Is it time to give up on Nautique?

[G_WaTT]

I have a 2018 G23. Last season my drive shaft snapped and I lost a prop. No problemo! After all,... these things happen right? This season one of my RGB cup holders caught fire and melted the side panel in the boat, my underwater light has gone out, and now I've experienced engine failure. The problem is a PCM wiring harness, A known issue, but not large enough to recall nor enough to warrant keeping a supply. After a month PCM says the part is on back order while giving no ETAs. I haven't even had the boat 3 years and have been stranded twice while also experiencing other issues. I had to cancel my vacation at a lake house I rented and likely seems my season is over. I keep hearing "COVID," but the fact is not lost on me Nautique is still able to sell boats while not being able to take care of their current customers. Nautique says they stand by their products, but I can't find anyone standing by me. Covid aside, is it normal for a newer boat to have this many issues? Is this common among all boat MFGs?

[Interjon]

I think you will get a lot of pollyannish responses to your post. I will share my experiences once I know their outcome, in one, two weeks or more. Best of luck with your issues.

[bturner]

Boats are boats and can be challenging to say the least. The problem I see on many of these new luxury liners is the shear number of toys and gadgets are just new areas to have issues with. Multiple computers, pretty flashing lights, touch displays, etc all add to additional areas of needless complexity to entice the masses. Boat quality control and reliability has never been and I doubt ever will be in line with the large automotive industry as the numbers just aren't there to put in place the systems or repetition to achieve those levels. Probably a closer comparison would be with the high end automotive market such as Bentley, Rolls, Ferrari or Lamborghini. While all are hand built (like your boat) none of them are known for their reliability, stellar service or parts availability. So some of this is just what it is and why many of us don't rely on dealers and do much of the work on our boats ourselves. In fact many of the people I've know that have been in boating and left did so because they couldn't work on their boat and were frustrated with the maintenance aspect of owning one. So lets walk through your issues....

• You had 2 lights go bad, one with a short. The short wasn't a good thing for sure but not the end of the world and I assume both were taken care of by the dealer. From a Nautique perspective, both were made by vendors that are probably selling to all the boat manufactures so not really a Nautique thing.
• The snapped drive shaft got my attention. Would be interested to know more about that and what the fix was. This one would concern me because of possible future issues and it's potential to actually sink the boat. This could quite possibly be a Nautique thing.
• The wiring harness and the ETA, or lack of one is a concern as well. Whats your dealer telling you on this? Are they offering you an alternative, a demo boat to use or some other solution that may be acceptable? Have you discussed any of this with them? I've heard of several cases where one of the local dealers of a competitive brand has provided one of their demo boats in cases like this and another where a very attractive trade was made. Any way you look at it waiting 4 months for a replacement part would seem unreasonable to me and I would be having a conversion with the salesmen then the owner. This however is a PCM thing and again a vendor that sells to several manufactures.

As far as the CV goes.... we're in uncharted waters here. Heck you can't even get Clorox wipes some 6 months after all this started and COSTCO still has idiots trying to buy pallets of TP which they still run out of. You have politicians that want to close down the country again for political points, the post office is a mess and can't seem to deliver mail anymore and social justice morons are burning cities down. So do I think any of this could reflect in parts availability? Yeah sure. I think it's very possible. How 'bout you?

[hal2814]

It’s definitely not common but it happens more than it should. The harness situation would be enough for me to look elsewhere. But where exactly? Malibu has similar issues. They have boats that are only about as old as yours that have electrical harnesses that are NLA due to a supplier change. There’s Mastercraft but IMHO you’re paying even more for a product that’s not any better and you still have an engine maker owned by the boat manufacturer. The other Correct Craft companies use PCM. Maybe Skiers Choice with a Supra or Moomba? Maybe Tige? They use Indmar who I have a lot of respect for. It’s a tough spot to be in. Trust your instincts. It’s far better to trust your instincts and be wrong than ignore your instincts and be right. Good luck with whatever you do.

[G_WaTT]

Thanks for the replies. I had a Malibu before with no problems, so was considering switching back. I originally switched to Nautique, because the local Malibu dealer closed down and I developed a good relationship with my salesman.

bturner:
-My cup holder flamed up back on Memorial day and has yet to be fixed.
-The shaft, as explained to me, is made by Marine hardware which supplies shafts for a lot of boats. They had a series of bad shafts that snapped under the 2:1 transmission which was told supplies more torque than any other boat
- Nautique told them it was a PCM issue. PCM hasn't responded other than saying the part is on backorder and hasn't given an ETA. They said they would loan me a boat if they had one, but they don't have inventory.

The G23 is the best boat I've had, but it's also the most unreliable. When spending that much money I don't feel like I should need to live in fear of breaking down at any moment. It's a beautiful boat, but I don't want a show boat. I want a boat that works. I do feel like my dealer wants to help, but I really just feel beside myself on this. I keep asking about rentals, or buying a used boat temporarily, but I don't feel like I'm getting any guidance. Any advice?

[shag]

I would be really alarmed about the fire on board your boat caused by a simple lighted cup holder... That, I have not heard of. A far as the driveshafts, I feel Nautique should have re-called all the boats (they should have known after a year or two what batch of shafts were bad) and just replaced the shafts. To chance a boat sinking, or not being able to navigate, say when a storm quickly come up - could be a deadly scenario. I feel they have kicked some owners to the curb. You could be like me and have an hour meter that was designed to only read to 999.9 hours and there is no fix, just to "buy an hour meter" and place it somewhere... (2008 230) Good luck with the dealer sir.

[teamolson]

I hear you and I apologize in advance it this rubs salt, but I feel pretty good about Nautique after a recent experience. On my 2019 in July this summer my oil pump went out. July 17 to be exact. I got towed in and was pretty worried when I talked to the dealer...they’d never seen it. Long story short, Nautique shipped a new block, no questions asked and my dealer installed it in 4 days. Engine failure to new engine in 4.5 weeks...,in 2020. Pretty amazed and feel grateful to have a company that stands behind their boats.

if you haven’t, I would call and email Nautique directly. They need to hear from clients, not dealers. I knew my engine shipped before my dealer did. Maybe give that a shot..,.squeaky wheels ya know?

Good luck bud, hope they get you squared away.

[Gtsum2]

Is be a little jaded if I was you. You have had some serious issues imo. Mine, in comparison, are minor.....

I have a 20 g23 with 107 hours now...it’s been back to dealer three times for faulty thruster, horrific hissing from the cabin speakers, tower speakers all of a sudden don’t work, leak from rain storm in port storage area (the big one). Also dealing with a ground fault circuit on the aft bilge pump (4 times). Dealer either can’t fix it correctly and or waiting on parts. COVID is lame excuse for that line when they can sure put out 2021 models without issue.

I expected more from a 180k boat. At this point, I should of spent half that and got a moomba or a MC or a Centurion, because so far, I am not seeing the Nautique difference.


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[Glafko]

Harness problems will be the new norm I think as most companies that are supplying companies are going out of business and are over loaded and can’t keep up with supply. I work for a bus manufacturer and it’s crazy right now to build from the ground up and not have harnesses during the build and have to case down the line and install them way out of station. I’m sure things will get better in a year or 2 . It’s not just you as all companies are having these problems

[bturner]

Anyone thinking the CV and the rest of the BS going on isn't affecting manufacturing has never worked in a factory or in supply chain. You can have 100 pieces for a 101 part assembly and guess what? That assembly doesn't get built until that last component comes in. To make matters worse there are 2, 3 or even more suppliers needed to source parts from to build the assembly. And guess where many of those were being made? If you guessed China you guessed right. You know the China, the source of the Chinese Virus and the place that had extreme lock downs, factory closings and where we were limiting imports from.

We still have running lock downs, plant closures and still have the borders north and south of us closed due to this virus (or at least from the chosen response to it, right or wrong). Entire companies have gone out of business and many of these are the smaller mom and pop shops that are or were suppliers to larger manufactures which in turn supply product to the factories that build the boats and supply replacement parts. Add to all of this the relative small production run on these near "one off" model runs in comparison to the scale of the automotives and I'm not surprised at all by the lack of replacement parts and delays getting them.

As to quality.... Well that's been an issue in the industry forever. But that said, go to any of these owner sites (car or boat) and you'll see the same threads. As someone that buys used and has flipped a boat or two over the years, many of the boats I've purchased have had one issue or another or for that matter several issues that have needed to be addressed. Many times these issues were what drove the PO to sell and if it was to me it was for a very good price. If you think things are bad now your head would have exploded in the late 90s to early 2000s. EPA changes to chemicals used in vinyl manufacturing created a run of poor materials that near self destructed in 3 to 5 years. The trend in the industry about the same time was to switch from mechanical gauges to digital CAN Bus systems and god help us liquid quarts gauges. Everyone rushed to get their systems out which created a nightmare of inaccurate and complete system failures in the same 3 to 5 year period. Warranties back then were typically a year transom to bow and 3 years on the drive train so in most cases you were SOL for that new interior or the conversion system for the gauges.

To a degree I feel the industry has circled back to the early 2000's with tech leading the charge in driving issues. We've gone from fuel injection to direct injection, digital gauges to flat panel displays, fat sacs to computer controlled systems for surfing and that doesn't even start to touch on the audio systems, power towers, thrusters and other complex systems that have been added to these boats.

While I understand the frustration and disappointment owners experience in these posts that appear each season I'm not really that shocked that it happens and quite honestly am bit more surprised there isn't more of it. For those of you who are still looking to buy one of these luxury liners I would suggest closely examining the dealer that you will be buying from as you will see from the responses in these types of threads the difference an exceptional dealer can make regardless of the manufacturer in dealing with these issues. This is especially true if you plan to lean heavily on them for all you maintenance and repair work after the sale.

[gscho002]

i for one have been astonished how poorly made these things are. for what they cost they should be exquisite examples of engineering, quality and reliability. their system complexity is trivial compared to my BMw but at two or now approaching three times the price they have the fit and finish of my high school toyota. adding insult to injury, parts and good service is impossible to find, and the companies allow their dealers to strongarm customers and threaten them if they buy outside the area. we have lost most of 2 summers use of our boat over the last 8 or so waiting for repairs. i imagine this is just par for the course for such a niche consumer market. but it has made owning these boats for the last decade way less fun and way more hassle than i expected!

[Nautiquehunter]

If you wan't reliability buy a boat made before the electronic era. I fail to see the need for lighted cup holders ,electronic steering with thrusters power towers and every system controlled by a 5000.00 TV screen with no back up. The fact is water and electric don't mix and relying on computers for every operation is going to be high maintenance. I question the quality of the marine mechanics to be able to repair these systems especially when it was a flawed system from the start . As for parts they are only needed on boats that have already been sold . Number one priority for all the brands is to sell as many cloned spaceships as possible before the fad dies out . I wonder what the resale will be on a 10 year old boat with tons of problems and no parts or manufacture support .

[bturner]

^^^^^ Been say'n this for the last 5 years ^^^^^

It all looks good on the demo reel or at the boat show but one has to wonder what the market on these boats will be once the warranties run out. There was just another guy posting today with a bad screen on a 2016 that either is or just about to go out of warranty. If he ends up having to pay out of pocket he'll end up with a bill equivalent to replacing a engine for a frick'n display. You could buy 5 - 65" TVs or 3 very good laptops, or 5 new Galaxy S20 phones for that kind of money if we're comparing tech to tech.

[nyryan2001]

Call Ron Nace at Nautique and calmly talk through your situation. Stick succinctly to the maintenance issues, refrain from the “give up on Nautique” commentary.

every minute that passes that you haven’t done this ^^^^, is another minute not solving the problem.

[NautiqueJeff]

I respectfully disagree with the thinking that these newer boats will have lower resale in the future because of all the technology that's built into them these days. In fact, that argument has been going on for many years, and has never held true, at least not for Nautiques. Think about the 2000 - 2002 era with the faulty gauges. That hasn't reduced resale at all on those boats. They are still selling for $20,000+ for a direct-drive, and close to $30,000 for a v-drive, whether those bad gauges have been replaced or not. Same thing with the later boats with the pitot tubes going into the gateway boxes. Yes, it is a problem, but no, it didn't affect resale in any noticeable way. The same will hold true for the current boats.

You can't honestly expect Nautique to refrain from including current technology in their new boats, can you? Can you imagine Nautique trying to sell a PREMIUM product these days with analog gauges, no surf system, no NCRS, no electronically-controlled ballast, etc.? The competition would crush them!

I have owned 11 different boats with LINC systems since 2010. The worst problem I ever had was one LED light bulb going out on one of my 2010 210 LINC buttons. Granted, I only keep my boats for a year, but I have NEVER had a single problem with any of my new boats that required a dealer visit. Never. Not a single one. No broken shafts, no electrical issues, no LINC problems, no stereo problems, nothing. And this is over thousands of hours of use over the years.

This forum often hears the worst of the worst in terms of failures. Few people come here to post how well their boat is doing. They come here for answers to problems. For the number of boats sold, there are relatively few major issues, especially multiple issues like what G_WaTT is experiencing. I agree that he should speak with Customer Service at Nautique, if he hasn't already. They will help get all of this sorted out I am sure.