What to look for in a used boat--HELP!!!

hazelnut · 05-10-2007, 10:24 AM

Personally I would not rely on JD Power to influence my purchases on anything.

All you need to do is climb on board various boats it aint rocket science. Certain boats have cheaper gages, switches, buttons. Check out the stitch count/quality of the fabrics and upholstery. Check out the layout, latches, controls. Open up the hatches check out the hull...

If it looks cheap and it feels cheap chances are the build quality will be reflected.

I was fortunate to go to the Boat show and I spent considerable amount of time on several manufacturers boats. To avoid a war here I will only say that a top rated manufacturer as rated by JD Power was severely lacking in many if not ALL of the above mentioned categories. Certain manufacturers have decided to rest on their laurels as a name brand boat while some lesser known newer manufacturers (Bryant, Monterey) have crept up on them and surpassed them. Don't take my word, go see for yourself, check out the new models. I would caution against using JD Power to influence your decision.

TomC · 05-10-2007, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hazelnut

Personally I would not rely on JD Power to influence my purchases on anything....I would caution against using JD Power to influence your decision.

I would like to understand why you feel this way? I think in general anyone who knows "lake boats" - like the kind we are all familiar with - think the JDPower hierachy is "about right" for bowrider/runabouts (ie who is on top and who is on the bottom).

They say on their website (read press release here http://www.jdpower.com/press-release...px?id=2007026) "The 2007 Boat Competitive Information Study is based on responses from 12,140 owners who registered a new boat between June 2005 and May 2006"... Thats seems to be a lot of input from actual users, people who have crawled around the boats and checked the hatches, etc. of the boats they ultimately bought - and presumably would be favorably inclined to review positively. A bad review says alot in that case.

Boat magazines never say anything bad in their reviews - you have to wonder about their objectivity when the mags are full of ads for boats. If you contend that the data in the JDPower site is compromised, where do you turn? Who has hours and hours to visit dozens of boat dealers performing my surveys...?

Nosing around the web I did find this site: http://www.boatclix.com/reviews for information about various makes.

jrc · 05-10-2007, 01:10 PM

Don't forget that JD Power rates consumer satisfaction. That is not the same thing as quality. They survey people who bought new boats and ask them if they are happy with their purchase. That's why prestige brands tend to rate higher and stay higher by inertia. I mean if you just spent $10,000 more to buy a Cobalt instead of Monterey, are you going to tell the survey that you were stupid for buying a fancy name instead of a good value? Higher ratings mean higher resale. It's amazing that any boats have bad ratings.

I'm not saying that Cobalt isn't better boat than Monterey, I'm just saying that you can't make that judgement solely on JD Power ratings.

hazelnut · 05-10-2007, 01:31 PM

I think it's flawed.

I guess I have a difference of opinion when it came to what JD Power said and what my two eyes saw. My thought... Some folks are just Brand-washed. I expect the trend to change soon based on what I saw. As I said before, certain top brand(s) have slipped recently. Not just my words but words of several folks with ties to the industry (sort of the murmur at the boat show). This was after I raised the issue so I was not influenced by that. I don't necessarily think that if someone were to buy that boat they would be getting a bad boat. Far from it. Most likely very safe and reliable. However, for the money you should expect the best. There were some question marks over my head as to whether or not that was the case. I think JD Power has some lag to it due to the fact that human nature is at the root of the survey.

I guess what I am trying to say is, don't take my word for it or JD Power for that matter, go see for yourself. Make sure you look at the price. If you can say to yourself "this boat is clearly worth $20,000 more than those others." Then go for it.

05-10-2007, 10:24 AM	#1
hazelnut Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 1,348 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 508 Thanked 462 Times in 162 Posts	JD Power? Personally I would not rely on JD Power to influence my purchases on anything. All you need to do is climb on board various boats it aint rocket science. Certain boats have cheaper gages, switches, buttons. Check out the stitch count/quality of the fabrics and upholstery. Check out the layout, latches, controls. Open up the hatches check out the hull... If it looks cheap and it feels cheap chances are the build quality will be reflected. I was fortunate to go to the Boat show and I spent considerable amount of time on several manufacturers boats. To avoid a war here I will only say that a top rated manufacturer as rated by JD Power was severely lacking in many if not ALL of the above mentioned categories. Certain manufacturers have decided to rest on their laurels as a name brand boat while some lesser known newer manufacturers (Bryant, Monterey) have crept up on them and surpassed them. Don't take my word, go see for yourself, check out the new models. I would caution against using JD Power to influence your decision.

05-10-2007, 01:10 PM	#3
jrc Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: NH Posts: 2,689 Thanks: 33 Thanked 439 Times in 249 Posts	JD Power? Don't forget that JD Power rates consumer satisfaction. That is not the same thing as quality. They survey people who bought new boats and ask them if they are happy with their purchase. That's why prestige brands tend to rate higher and stay higher by inertia. I mean if you just spent $10,000 more to buy a Cobalt instead of Monterey, are you going to tell the survey that you were stupid for buying a fancy name instead of a good value? Higher ratings mean higher resale. It's amazing that any boats have bad ratings. I'm not saying that Cobalt isn't better boat than Monterey, I'm just saying that you can't make that judgement solely on JD Power ratings.

05-10-2007, 01:31 PM	#4
hazelnut Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 1,348 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 508 Thanked 462 Times in 162 Posts	What I saw I think it's flawed. I guess I have a difference of opinion when it came to what JD Power said and what my two eyes saw. My thought... Some folks are just Brand-washed. I expect the trend to change soon based on what I saw. As I said before, certain top brand(s) have slipped recently. Not just my words but words of several folks with ties to the industry (sort of the murmur at the boat show). This was after I raised the issue so I was not influenced by that. I don't necessarily think that if someone were to buy that boat they would be getting a bad boat. Far from it. Most likely very safe and reliable. However, for the money you should expect the best. There were some question marks over my head as to whether or not that was the case. I think JD Power has some lag to it due to the fact that human nature is at the root of the survey. I guess what I am trying to say is, don't take my word for it or JD Power for that matter, go see for yourself. Make sure you look at the price. If you can say to yourself "this boat is clearly worth $20,000 more than those others." Then go for it.