Flightcraft to the rescue!!

[sea_n_ski]

How about a story with a happy ending instead of a gripe?

Sunday afternoon we were out cruising in our new Malibu MXZ Wakesetter boat. The water pump failed and the engine started overheating. There we were smoke billowing out of the engine compartment stranded near the Long Island bridge. A wonderful man and his family stopped and offered to tow us to Trexler's Marina (see the picture). He wouldn't even take any money when offered. What a great guy. I felt good because last weekend I towed a boat like his to Fish Cove. Love that about the lake.

I called Goodhue & Hawkins while we were being towed because they are now a part of the East Coast Flightcraft family where I buught my Malibu. They told me they would make arrangements at Trexler's and would take care of everything. When I got to Trexler's they told me to just leave the boat. We got a ride back home with some friends.

Then I received a call from Danny, the owner of Flightcraft. He wanted to let me know that they will take care of everything and if the engine was damaged in any way, they would put a new one in. Imagine the owner of the largest chain of boat dealers in New England calling me on a Sunday afternoon to assure me they will take care of everything.

Today I got a call from the Fightcraft location in Meredith. They fixed the problem, replaced the water pump, all of the manifolds and any parts that were affected. They had Fed-Xed the parts in so I could have the boat this weekend. They tested the motor and determined everything was fine. They delivered the boat to my house and put it on the lift. Can you believe that they turned this whole thing around in a few days? One of my friends hit some rocks with his Cobalt a few years ago and they did the same for him. They picked up his boat and the following weekend there it was fixed on his his lift.

I have bought 3 boats (a Cobalt and 2 Malibu) from Flightcraft and have always received this kind of service. Whenever you take a Flightcraft deal to any other boat dealer , they will tell you they can't touch it financially. They can do all of this because they sell 100s and 100s of boats every year. These guys amaze me.

[Belmont Resident]

Originally Posted by sea_n_ski

How about a story with a happy ending instead of a gripe?

Sunday afternoon we were out cruising in our new Malibu MXZ Wakesetter boat. The water pump failed and the engine started overheating. There we were smoke billowing out of the engine compartment stranded near the Long Island bridge. A wonderful man and his family stopped and offered to tow us to Trexler's Marina (see the picture). He wouldn't even take any money when offered. What a great guy. I felt good because last weekend I towed a boat like his to Fish Cove. Love that about the lake.

I called Goodhue & Hawkins while we were being towed because they are now a part of the East Coast Flightcraft family where I buught my Malibu. They told me they would make arrangements at Trexler's and would take care of everything. When I got to Trexler's they told me to just leave the boat. We got a ride back home with some friends.

Then I received a call from Danny, the owner of Flightcraft. He wanted to let me know that they will take care of everything and if the engine was damaged in any way, they would put a new one in. Imagine the owner of the largest chain of boat dealers in New England calling me on a Sunday afternoon to assure me they will take care of everything.

Today I got a call from the Fightcraft location in Meredith. They fixed the problem, replaced the water pump, all of the manifolds and any parts that were affected. They had Fed-Xed the parts in so I could have the boat this weekend. They tested the motor and determined everything was fine. They delivered the boat to my house and put it on the lift. Can you believe that they turned this whole thing around in a few days? One of my friends hit some rocks with his Cobalt a few years ago and they did the same for him. They picked up his boat and the following weekend there it was fixed on his his lift.

I have bought 3 boats (a Cobalt and 2 Malibu) from Flightcraft and have always received this kind of service. Whenever you take a Flightcraft deal to any other boat dealer , they will tell you they can't touch it financially. They can do all of this because they sell 100s and 100s of boats every year. These guys amaze me.

Unfortunately you rarely find that kind of service anymore for anything, boats, cars you name it.
Sounds like Flightcraft stands behind what they sell.
Glad to here you're back on the water.

[TomC]

i bought my Cobalt from Flightcraft, and have to agree they are a first class operation. I am glad they are on the lake now, because Thurstons was tough to deal with when your Cobalt didn't come from them.

[Dave R]

That's amazing customer service. If I'm ever in the market for a boat model they sell, I'll be checking there first.

Nice to hear you got a tow from a kind stranger. I've been towed by kind folks three times over the years, and finally had the opportunity to pay it forward last weekend.

[sea_n_ski]

I tried buying my Cobalt from Thurston's, but the $20K difference was just too much to handle. I owned a Regal and actually was able to upgrade to a Cobalt for less than the Regal dealer could do for a lesser boat. Same with my Malibu, couldn't find anyone even close. Flightcraft sells too many boats and has too many locations for Lake Winni marinas to compete. You go to Middleton, MA and they put a deal down no one can touch and your done. No games no negotiating.

The guy I towed was sitting on a mooring landing for an hour trying to flag someone down. No one would stop. He had kids in the boat and they looked like they were frying. We went to see what was up and helped him out. Too bad more people can't extend themselves with a little bit of kindness.

[Sue Doe-Nym]

Was there any explanation for why a water pump on a NEW Malibu would fail? Doesn't speak welll for the brand of boat or the engine manufacturer.

Nice to hear that the dealer stood behind the warranty.

[NHwakeboarder]

I can't say I agree, we're on our third boat from Malibu purchased from Flightcraft. I've had enough. We have had a number of problems with our new boat this year (which says more about the brand and factory than it does about the dealership), but this is the first I've heard positive opinion of their customer service. Many other Malibu owners I know can't stand them and neither can I.

[sea_n_ski]

Everyone gets a bad boat form time to time. I have the 22' MZX with the Pickled fork front and love it. Handles so much better than my 20' Wakesetter which bounced around like a rubber ball. I didn't feel good about the kids taking that boat out on this crazy lake.

If you put the power wedge down and fill all of the ballasts the wake is huge and smooth. My kids are really getting into jumping behind it.

There are two water pumps; one to pull form the lake and one to circulate int he motor. I guess the one in the motor failed. The water was getting into the motor, it just wasn't circulating. The smoke was because the new motor has catalytic manifolds that run hot to reduce emissions and gets better fuel milage. The got too hot and the paint on them was smoking. The diagnostics said the motor never went above 200 degrees.

[LIforrelaxin]

Well now I know who I saw smoking out there. I am on the East side of Long Island, I saw the smoke, and saw people coming to your rescue, I was about to run to my boat, but noticed that the Smoke started to decrease.... And decided that to many boats headed in that direction might not be a good thing.....

[Belmont Resident]

Originally Posted by Sue Doe-Nym

Was there any explanation for why a water pump on a NEW Malibu would fail? Doesn't speak welll for the brand of boat or the engine manufacturer.

Nice to hear that the dealer stood behind the warranty.

NO parts manufacturer has a 100% no fail ratio.
You can and will have failures on any part made no matter where or what country it is made in.
That is why there are warranty's to cover the new product., if there were no failures there would not be a need for warranties.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by sea_n_ski

Everyone gets a bad boat form time to time. I have the 22' MZX with the Pickled fork front and love it. Handles so much better than my 20' Wakesetter which bounced around like a rubber ball. I didn't feel good about the kids taking that boat out on this crazy lake.

If you put the power wedge down and fill all of the ballasts the wake is huge and smooth. My kids are really getting into jumping behind it.

There are two water pumps; one to pull form the lake and one to circulate int he motor. I guess the one in the motor failed. The water was getting into the motor, it just wasn't circulating. The smoke was because the new motor has catalytic manifolds that run hot to reduce emissions and gets better fuel milage. The got too hot and the paint on them was smoking. The diagnostics said the motor never went above 200 degrees.

I wonder why the catalytic manifolds got so hot if the engine didn't get above 200 degrees?

Some engines are equipped with an engine control module that will cause the engine to run at reduced speeds (power reduction mode) if the engine is running above recommended operation temperatures of between 140 – 185º .

Did your boat lose power before it started smoking?

Also did you happen to notice what your temperature gauge said when it overheated.

[NHBUOY]

200 degrees was the temperature of the block. The catalysts are downstream in the exhaust. The cats will get exponentially hotter than the block.

[gf2020]

Nice to hear a happy ending, but I'm not sure where you got the impression they are "the largest chain of boat dealers in New England".

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by NHBUOY

200 degrees was the temperature of the block. The catalysts are downstream in the exhaust. The cats will get exponentially hotter than the block.

Understandably Cats need to be hot to convert harmful pollutants into less harmful emissions.

I don't have a boat that is powered by a motor so I'm sort of in the dark about the engine safety features in newer boats. I would think that there would be some sort of warning light or sound that would tell the boat operator that the engine is reaching a dangerous and damaging temperature. To just see smoke coming from the engine compartment after it has already done some damage doesn't seem right.

[trigger finger]

I have bought two Cobalts from East Coast and Goodhue, as far as the purchasing experience it was great both times, a very good purchase price both times and no, I mean no pressure either time.
We have kept both boats at Goodhue and Hawkins first one valet the second one in a slip. I could not ask for a better place to have our boat at, they make sure that we have fun and enjoy the lake and do what ever they can to make that possible. They do a great job at making my wife and I feel like we are their very best customer and actually make us feel like we are part of their family. But to be honest I believe they do that with all ther customers, now that's customer service. Their service dept is second to none, they do quality work with a value that is well worth the price of the job. all the people that work there learn your name and go out of there way to say hi. I love good customer service and I love Goodhue and Hawkins and East Coast Flightcraft.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Understandably Cats need to be hot to convert harmful pollutants into less harmful emissions.

I don't have a boat that is powered by a motor so I'm sort of in the dark about the engine safety features in newer boats. I would think that there would be some sort of warning light or sound that would tell the boat operator that the engine is reaching a dangerous and damaging temperature. To just see smoke coming from the engine compartment after it has already done some damage doesn't seem right.

There's a temperature gauge and an audio alarm for overheating. If the engine is being pushed hard when the supply is interrupted, the rubber hoses in the wet exhaust system can get hot enough to melt and smoke (without actually failing) before the alarm goes off. That's what typically causes the smoke. The hose has to be marine-rated (typically SAE J2006 standard) which defines temperature resistance and flammability, among other things, so the chances of a fire from this situation are not as bad as you'd think.

Another cause of smoke might be the engine's serpentine belt heating up due to a stalled water pump pulley.

I'm surprised that the manifolds needed replacement from a single overheat situation. Non-catalyst manifolds usually survive that kind of abuse without issues and the innards of all catalytic converters can easily withstand absurdly high temperatures since they require them to operate. I wonder if they were swapped for purely cosmetic reasons. Malibu puts a lot of "bling" on their boats, so perhaps the engines are dressed up as well.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Dave R

There's a temperature gauge and an audio alarm for overheating. If the engine is being pushed hard when the supply is interrupted, the rubber hoses in the wet exhaust system can get hot enough to melt and smoke (without actually failing) before the alarm goes off. That's what typically causes the smoke. The hose has to be marine-rated (typically SAE J2006 standard) which defines temperature resistance and flammability, among other things, so the chances of a fire from this situation are not as bad as you'd think.

Another cause of smoke might be the engine's serpentine belt heating up due to a stalled water pump pulley.

I'm surprised that the manifolds needed replacement from a single overheat situation. Non-catalyst manifolds usually survive that kind of abuse without issues and the innards of all catalytic converters can easily withstand absurdly high temperatures since they require them to operate. I wonder if they were swapped for purely cosmetic reasons. Malibu puts a lot of "bling" on their boats, so perhaps the engines are dressed up as well.

Thanks for the info.

I'm with you about the manifolds, and this is why I asked the question about alarm systems. If they got that hot and had to be replaced, then the alarm system must have gone off prior to destroying them and the engine should have been shut down somehow. I'm going with your theory about replacing them for cosmetic reasons only.

[Baja Guy]

Catalysts getting hot enough to smoke ought to be changed. It sounds as if over temp exhaust caused it. That much heat can cause the internal cats themselves to change, or it could change the shape or metal of the external cases.
I'm glad you were well treated. Boats cost a lot of money, they have warranties for the things that happen while covered.