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Why is it that nothing with a boat is ever easy? EVER???
Here is my dillema. I have a 2002 26' Four Winns 248 Vista. I want to have the bottom repainted and AC/Heat added. I live in land locked Indiana where boat dealers are few and far inbetween. Good boat dealers and mechanics are even farther inbetween and finding people who are competent, fair, and honest that will work on cruisers is practically non-existent.
When I pulled the boat out of the lake last fall, I began the process of getting this work schedule on my boat so that when Spring came, I wouldn't be sitting here waiting on my boat to be ready. And where am I? Sitting here back to square one trying to figure out what in the hades to do. I figured I would turn to my more experienced fellow boaters for advice.
Last Fall, I got the name of a one man shop in Indianapolis that was God's gift to boats when it came to working on them. He wouldn't cut corners and would do the job correctly. I called this guy back in OCTOBER, 2007. I wanted to get this scheduled and done. He also haulded larger boats for a living and said he wouldn't be able to get to it until January, so I called him back in January. He told me to call him the first of February. (should have known at this point) I called him the first of February and he said first of March. Great, now my butt's starting to pucker, but I figured he had plenty of time to get it done. Well, here we are, the end of April and he hasn't even touched it. I would have been in the water two weeks ago if I had my boat allready.
I decided I won't be having this guy do the work on my boat as he said he wouldn't be able to start on it for another 2 weeks and it would be probably another 2 weeks after that.
So, here I am, the busiest time of the year for mechanics and I have no boat. Everyone I have spoken with is on a 3 week wait just to look at it. The whole thing that I wanted to avoid LAST OCTOBER!!!
My problem now lies in where do I get the work done. Even if a miracle were to happen, I will be lucky to have my boat by Memorial Day. I have essentially come up with two options. In Indianapolis, there is a Sea Ray dealer (who has probably never worked on a Four Winns). Without looking at the boat, he quoted me a price of $5,600 on the AC and $2,200 on the bottom paint. I thought that was a little excessive, so I called the closest Four Winns dealer that sold and worked on cruisers which is Hall's in Muskegon, MI.
They told me that they installed AC on my exact model last year and it would be $3,500 installed and would be identical to what my boad would have been if I had ordered it with that option from the factory. When I asked him to break it down for me, he said that they would have 12 hours in the AC at $85 an hour and the rest was parts. The bottom paint job would be $1,500. So total would be $5,000 for everything.
My dilema is as follows: 1) Am I comparing apples to apples. 2) Is driving a total of 1,000 miles (500 each trip, once to drop it off and once to pick it up) worth the $2,800.
Both dealers would be installing a CruiseAir unit. The Four Winns dealer would be installing a 5,000 BTU and I am unsure the size of the unit that the Sea Ray Dealer quoted but I am assuming it's the same size.
The bottom paint that the Four Winns dealer quoted me is called Interlux VC 17. I know nothing about bottom paint so any advice here would be appreciated. I have no idea what the Sea Ray Dealer would be using, but I will find out today.
So that's my story and your input, opinions, and advice is greatly appreciated.
Also, does anyone have any experience with Hall's in Muskegon, MI? That who I think will be doing the work
_________________  "Where Da Go" 2002 248 Vista Lafayette, IN http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz
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