Wont buy a Second

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

I have had issues with my boat as well, and I bought it new. When the transmission cooler plugged, the boat got hot, and the alarm did not go off. The engine died just as the alarm finally sounded, and then it was too late. I destroyed my motor with just 20 hours. Tige refused to service the boat, saying it was a Marine Power issue, and MP refused to help saying it was a Tige issue. The dealer, VS Marine told me it was an "accident" and to contact my insurance. Boat US (my insurance) paid to have a new motor put in the boat. The local dealer, now out of business, installed a new motor and botched the install. Frustrated, I took it into my hands and built my own motor, I installed the engine, and upgraded it to a 383 at the same time. Through this incident, I found that Tige and Marine Power both were at fault, and neither cared to pony-up. My boat is great now, but only because I am mechanical enough to take these issues into my own hands and fix them the way they should have been manufactured. Tige is a good product, and uses the same parts and technology as MasterCraft and Malibu. This is my second Tige, and the first one had over 900 hours on it when I traded it in... with no issues. I can't say that Tige is a "bend-over-backwards-to-help-the-customer" kind of company, so I understand this guy's frustration. I know that when I sell my 20i, I will be the one servicing it for the new owner. I don't have anyone within the Tige system I would trust to touch it now.

[Fiveflat]

This reminds me of being ANGRY with PCM becuase they wouldn't share info that wasn't supposed to be obtained directly from them...

[chpthril]

I find it iteresting that you made a point to tell us that you found something through the engine swap (after the dealer did one) that places blame on both Tige and MP for a clogged raw water intake, but yet you dont share what it is you found. I, like many others here, are mechanicaly inclined and I think we ALL would like to know what you found and what you did to prevent it from happening again.

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

Before going further, let me say I didn't blame Tige or MP. They blamed each other, and I was left holding the ticket. My insurance company was the only helper in this deal.

What I found was interesting....The transmission cooler tubes are very small, something in the range of .25" dia. Any stick, leaf, or driftwood debris clogs them. Second, I found that the alarm for the high water temperature sending unit did not respond in time to prevent a catestrophic failure of the engine. I stuck a piston, broke a rod, and cracked two cylinders. Both heads were damaged as well. Third, Tige did not install a "limp mode" controller on the carb boats in 2007. My '95 had a merc magnum, and it employed a limp-mode system. In 2007, Tige only provided this option on injected motors.

I fixed these by adding a sea strainer, replacing the temp alarm switch with one 20 degrees cooler, cutting down the brass piping inlet to the tranny cooler by 3" to give better head pressure for pick-up, and replacing the thermostat for good measure. I hold Tige at fault for two failures: No limp-mode protection for the carbureted motor, and no strainer on the system. IF you have an inboard with no strainer... and no limp-mode controller... At least buy a strainer.

I should give props to MP for helping me with my engine build. They felt bad about what happened and sent me a complete engine gasket kit. Keith Black poney'd up a sweet set of pitstons and rings. To date, Tige has turned a deaf ear to me. Sad thing is, I sold Tige's for 4 years and have owned Tige's since 1995. My boat is sweet now, but only after I did what should have been done at the factory. If I were to build a boat, I would not sell one without a strainer.
I have learned alot about the way Tige's are built, and I know they are a good boat. I ended up in a single-jeopardy system failure, and in my line of work, we plan for this. Redundancy is the key, and Tige missed the boat (so to speak) on the carbureted models of their boats.

Sorry for the novel... but you asked for info.

Dale

I find it iteresting that you made a point to tell us that you found something through the engine swap (after the dealer did one) that places blame on both Tige and MP for a clogged raw water intake, but yet you dont share what it is you found. I, like many others here, are mechanicaly inclined and I think we ALL would like to know what you found and what you did to prevent it from happening again.

[chpthril]

Who spec'd out your boat? Sea strainers have been an option for years.

Before going further, let me say I didn't blame Tige or MP. They blamed each other, and I was left holding the ticket. My insurance company was the only helper in this deal.

What I found was interesting....The transmission cooler tubes are very small, something in the range of .25" dia. Any stick, leaf, or driftwood debris clogs them. Second, I found that the alarm for the high water temperature sending unit did not respond in time to prevent a catestrophic failure of the engine. I stuck a piston, broke a rod, and cracked two cylinders. Both heads were damaged as well. Third, Tige did not install a "limp mode" controller on the carb boats in 2007. My '95 had a merc magnum, and it employed a limp-mode system. In 2007, Tige only provided this option on injected motors.

I fixed these by adding a sea strainer, replacing the temp alarm switch with one 20 degrees cooler, cutting down the brass piping inlet to the tranny cooler by 3" to give better head pressure for pick-up, and replacing the thermostat for good measure. I hold Tige at fault for two failures: No limp-mode protection for the carbureted motor, and no strainer on the system. IF you have an inboard with no strainer... and no limp-mode controller... At least buy a strainer.

I should give props to MP for helping me with my engine build. They felt bad about what happened and sent me a complete engine gasket kit. Keith Black poney'd up a sweet set of pitstons and rings. To date, Tige has turned a deaf ear to me. Sad thing is, I sold Tige's for 4 years and have owned Tige's since 1995. My boat is sweet now, but only after I did what should have been done at the factory. If I were to build a boat, I would not sell one without a strainer.
I have learned alot about the way Tige's are built, and I know they are a good boat. I ended up in a single-jeopardy system failure, and in my line of work, we plan for this. Redundancy is the key, and Tige missed the boat (so to speak) on the carbureted models of their boats.

Sorry for the novel... but you asked for info.

Dale

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

Who spec'd out my boat? I'm not sure what you mean... I bought a stock item, off the showroom floor from VS Marine, Atascadero, Ca.. I believe an $80 strainer should not be an option. It should be standard, especially if there is no limp-mode.

Who spec'd out your boat? Sea strainers have been an option for years.

[chpthril]

Who spec'd out my boat? I'm not sure what you mean... I bought a stock item, off the showroom floor from VS Marine, Atascadero, Ca.. I believe an $80 strainer should not be an option. It should be standard, especially if there is no limp-mode.

tige does not randomly build boats. they are built off orders placed by dealers. your dealer did not include the strainer on the spec sheet then

[Tigebert]

Whoa guys,

Stop and take a breath and think about this logically. I'm sure we've all been in a situation where things get frustrating.

Wicked: No point in firing shots at Tige at this point. The motor is not manufactured by them. If it had been well maintained it would be as good as new with only 130 hours on it. Is it possible for you to contact the previous owner and ask him WTF happened with the motor? Don't go looking for rebates etc, just bite the bullet and ask him to be honest. It may help you isolate the problem and limit your fix $$ if he fesses up. Was the boat ever swamped? It could still be made to look like new if it was cleaned and dried quickly but the motor may be done. Was the oil milky??

At the end of the day it's only a motor and there's only so many things that can be wrong. You're going to need to start with basics and work back until you nail it.

Sounds like you may have a sh!tty dealer in your area. A 9 year old boat is a 9 year old boat regardless of the hours. I bought an 02 with 112 hours on it and it runs perfect. I ran it first and did a water trial before buying though.

You've got it now. My advice is fix it and continue on. Then you KNOW what you have. Not really Tiges fault though. Just my 2 bits.

Good luck.

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

I understand no strainer was installed.. or requested by the dealer when they bought the boat. This is because the dealer is trying to make the most they can on a boat. My point is that Tige, being a thoughtful and responsible company needs to make the strainer standard equipment on carbureted boats BECAUSE they have no limp mode controller. I'm not sure why you would be against that change.... it's a good change. If you can't see that, then we are at an empass. I can agree to disagree. It sounds like you are defending Tige, and I can't imagine why.

The fact is that the carb boats cooling systems can easily clog and overheat before the alarm goes off. It happened to me with a boat that had 20 hours on it. I was stranded and had to be towed in by the ranger. It ended up costing me a lot of money and heartache.

tige does not randomly build boats. they are built off orders placed by dealers. your dealer did not include the strainer on the spec sheet then

[Wickedcummins]

Are some of you not reading this thread? No the oil was not milky. Boat ran great and everything was show room quality when i bought it. I put about 20 hours on it then this happened. Your right Tige dont build the motors but they sure do install them and charge you for the whole boat that includes the motor they pick to install. PCM did not sell the boat Tige did. So yes I am pissed. Did you even happen to read what I was pissed about ? Are you guys just picking what parts you wanna read?

Again read the bold letters.

I am pissed that Tige only gives a $$ hit about there brand new boats that are under factory warranty! And cant ever return phone calls or emails to anwser a few questions. Not to pay for anything not to come fix anything but to anwser a few questions.

[Wickedcummins]

I understand no strainer was installed.. or requested by the dealer when they bought the boat. This is because the dealer is trying to make the most they can on a boat. My point is that Tige, being a thoughtful and responsible company needs to make the strainer standard equipment on carbureted boats BECAUSE they have no limp mode controller. I'm not sure why you would be against that change.... it's a good change. If you can't see that, then we are at an empass. I can agree to disagree. It sounds like you are defending Tige, and I can't imagine why.

The fact is that the carb boats cooling systems can easily clog and overheat before the alarm goes off. It happened to me with a boat that had 20 hours on it. I was stranded and had to be towed in by the ranger. It ended up costing me a lot of money and heartache.

I agree with you. Its not the sellers Name that goes on the side. You think Tige whould just do it to keep good rep.

[Tigebert]

Are some of you not reading this thread? No the oil was not milky. Boat ran great and everything was show room quality when i bought it. I put about 20 hours on it then this happened. Your right Tige dont build the motors but they sure do install them and charge you for the whole boat that includes the motor they pick to install. PCM did not sell the boat Tige did. So yes I am pissed. Did you even happen to read what I was pissed about ? Are you guys just picking what parts you wanna read?

Again read the bold letters.

I am pissed that Tige only gives a $$ hit about there brand new boats that are under factory warranty! And cant ever return phone calls or emails to anwser a few questions. Not to pay for anything not to come fix anything but to anwser a few questions.

I think you're missing the point. You're calling the manufacturer to ask for help with a 9 year old boat that is no longer under warranty. If you have a lousy dealer in your area that's a shame but you should stop caning the manufacturer and find a reputable mechanic who can fix it.

I've got an 03 Ford Expedition with a load of electric sensor issues. It's a common problem from what I understand but I don't throw Ford under the bus and say f#$k them I'll never get another one. I take it somewhere and get it fixed. What do you want Tige to about it? Send a guy to your house?? What questions can you ask Tige that will really help that should not be presented to a good mechanic?? Take the damn thing out and get it fixed by a reputable mechanic. Then you can sell it and buy your PCM in a Malibu or a Mastercraft. Not one of the PCM's ever built has EVER had any problems whatsoever. They're perfect.
No wonder you're without service man...I can't imagine what type of customer you would be.

As a last ditch attempt to help I would ask. If it ran perfect during your test run, what has transpired since? Maybe there's something in there.

[dom w. forte]

I guess you didnt get my point, its the dealers responsibilty to make a customer happy, I havent heard yet whether or not it went to the dealer and they couldnt fix the problem, if so then Tige should be contacted, as pertaining to the sea strainer again this is a dealer issue, or a customer who does his own service and didnt know to check tranny cooler for debree which is a common practice during a maintenace service, many of the brands dont come with strainers and it has always been a common practice to check sea strainer.
Im not trying to cause a problem , im only trying to get out all info so as to help anybody from having this same issue occur.
As far as your comment that the technitions are only as good as a jiffy lube oil changer, I do have a problem with that, any good tech should know his limitations and stick with the field they are familar with and if they have a problem take to those with more experence.

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

Who huh who what? Ugly bend in the road ahead... taking the next offramp.

Wow normally when people make stupid mistakes they dont want to bring light to it, but I guess when your as full of your self as this you want everyone to know what a stupid mistake you made.

Its weird how when you joined not too long ago you were all pumped and had cool stuff you wanted to do and loved the boat but now you had one problem that your "impressive mechanical skills" could not diagnose and fix and you end up throwing money at it blind and blame everyone and now you hate the boat....

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

LOL.. I think you are running two threads together. My issue is that Tige doesn't include a strainer as a standard feature on carbureted boats (which dont have a limp-mode controller to protect the engine from overheating).

Ah screw it.. never mind.
You guys have at it.. Im done in this thread.

I guess you didnt get my point, its the dealers responsibilty to make a customer happy, I havent heard yet whether or not it went to the dealer and they couldnt fix the problem, if so then Tige should be contacted, as pertaining to the sea strainer again this is a dealer issue, or a customer who does his own service and didnt know to check tranny cooler for debree which is a common practice during a maintenace service, many of the brands dont come with strainers and it has always been a common practice to check sea strainer.
Im not trying to cause a problem , im only trying to get out all info so as to help anybody from having this same issue occur.
As far as your comment that the technitions are only as good as a jiffy lube oil changer, I do have a problem with that, any good tech should know his limitations and stick with the field they are familar with and if they have a problem take to those with more experence.