San Jose/Bay Area

[Johnsongc]

Any regular skiers/courses in the south bay area. Just moved down to San Jose from Napa and am looking for a good driver and someone who likes to ski the course.

Thanks,


Greg

[97SN]

Greg,

Check out the Santa Clara County Water Ski Club (http://www.sccwsc.org/) for the only course in the south bay. I'm not associated with the club. I've been to a several club meetings, but there's too much politics for my taste. The other courses are about 2-to-3 hour drive at Nacimiento, Don Pedro, and New Melones reservoirs. The Sac delta is a little closer if you know someone with a course there.

[Johnsongc]

97SN

Thanks. I have been skiing the Delta (Pro Am) for the past 10 years, but was looking for something closer for a weekly ski. Don Pedro a great lake as long as you beat the crowds and Naci has been fun but the water level was very low last year.

Where do you ski?

Thanks again for the info.

-Greg

[97SN]

Greg,

I'm a novice course skier - my personal best running the full course is 15 off at 34 mph - nothing to write home about, but I do enjoy it nonetheless! Our routine place for the past few years for open water and some course skiing has been New Melones reservoir near Sonora. It's about 2-1/2 hours drive from San Jose and usually less crowded than most other places, but it too gets crowded on the weekends. It's been several years since we've been to Nacimiento, and I see on the web cam (http://www.nacimientoresort.com/webcam.htm) the water level is pretty full, so I'd like to head back there this summer.

If you haven't visited the local Santa Clara reservoirs yet, decent water can be found on a weekday morning. Calero is the closest in South San Jose, Anderson is near Morgan Hill, and Coyote is near Gilroy (none of them have a slalom course). The other reservoirs in the area don't allow power boats. When the wind picks up, Calero is the worst as there is no protection from the choppy water.

[97SN]

Greg, one more item: fair warning about the service shop at West Valley Marine in Campbell. They are the local Nautique dealer in San Jose / South Bay. Last time I took my SN in for service, they did the following:

* They removed the trailer guides from my boat and put on another customers boat because "we were out of stock" Huh? Really?! I was flabbergasted to say the least!
* They scratched the hull with the chain used to lift the boat off the trailer, and then tried to charge me 50% of the repair cost.
* After taking the boat home, I noticed they left a screw driver and a wrench in the engine compartment. Darn good thing I checked before starting it up again!
* There were grease stains on the engine cover and the carpet.

Needless to say, all of my service is now performed by West Coast Correct Craft in Folsom. It's a bit of a drive, but worth the peace of mind.

[Johnsongc]

97SN,

Thanks for the heads up. I purchased me boat through Hammer's Ski and Marine in Petaluma, and had them do some minor service for me. Needless to say, I have done everything since myself. A good service shop is very hard to find. I suppose if anything outside of my capability comes up, I will take your advise and go to WCCC.

Thanks,

Greg

[Marshman]

97SN

I second your concerns about the CVM service. It has been a major source of customer dissatisfaction for me. I used to have a 93 Sport Nautique and the only real need I had to bring in the boat was in 96/97 time frame when the engine had a intermittant problem that was eventually traced to the Engine Control Module. CVM basically had no clue what the problem was and charged me full price on any and all work they did to troubleshoot the problem, whether they fixed anything or not.

More recently I purchased a 2005 SAN team. Took it to them to get the Bimini and Bow cover installed, Shower installed, few small nicks and dull spots repaired. When I got the boat back it had the following problems

1) Bimini came without any explaination of how to set it up or even a mention that the front screw knobs were hidden somewhere. I think they put them in the drivers side cup holder but by the time I was able to find them there was only 1 left and I had already purchased 2 myself

2) The 2 nicks were not only still there but there was now a divot where they tried to sand out the nicks, they saned as dep as they could but made it worse. The area around the nicks were now dull and clearly showing sanding swirl marks in the bright sunlight. The other areas that had some small scuff marks also showed the swirl marks from the sanding. Opon taking it back a 2nd time they buffed out the swirl marks but still have not been able to fix the nicks. The plan now is to have my sales guy (Mike) take it up to WCCC to get the gelcoat fixed.

3) Boat was left a huge mess. The shavings from the shower install were not vacuumed up, the boat clearly had been uncovered while it was raining. I basically had to give a head to toe cleanup.

On my most recent visit to get the tower replaced, I asked them to leave the speaker mount brackets in the boat and I would re-install them. Upon picking the boat up they had not even unwrapped the tower after the install. Between Mike and I we installed the Bimini brackets, Flight clips and mirror. In fact when I installed the flight clips (after arriving home) I discovered they sheared off a bolt one one of them and didn;t even have the decency to let me know (another trip to the hardware store)

Lastly - I never get a call from them telling me if my boat is done. I always need to be the one that calls them.

This place sucks for customer service.

[jeffskiman]

I bought two SN's there during the 90's and never had any service from their service department except for a recall on the fuel lines for my 97SN. They always seem busy so I did my own wrenching. Lucky I guess.

Dawn of Dawn's Custom Canvas did my bimini top for the '97. She did a great job and looks fanastic and new to this day. She must not be there anymore as I did not notice her trailer over there this week. Custom bimini tops always look better that the store bought versions.

[trashman]

Where is/was Dawn's Custom Canvas located? We just bought a '91 Nautique Excel and need some shade for the kids. The previous owner had a custom built tower made for the boat and we figured a custom built bimini would be best. Is she in Campbell as well?

[bkhallpass]

Where is/was Dawn's Custom Canvas located? We just bought a '91 Nautique Excel and need some shade for the kids. The previous owner had a custom built tower made for the boat and we figured a custom built bimini would be best. Is she in Campbell as well?

Trashman,

It is actually Dawnine of Dawnine's Custom Canvas. Her work is great
and I've seen biminis she made which are 15 years old and still
in good shape. She moved her main facility to pleasanton. You can
do a search and find her on the web. I've lost the number, but if
you have trouble, I could get it for you.

With that said, I prefer towerbiminis.com for tower installations.
Jaime Barrios at Barrios Upholstery started making these several
years back, and they are solid. No screw holes in your tower,
one of the largest tower mount biminis I've seen, etc. They
are located in San Martin, Right around the corner from you. Many
people on this site have used towerbimins.com for their tower
mounted application. Jaime has standard sizes for the newer nautiques,
but he made need you to bring your custom tower in. That's ok.
My brother had an unusual tower on his mastercraft, took the boat in,
and the bim looks awsome. He'll do it from measurements if you want,
but personally, since you live close, I'd rather he made the measurements.

Good luck,

BKH

[Mikeski]

Dawnine is now working out of her house in Oakley, she did my full side boat cover about 3 months ago. Here's her number (925) 625-9979, if you buy something from her tell her she owes me speaker covers! Her work is very good, but not perfect, still better than anybody else in the area. My cover works great but it does have a few minor flaws (ie, the left side is about 1" shorter than the right side but no biggee, and yes I am very particular). I talked to her about a bimini but she still uses straps attached to the boat so I went with a tower bimini. Even though I live pretty close to Tower Bimini I found it cheaper to order it through Mid Ohio Nautiques and save about $100 with the Planet Nautique discount. I was able to do a local pickup and save another $90 in shipping costs.

[WakeUpDude]

We bought our '04 at CVM, first boat we've bought from them. I'm located in San Luis Obispo, so I have't had the boat serviced there before. Bad communication can be expected for a dealership in a large city, but the incidents with workmanship seem like they would surely be a dissapointment. Harry in the service department seemed to be very knowledgable on the phone...does anyone know if he actually wrenches?

One thing I have to say about CVM is that we had a good experience buying from them, and Mike is a super cool guy. Called up recently about getting our tower replaced, and Mike hooked me up with the service department (Harry), and I didn't get the ring around. Only thing I'm concerned about for when the new tower comes (should be an 05 brushed tower), is that they wanted to keep the boat. I tried arranging a day trip up there, but they said they couldn't guarantee the boat would be worked on...now hearing they leave boats uncovered and they perform sloppy workmanship, I'm kinda worried. I install towers on a daily basis...ussually 1-2 towers per day, and I know they don't take that long to do, especially a FCT which is super easy to put together/install...I'd think they could squeeze me in, but I'm not TOO bummed about that.


Nonetheless, it's interesting to hear what everyone has to say.

[coach]

It is fun to listen/read about an area of the country I was so fimilar with. I lived and worked in San Jose, Santa Clara, then lived in Discovery Bay for 35 years. I started skiing in 69, joined Golden Gate in 70, then Berkley in 76. I left the BS behind in 2000.

Finding boat service to ski sites was a full time job. Before one of the Mellon's open Sac we were on our own to get the boat fixed or do service. You had to belong to a club because the safety was in numbers when it came to course skiing.

I am truely sorry guys, but I guess every one has to pay their dues. Here in Orlando (O'Town) thing are different. You can't make as much money if you're in high tech but the waterski life is fantastic. If you can afford it.....and you want the best possible services on your Nautique, you can go to the factory. If you want to ski, call a buddy and arrange a time, because he may not have anyone to ski with......there are courses on every lake here in town.

I got around the system in the Valley after a few years of figuring out what the best kept securates were. There are private lakes every where.....you have to get to know the right peeps......as well as good mechanics. Good luck.

[bkhallpass]

Hey Coach,

Where were you in Discovery Bay? I've been out there for 10 years on Salmon Ct.

BKH

[coach]

We first moved to the lake. The launch ramp was directly across from the store......then we moved to Beaver, there for 13 years......down sized by buying a condo at the marina and a condo in the heart of the Silicon Valley, going to Disco only on the weekends. The first lake house......took 1 hr 10 min. from door to work.....nothing between hwy 4 and our street. I drove a Porche and could make Livermore in 14 min. using Mt House or Vasco. 8-)

I think we moved out there in 1980, to the deep water(Beaver) 1983, condo 1996.......on the Florida 1999

Salmon Ct is familar, but can't place it. I'm sure things have changed even since 99, I know the prices have. I heard my old house on Beaver went on the market for an unGodly amount of money.




Hey Coach,

Where were you in Discovery Bay? I've been out there for 10 years on Salmon Ct.

BKH