Boat question - local dealer or BPS showroom?

You know, I've heard that they have
  • Big Boats
  • Little Boats
  • Sailboats too
At the Great New England Boat Show.

But I've never been, so I could be wrong.
 
You know, I've heard that they have
  • Big Boats
  • Little Boats
  • Sailboats too
At the Great New England Boat Show.

But I've never been, so I could be wrong.

You should be shot for putting that song in our heads. LOL.

Went to Bub's last weekend. I might not be getting a boat THIS year at all. LOL. They have to call Tracker and see if they even HAVE any 9.9hp engines. It's not standard anymore and Merc. themselves has ZERO. So it might be 6 months (read: September) for me just to get the engine. They said it was crazy trying to get inventory for anything. Pontoons in general are 12 weeks out.

I haven't been there in almost 10 years. The "old man" is ANCIENT now. The son (John? Jeff? Joe?? Jim??? Dammnit! Why can't I remember names) was real helpful. Seems like he's doing most of the running now based on watching things going on.


I was hoping NOT to have my Jon boat engine looked at this year. I was hoping to just skip it. Nope. Oil change. Check the cooling system (seems to be clogged somewhere) and give it the once-over.
 
IVE LIVED ON A LAKE ALL MY LIFE, MY ADVICE STAY LOCAL, IT WILL PAY OFF IN THE END. ALSO IVE OWNED OVER 10 PONTOON BOATS THRU THE YEARS BUT NEVER OWNED OR WANTED A SUNTRACKER PONTOON, DONT REALLY LIKE HOW THEIR BUILT. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. JUST SAYIN. GOOD LUCK
 
I didn't go pontoon route.... but I close on a Bayliner 185 on Thursday. Guess I hate money. I did stay local with my purchase, and they have been great to deal with.
 
Recommend local purchase even if a few more $, it pays off IMHO in the long run to establish a relationship locally.

Good luck whatever you decide and hopefully you can close the deal in time for when you want it..
 
It was nice to drop off the boat to get the oil changed and such and have it back in a week. I figured after it's first season, I wanted everything changed.

Next year??? Definitely not. I don't run it more than 20-30 hours a season tops. (Fishing is pretty close to my house.) Ergo, it could go every OTHER year. Especially since it's a 9.9 engine and all I run in it is the grey gas from Lowes/HD. Sure it's $17/gal, but I run through maybe 5-10 gallons per year. And that's with adding it to the mower as well. I burn through teh trolling motor batteries FAR faster than gas. :)

I figure every other year for service. But it was nice to zip and out and have them bend over backwards to help.
 
Hugh is about 100 now. LOL. He seemed young the first time I went in. . . 15 or so years ago.

Joe is the best. And the crew is great as well.

My issue is - damn. They do so many things I wouldn't do to the boat when I bring it in. So the "sticker shock" of anything they do is high. But, honestly, if they called and said, "Dennis, we want to do X and Y while it's here" I'd just tell them to do it.

Funny is in my part of LV, they are the debbil. "Oh don't go there. They are tricksters. Never use them." So for years I avoided them. Then talked with people OUTSIDE of LV - everyone thought they were great. Sometimes its' the grass-greener thing. LOL

Worst thing - when I bought the pontoon last year, there is such a demand that there was ZERO give. I have a friend who got one in 2018 from them. They threw in the cover for free. No more. The price is the price b/c there are only so many they can sell per year only b/c there are only so many that Trakcer can BUILD every year. Business is brisk.
 
Funny is in my part of LV, they are the debbil. "Oh don't go there. They are tricksters. Never use them." So for years I avoided them. Then talked with people OUTSIDE of LV - everyone thought they were great. Sometimes its' the grass-greener thing. LOL
I see those guys on a professional level about twice a year or so going back many many moons, and Hugh has always treated me with the utmost respect and fairness. I suppose it might not be safe to assume he and Joe deal with the customers in the same manner, but for most people you can pretty much tell if it’s genuine or not. Glad to hear you are mostly happy, and here’s to a safe and trouble free boating season coming up.
 
So I put the boat away for the season. I brought it in last Spring to have the marina look it over. "Oh you should always bring it in the fall instead."

OK.

So I bring it in in the fall. Dropped it back off. Happened to be at the lake looking at boat. Tag on the front. "This boat has been winterized. Do not start" or something like that.

????

Any idea what that means? I'm gonna go in and talk to them about docks in JAn/Feb, but is this a "don't start til spring" or "please bring your boat back to us to charge you more" or "do not start this because we've F'd with it enough to not have it start unless we un-F it"????

I'm at work and the paperwork is at home. I didn't see anything in it that said something odd. They loob'd it and put stabilizer in it and such. I'm thinking I use the motor about 10-20 hours per year so I'm probably going to do the whole winterizing/springwhatever only every few years. It just doesn't get enough use. 99% of the time, we're on the trolling motor.
 
So I put the boat away for the season. I brought it in last Spring to have the marina look it over. "Oh you should always bring it in the fall instead."

OK.

So I bring it in in the fall. Dropped it back off. Happened to be at the lake looking at boat. Tag on the front. "This boat has been winterized. Do not start" or something like that.

????

Any idea what that means? I'm gonna go in and talk to them about docks in JAn/Feb, but is this a "don't start til spring" or "please bring your boat back to us to charge you more" or "do not start this because we've F'd with it enough to not have it start unless we un-F it"????

I'm at work and the paperwork is at home. I didn't see anything in it that said something odd. They loob'd it and put stabilizer in it and such. I'm thinking I use the motor about 10-20 hours per year so I'm probably going to do the whole winterizing/springwhatever only every few years. It just doesn't get enough use. 99% of the time, we're on the trolling motor.
They probably drained the gas or ran ethanol free, fogged the motor and carb/injectors and put antifreeze thru the block and impeller housings and tubes, they could have also pulled the gear oil out til spring as well, starting it up will F that up.

If you start it up again before winter, you will undo all that, and it will need to be redone.

So it means, do not start til spring. It should fire right up.

Also, winterizing "every few years"???? You need to winterize every year if the motor is left outside, any plain water in the impeller housings or block will freeze and crack the motor. You need to run antifreeze in the motor and pull the plugs if they have them.

On small motors left inside, you really don't need to do this as long as its in heated storage. But getting the old gas out of it is pretty important especially if you use ethanol pump fuel. At the very least i'd buy a small can of non ethanol mix and run it in there with some stabilizer, then shut it down.

Id change the gear oil or drop it before winter, then refill in spring as well, as minor amounts of water can get in there and cause issues as well if it freezes. It should be changed yearly as a maintainance anyway, its not that hard to do.
 
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See. This is why I ask these questions. I never bothered to do anything to the old motor on the old boat. Just pulled it every year and stuck it in the garage.

And I use 100% ethanol free gas. I don't use enough to bother with the cost savings of regular gas. I might use 8-10 gallons a year. (It's a 9.9 on a 18' pontoon. A few trips across the lake a year. Maybe 15-20 hours total - my trolling motor gets 5x more time on it.)

I guess I'll just keep doing this and find out from the boys at the shop if I'm good to go come April or if I have to bring it back in. Back in would suck.
 
First thing I’d pick a vendor like Garmin or Hummingbird and look at their dealer list.

Second, there are specialty installers who put packages in everything from runabouts to commercial fishing boats. They are probably more likely to be on the coast.

I’ve done both, and installed myself. Had RibCraft upgrade my Garmin GPS as it involved cutting a larger hole and they do it all the time. Cost was about the same everywhere.
 
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