picking up the boat

beerman

beerman

Member
Feb 16, 2007
443
Wis. Dells, Wisconsin
Boat Info
2006 340 Sundancer
Engines
8.1 LTR VDrives
Well after a weeks delay in the sea trial and pickup of our new to us 240 da we went to the dealer to pick it up yesterday. After 2 months of knowing we were coming to get it they were not ready for us. We did arrive 1 1/2 hours early(imagine that) and let the dealer know that we were in town and would be back at the normal time. The salesmen was running around like a chicken. The boat was buffed and polished when we got back but the were still wiping the slop from the buffer off of the windows. The canvas was not cleaned and the cabin was not cleaned. We were also told that the trailer brakes were not working when they launched the boat. There were some other minor things that were also not taken care of. We did get to go out for our first ride. It ran great. It was a little windy but it handled the small chop very nicely. He ran it to a calmer bay for us to try it ourselves. After making figure eights for a while and getting used to the handling the salesman said he had a game he needed to go to and if it was ok if we headed in. My wife and I really felt like we were a inconvenience for purchasing the boat. We told him to keep it till Saturday as the dealer is having a spring open house and we were coming down anyways. So it looks like Saturday she will come home. I hope.
 
Yea, it is a traumatic experience picking up your new boat for the first time. The rush is on to get all the boats out the door in a very short window, but it is still no excuse since they (The Dealers) know it's coming each and every spring. I guess since they think the boat is sold its just going to hop in the water all by it's self. :wink:
 
Make sure you keep a good punch list of items that need to be addressed. Dealer should handle them in a timely manner. Your going to find somethings when you get it home.
 
Beerman-
Its been our experience when picking up a new boat that the chances something goes wrong or not as planned are par for the coarse. I wise friend on this site told me to hold back some cash at the last minute till all warrentee items are cleaned up. You would be surprised at the speed of the service team. Im guessing the boys in Madison would react a bit quicker if it hindered thier cash flow. Tell them to throw in some shirts! Hope all goes well. Looks like a great weekend coming.
Mike
 
Well its Saturday and we went down to pick her up and what do you know. The trailer was still not ready. They did finish cleaning the boat though. My wife was probably a little more upset than myself so we grabbed a couple of brats and sat down while they tried to "rig" the brakes for us. I started to talk to the mechanic and he explained that on the back of the master cylinder on the trailer there was an actuater that when I would put my truck in reverse would energize this and make it possoble to back the trailer without the brakes locking up. Turns out they told me I would need a a four wire trailer light adapter when I really needed a five.The problem is my reverse wire is wired hot all the time so it runs the fridge on my camper when in tow. The boat is now home with me. When they get this actuater we will have it installed along with a 2nd set of trailer light pigtails from my truck. Right know we have to put a block between the tongue and the trailer so we can back it up. At least it is home and we can start getting it ready. We took about as many pictures as my messages are long. As soon as my daughter shows me how I will get them posted.
 
I also noticed on the packet we recieved that the salesman chcked to bring a four prong adapter for the lights that the next line said to bring a five prong adapter if it is a 2001 Vanguard trailer. Would have solved some problems. We did make good on our promise and delivered a couple cases of Corona, Corona light, Spotted Cow and Dos Equis. I even furnished the limes and a couple Corona hats. I'm staring to think this should have been the other way around. The are going to send us some hats, shirts, filled up our gas tank and will furnish us with transient slips this summer and help out when it comes to winterizing this fall. I also met the new service manager who has been with them for 2 weeks. The previous service manager new he was going tho be leaving for about the last year and let everything go. The dealer was spending alot of time appoligizing to more people then my wife and myself. I think it might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
 
Dealer

Not sure what dealer you are working with, but our new 240 DA has issues, but the dealer has been great working with us despite the fact we are paid up in full. They have sent out service guys as well as trailer it back to their shop (20 miles) from our home when they couldn't fix it from our dock. It is a bummer waiting for the boat when the weather is PERFECT for boating, but I know next weekend will be here faster than I can afford it.

We work with our sales rep as well as service and try to communicate a lot and that seems to help.
 
beerman, I'm sorry your having trouble with your dealer. :smt009 It burns me up :smt013 to hear stories like this because I'm also the one this sort of thing happens to. I just can't imagine how sales people or dealerships live with themselves. :smt021 People say well they'll go out of bussiness, hog wash. These are the same people who accept poor performace and smile because they don't know any better. When someone plunks down the kinda money it takes to buy a boat you'd think they would want your return business. But like I said, people have short memories. Once again I feel your pain, if it's any consolation your dealer won't be getting any business from me.
 
Beerman, what a disheartening saga so far. I really feel for you. It must be really frustrating for you. I'll leave it for the much more informed members to comment on your trailer issue. I hope you get the chance to get out and enjoy the boat soon and that the dealer starts responding at the level one expects from a Sea Ray dealer. Your eperience so far is hardly an example of excellent service.
 
Beerman, sorry to hear of your problems, but glad you have the home at last. :thumbsup:

I think you have an 'issue' with you trailer wiring, and if you don't resolve it now, it will continue to haunt you. I think that it is not standard to have the backup lights wired into the trailer connector. But you need it if you have surge disk brakes. The surge assembly applies hydraulic pressure to the lines when you back up, and the disk brakes do not depend on wheel rotation for their operation. Thus you can't back up without the device you mention. (Drum brakes do depend on wheel rotation, and are 'free backing' on a boat trailer. So they don't have the issue.)

So, for your trailers (I understand you have another), you need:

1. Ground
2. Tail lights
3. Battery (for fridge, maybe more, I charge my 5th wheel batts when towing via this wire)
4. Left turn
5. Right turn
6. Back up

You are not going to get this obviously with a 4 or 5 pin connector. There are many ways to wire 4, 5 and 6 pin connectors. Every on will be wrong for some situation. I would strongly urge you to install a 7 pole RV connector. Pole 7 can be your backup circuit. Pole 2 can be for a future brake controller. So the wiring of the 7 pole RV plug is:
1. Ground
2. Brakes
3. tail/running
4. battery charge
5. left turn
6. right turn
7. aux/back-up

When you have this connector properly wired on your tow vehicle, you have a connector that is pretty universal. It will be just like everyone elses tow vehicle, with the possible exception of pole 7, which may be backup or aux.

Then, what you do is buy an adapter for each trailer that go from whatever the trailer needs to this 7 pole connector. You would dedicate the adapter to the trailer, and it should 'just work' with any tow vehicle with a 7 pole RV connector. You may well need to change the wiring inside the adapter, but normally they are made so that this is easy. You just take out the screws that hold the two halves together, change the wires where they mate to the 7 pole RV connector, and put it back together.

When you get the wiring for the adapter figured out, write it down and put it in the glove box of the tow vehicle. Then when the adapter gets 'borrowed' and doesn't come home for whatever reason, you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Do it once, do it right, and be done with it!
 
Thanks for all the words guys. The wife started cleaning it today to our standards. Not to much wrong yet except that the caulk in the shower needs to be replaced because when she poured water down the drain it appeared on the cabin floor. We will make a list of everything and see how much butt kissing the dealer will do in the fall.

Also thanks Dave. Ive been trying to figure out how to wire it. My truck has the factory rv connector so its just a matter of getting the part for the trailer. Ill keep you posted when its done.
 
Dave M. said:
I think you have an 'issue' with you trailer wiring, ............... Thus you can't back up without the device you mention. (Drum brakes do depend on wheel rotation, and are 'free backing' on a boat trailer. So they don't have the issue.)
Click to expand...

Okay - I have a trick - I custom made a adapter wiring harness (about 18 inches long) for my trailer for the same reason, no backup ability in a 4 wire setup BUT - I tied an extra wire (at the vehicle plug end) to the running light wire. I then installed a quick-disconnect terminal (round style about 1/2 way down the harness) at this extra wire. The mating end of the disconnect is attached to my backup solenoid wire. So - when I want to backup, I attach the two wires into each other, and turn the lights on. This keeps the solenoid active and allows me to reverse in parking lots/ramps. This helps me when I borrow a truck to pull my boat and it only has a four wire set-up. I can take pics if needed.

Good luck with the new boat!
 
boatrboy, that is an interesting solution! The only thing about I would question is why would you pull a 1999 270 DA with a truck with no 7 pole plug? If it doesn't have that, is it really adequate in towing ability?
 
Dave M. said:
boatrboy, that is an interesting solution! The only thing about I would question is why would you pull a 1999 270 DA with a truck with no 7 pole plug? If it doesn't have that, is it really adequate in towing ability?
Click to expand...

I have access to a company truck which can handle it. I can't ask the maint. department to rewire it for me :grin: .

As far as adequate, the launch ramp is only a couple of miles on back roads (20 mph usually) from my house so the amount of road travel is small and my surge brakes are mint. The f-250 super duty has a tow rating of 9800lbs so I am not that worried.

Anyway, this wiring trick will work for beerman's rig just fine.
 
Well I was looking at the 7 wire connector on the truck and I'm pretty sure all the wires are used up. I already have a electris brake controller and the aux I believe charges my camper battery and the normal reverse is the full power for the fridge and then the normal ground and turns and brake wires. I was actually thinking about putting a second seven pin connector on the right side of the hitch and wire that one for the boat trailer.
 
This story sounds ALMOST like my boat pickup story.

The dealer was so busy the two days before I picked up, I had a hard time with my one simple question;

The question was: "How do I make payment?"

You would think such an easy question would have gotten a real easy response. . .but apparently not. It nearly (no kidding) killed the whole deal -> Ultimately I had to get a cashier's check, since the dealer took so much time getting back to me that I could not do an electronic transfer in time. I was not comfortable carrying that large of a check on my person. . .but so be it. .

Fortunately. . the dealership was not so busy during the earlier part of the buying phase (ie, survey; my inspection, etc), and they were able to complete the "work list" in a timely manner prior to delievery.
 
beerman said:
Well I was looking at the 7 wire connector on the truck and I'm pretty sure all the wires are used up. I already have a electris brake controller and the aux I believe charges my camper battery and the normal reverse is the full power for the fridge and then the normal ground and turns and brake wires. I was actually thinking about putting a second seven pin connector on the right side of the hitch and wire that one for the boat trailer.
Click to expand...


Why put a second 7-pin plug on when all you need is a 5-pin? If you have both 7-pin plugs wired differently, what happens when you plug the wrong trailer into the wrong plug? Bring along plenty of extra fuses!
 
still have not gotten around to the wiring but I don't believe the aux wiring will charge my camper battery because of the small gauge wire. So I should be able to put my reverse through the aux connection and then change the wiring on the 7 to 5 connector
 
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