I insatalled My Lowrance...what a mess here...this is a must read guys and gals.

[Cane Pole]

I don't know where to start. I got the Lorance installed. The manuf recomended to run the power directly to the battery. This is what I did,butt...

I opened all the panels of the boat to gain access to routing the wires front to aft. I found one big rats nest of wires and cables. It was crappy workmanship. A 10 year old could have done better work. I never seen so many splices and tapings in my life. Wires and cables just wadded up and shoved in a trough. These boats are rigged by dealers. These folks need to go to some quality control classes. I want name any names, but if I ever buy another boat, I will have the panels removed for inspection before I purchase. It is uncalled for. Just lazy *ss workers that don't give a sh**.

The worst was that I just purchased a new engine this year and had the trolling motor battery moved foward. Some yoyo drilled holes through a metal panel and shoved the trolling motor wires thru the holes. No grommet, nothing. These wires are chaffing. They a potential fire hazzard. There is evidence of insulation damage. These are pretty good sized wires and can carry a lot of current as we all know. Crappie Stalker was there. He saw the mess.

I am taking the boat back to the dealer after the TZur Tourney. I will give them the opportunity to fix it. If they don't (at their expense), then I gonna call the TBI or maybe CSI.

I cleaned up some of the mess, but this will be this winters job. I gotta fix what was screwed up by the dealer (10 years ago). I ought to call Ralph Nader...haha

My advice is to open up some panels and look for potential fire hazards.
You can't depend on dealers for quality anymore. They want the money, that all. They forget you real quick after the sale.

Anyway, I got the sonar installed and it works great. Now, my challenge will be to figure out how to use it. It sure has a lot of bells and whistles. The graphics are beautiful.

Now, has ANYBODY ELSE been through this crap?????

[frank lawhead]

got a new boat this summer
2-1/2 hrs to get it home---no 12 volts up front to run sonar
had 24 to the troller but I did,nt think I should have to work on it ,so a trip back to dealer -- he did give me gas money ,but I would have thought it should have been checked out before it left

[J White]

I won't name names either, but a friend of mine bought a new boat last
year, one of the brands that they are really proud of, if you know what I
mean - aluminum boat that is in my opinion over-priced, I went with him
on one of the first shake-down trips, and the livewell aerator wouldn't pump-
acted like it was air-locked. Took two trips back to the dealer to straighten
it out. Had to move/remount the pump. And on my advice, he bought a
Lowrance X-125, the wire labels on the power cord were wrong, and it took
a call to Lowrance to straighten it out... He is a long time electrician, wired
all the 440 and 220V 3 phase stuff in our building, so I think he should have
known what he was doing... Can't get good stuff anymore it seems :rolleyes:

[Eager Beaver]

got a new boat this summer
2-1/2 hrs to get it home---no 12 volts up front to run sonar
had 24 to the troller but I did,nt think I should have to work on it ,so a trip back to dealer -- he did give me gas money ,but I would have thought it should have been checked out before it left

When I have purchased my new boat's the dealer always went thru a check off list with me and we tried everything to make sure it worked. They showed me how to use all the gadgets on the boat and that I knew how to operate everything. The only time I had a problem was when I bought two up graded depth finder for this boat I have now and the dealer mounted the wrong one on the dash and the one I had bought for the dash wouldn't fit. I just switched units and use the one I wanted for the dash up on the bow instead. One problem I had with a Tracker Dealer when I bought a new TXS Tracker in 88 was I was there to check the boat out and they was working on someone else's new boat that the guy had used and the livewell was leaking. They had to cut out the insulation to get to the problem and when they got it fixed they threw the insulation away. I asked if they shouldn't replace it and they said the guy wouldn't know the difference. Needless to say I never went back to that dealer again. He wasn't in business for very long, I wonder why? He told me he had it gased up and the batteries charged up and was ready to go. I went home got my wife and a friend of her's and we took it out for the maiden voyage. We got out on the lake and was out for about a half hour and run out of battery and couldn't start the big motor. Thought no problem I will just use the trolling motor to get back to the dock. WRONG!! That battery didn't last long either. I ended up paddling the boat back to the dock. Now when I buy a new boat I charge the batteries and make sure it is gased up myself and don't relie on a dealer to do it for me any more.

[CrappieHead]

Talk about a joke. I bought this boat one weekend and told them I would pick it up the following weekend. They said no problem, it will be ready.

I called and e-mailed them during the week to mkae sure things were going as planned. Yes, it will be done as planned.

Saturday morning I am sitting there check in hand, big smile like a kid in a candy store. If I had known I would have been that mad before I left I would have doubled my blood pressure pills.

The boat was not ready. They had not even put the motor on it yet. Or the trolling motor as I would find out later. After 4 hours of waiting I began till new customers my story and they got busy getting me out of there.

I should have ask for my money back I put down and walked out.
Got to the lake and went fishing I had the hardest time controling the boat with the trolling motor. Come to find out the had pos & neg wires crossed and was doing every thing backwards. I will not go to that dealership again.

Went to the St. Louis boat show and if it was not for my wife I would have stood by there booth and told everyone my story. Wife talked me out of it tell me she would not post my bail. Now she is history but still have the boat.

[kygorski]

I don't know where to start. I got the Lorance installed. The manuf recomended to run the power directly to the battery. This is what I did,butt...

I opened all the panels of the boat to gain access to routing the wires front to aft. I found one big rats nest of wires and cables. It was crappy workmanship. A 10 year old could have done better work. I never seen so many splices and tapings in my life. Wires and cables just wadded up and shoved in a trough. These boats are rigged by dealers. These folks need to go to some quality control classes. I want name any names, but if I ever buy another boat, I will have the panels removed for inspection before I purchase. It is uncalled for. Just lazy *ss workers that don't give a sh**.

The worst was that I just purchased a new engine this year and had the trolling motor battery moved foward. Some yoyo drilled holes through a metal panel and shoved the trolling motor wires thru the holes. No grommet, nothing. These wires are chaffing. They a potential fire hazzard. There is evidence of insulation damage. These are pretty good sized wires and can carry a lot of current as we all know. Crappie Stalker was there. He saw the mess.

I am taking the boat back to the dealer after the TZur Tourney. I will give them the opportunity to fix it. If they don't (at their expense), then I gonna call the TBI or maybe CSI.

I cleaned up some of the mess, but this will be this winters job. I gotta fix what was screwed up by the dealer (10 years ago). I ought to call Ralph Nader...haha

My advice is to open up some panels and look for potential fire hazards.
You can't depend on dealers for quality anymore. They want the money, that all. They forget you real quick after the sale.

Anyway, I got the sonar installed and it works great. Now, my challenge will be to figure out how to use it. It sure has a lot of bells and whistles. The graphics are beautiful.

Now, has ANYBODY ELSE been through this crap?????

yesm my boat was wired by the dealer, and it worked fine for many years, the extra wiring was just put into a place that wasnt used.There were big loops of this wire just jumbled together.Well somewhere it overheated, fried my depth finder, cant stop the oil warning alarm, and the temp and tach are shot.But the motor runs!! Got a big spl;icing job coming up this winter .

[chef]

I Bought A 16' Nitro In 1996 With A 70 Horse Force Engine. The First
Summer I Had It, Every Mechanical Part On The Thing Quit Working At Some Time Or Other, Some Twice. It Was The First Really Good Boat I Had
Ever Had And It Was A Disappointment And A Disaster, I Kept Taking It Back To The Repair Center, Getting Madder Each Time. They Usually Took
Two Weeks To Fix It And I Lost The Entire Summer. Finally When I Would
Take It Back I Told Them I Would Pick It Up In Two Days, They Usually
Had It Ready. I Tried To Get A New Boat Because Mine Was A Lemon,
They Didn't Buy It. Stuff Still Went Wrong The Second Year, But Not
Near As Bad. After They Repaired Most Of The Mechanical Parts, Flywheel
Twice, Starter Twice, Battery, Bilge Pump, Live Well, Carberator And Some Others I Can't Recall, The Boat Ran Fine. I Have Had No Other Problems Since
The Second Year And I Am Really Proud Of My Little Boat But I Don't
Think I Would Ever Buy Another Nitro. Maybe They Are Better Now.

Chef

[CrappieHead]

I Bought A 16' Nitro In 1996 With A 70 Horse Force Engine. The First
Summer I Had It, Every Mechanical Part On The Thing Quit Working At Some Time Or Other, Some Twice. It Was The First Really Good Boat I Had
Ever Had And It Was A Disappointment And A Disaster, I Kept Taking It Back To The Repair Center, Getting Madder Each Time. They Usually Took
Two Weeks To Fix It And I Lost The Entire Summer. Finally When I Would
Take It Back I Told Them I Would Pick It Up In Two Days, They Usually
Had It Ready. I Tried To Get A New Boat Because Mine Was A Lemon,
They Didn't Buy It. Stuff Still Went Wrong The Second Year, But Not
Near As Bad. After They Repaired Most Of The Mechanical Parts, Flywheel
Twice, Starter Twice, Battery, Bilge Pump, Live Well, Carberator And Some Others I Can't Recall, The Boat Ran Fine. I Have Had No Other Problems Since
The Second Year And I Am Really Proud Of My Little Boat But I Don't
Think I Would Ever Buy Another Nitro. Maybe They Are Better Now.

Chef

Chef, sound like it was the engine problems more than boat problems.