initially, but as soon as the boat was out of sight, ith was out of mind. Granted, the boat was 9 hours away from them, but not returning calls doesn't fix anything.
Tige` , Andrew specifically, was very helpful with getting Marine Power to help me out. Austin Texas is a long way from western Kansas, so I didn't really expect them to send anyone to my location.

Marine Power was extremely helpful and had I insisted, they would have either sent someone out to my location, or somehow compensated me for hauling my boat to a dealer. They offered to pay any marine service location, or mechanic for that matter, to re-do the water pump.
However, since I could do it myself, I didn't see the point in having someone else take on the job. My first choice would probably have been for Marine Power to handle it themselves, just in the event something went wrong, it would be thier problem.
It really was a very simple fix, so I didn't think it warranted them travleling all the way to my location. Their shop is only 15 miles west of New Orleans, and several of their employees lost their homes in the hurricane, so I felt like my problem was very minor, and the best way I could help them was to take care of it myself.

[SummerObsession]

You know just thinking about all this, had my dealer initially handled the problem correctly and actually showed a true interest in fixing my boat, Marine Power and Tige` would have helped them. I believe the only reason I lost the last two months was because I was always waiting for the dealer to call tige, Marine Power, whoever they were blaming it on at the time, and those calls were never actually made.

I have received three e-mails from people relating a very similar experience with the dealer, and I can say with relative certainty that none of us will buy boats from that dealer again.

The truly unfortunate part of all this is that both Tige` and Marine Power end up getting the "black eyes" from a dealer that lies to their customers. Everything that anyone from Tige` or Marine Power has told me has certainly been true. I can't say that much for the dealer.

[zeda]

This is helpful as I am currently dealing with a problem with the V-drive on my Tige. I have written a letter to my dealer and to Tige trying to work out some kind of solution to the problem without me having to pay a large chunk of money on a pretty new boat (2004 22V). I am awaiting some sort of reply from either party.

[zeda]

I now feel like my dealer has exhausted all possible efforts in getting my problem resolved. A big thanks to them. They have negotiated with Walter on 1/2 price labor and full price parts (still very expensive) and have contacted Tige to see if they can have more influence on this issue. So far, Tige has not stepped up to the plate IMO. As I said earlier, I have sent a letter to Tige and expect some sort of reply. If nothing happens on that end, I will have to leave the Tige family, join Nautique, Malibu, or other family while doing everything to convince all that Tige is not willing to work for the customer. I hope I don't have to go to those extremes. V-drives should not fail in the first 160 hours of use.