jjker wrote:
Which dealer was that, Farley?
I got my boat at The Boat Warehouse, and they told me yesterday that FourWinns ships the boats with Aluminum, and they don't do anything with it. I guess aluminum is a decent comprimise between zinc and magnesium, but I am still cranky that they don't even tell you that you might want to consider it. They knew 100% that it was my first boat, and by the other questions I was asking, you would think they could mention that....
Sorry to hear that.
I too purchased from the Boat Warehouse (Kingston) and it will be my last deal with them. They delivered mine with aluminum. According to FW and VP, aluminum is NOT a good all water anode. They ship with aluminum because the majority of their sales are for salt water. The dealers ARE required as part of the PDI to change them for anodes appropriate for the intended boating conditions. The anodes removed CAN be returned to FW by the dealer on an exchange program.
In the spring of 2008 The Boat Warehouse was approached about 2 weeks prior to the expiration of the standard factory warranty about the severe corrosion on both drives and after stalling any action on their part for 5 months , I was told by the president of the company in an email which I still have,
" Peter we delivered the boat to you as it was delivered to us. If you have an issue with your drives as they are well out of warranty you can take it up with Volvo or Four Winns. If you want you can contact Bill Kruger at Four Winns. BkrugerP@fourwinns.com . Three issues here,
1 - the warranty was not up when they were first contacted.
2 - they failed to notice, before mouthing off that I purchased the extended 5 year powertrain warranty.
3 - The email address for FW's was incorrect.... not that that was too big a deal.
In the end, VP rectified the problem, repaired the damage and stated "no comment" on the way The Boat Warehouse dealt with the problem. Stands to reason as they are supposed to be the largest retailer of VP equipped FW's boats in the world.
In my opinion, The Boat Warehouse was negligent (and too lazy) to change mine from Aluminum to Magnesium and this resulted in major sterndrive damage and a warranty claim which has just recently been settled to my satisfaction. Of course this was all handled without the assistance of my dealer, the dealer to whom I paid a hugh sum of money for this vessel and was then promptly ignored when there was a problem.
THANKS BOAT WAREHOUSE! I think your days as the #1 Four Winns dealer are limited without repeat business.
The moral of this story is.....
CHECK YOUR ANODES!!!!!
Aluminum for salt water!
Zinc for brackish water!
Magnesium for fresh water!