Dealer/buying questions

[wincrasher]

Newbie looking to buy a new boat.

From my search, any dealer is going to be quite a drive - probably around 500 miles. I'm located in South Carolina.

So service I may just have to contract locally and take care of small warranty items myself.

So I'm asking if any dealers are particularly recommended for the buying/ordering/dealmaking process.

Also, is it possible to just buy directly from the factory? I've thought about doing the factory pickup option and then having them ship it to my home town. Or does it have to be shipped to a dealer? If you buy direct, do they deal or is it strictly MSRP?

 

[baz]

I bought our R-25 directly from the Factory and did not pay MSRP. My advantage presumably was that we live within 35 miles of the Ranger Tug's factory in Kent and even less miles to their Monroe Factory. From my reading in this forum it seems that Ranger Tug dealerships also provide or offer some form of discounting.

Of course, one way to save money is to find a relatively new (3 years or less IMO) Ranger Tug on the used market. From a quick look online there appears to be quite a few used boats for sale.

Good luck.

 

[walldog]

I recommend you get in touch with Marc Grove at Wefing's in Apalachicola Florida. He is on this forum. He is relatively close to you and gives excellent service....and you will like that.

 

[wincrasher]

only a guy in Texas would think 500 miles is close. 😉

 

[JamesTXSD]

only a guy in Texas would think 500 miles is close. 😉

Well, there's at least TWO guys in Texas who think 500 miles is close. 😉 When we were looking for a C-Dory, the closest dealer was 1,100 miles away.

Two words: road trip!

 

[SUWANNEE]

Talk to Marc at Wefings. He has customers from many long distance locals.

 

[South lake]

We bought our R-25, the Get~Aweigh, from Marc Grove at Wefings in Florida. We live in West Central Ohio.

Marc arranged delivery, was excellent to deal with, and I highly recommend him and Wefings.

 

[JimmyH]

Just finished purchase of a 2011 R27 from Marc at Wefings... Boat was delivered to RI yesterday (arranged by Marc)... Marc is a class act, he made the long distance process easy and I strongly recommend him!

JimH

 

[Brian B]

Just finished purchase of a 2011 R27 from Marc at Wefings... Boat was delivered to RI yesterday (arranged by Marc)... Marc is a class act, he made the long distance process easy and I strongly recommend him!

JimH

Congratulations on your new tug, now the fun begins. There's going to be a few of us on Narragansett Bay this Summer!!!

 

[knotflying]

welcome aboard Jim. Hope to see you cruising around RI this summer..

 

[HRowland]

Hi Jim,

Congratulations on your R27. Looking forward to seeing you on the bay this summer!

Howard

 

[anjin-san]

My boat will be located on Bald Head Island and I purchased from the dealer in Stuart Fl. I pick it up in 2.5 weeks. This far it is a good relationship. He is going to spend 2 days with me going over the boat before shipping it to Southport. I'll update you on my experience of you like. Dave

 

[gdrye]

I ordered a R-27 from Tommy @ Seagate Marine in Stuart Fl as well. Hope to get her in June. Tommy & Dave were great to deal with. I also met Marc Grove last year @ the Miami Boat Show & he is a super good guy. I returned this year to the show to make a deal but Marc wasn't there. I don't think anyone can go wrong with either of these guys. Both are said to have great after the sale support which is unusual these days. Anjin -San tell Tommy & Dave I'm anxiously waiting but the suspense is killing me. Wincrasher where will your home port be in SC ? I will be based in North Myrtle Beach maybe I'll see you on the water.

 

[bbrh842]

500 miles IS close, and ditto to every good thing ever said abour Marc Grove at Wefing's Marine.

 

[Boatdreamer]

Just thought I would put my two cents in on this too. We've been the proud owner of Gratitude, our new R27 from Seagate Marine for about eight month. If all businesses operated like Seagate does, the world would be a better place. We had a couple of new boat issues that Tommy took care of quickly. He came to our dock with the Garmin service rep to repair the shadow drive on the auto-pilot and left Gratitude clean and neat after the repair. Dave, Tommy, Cal and Patty are great people to deal with. BTW anjin-san, your new grey R29 is a great looking boat, we saw her this past weekend. Good luck with her. gdrye, June will be here before you know it and you'll be a proud R27 owner too.

Tim and Donna
R27 Gratitude

 

[wefings]

Apreciate all the good feedback. We take our customer service seriously !
Marc

 

[kevinflanagan]

I would like to say ditto to the comments about Tommy Gaston at Seagate. Our experience has been excellent from the beginning. We live in Texas (I agree with 500 miles comments). We bought our boat October 2012 and it was delivered to Seagate early January. We are now in the beginning of our very first cruise. We had several minor issues as well on our boat and ALOT of user errors and Tommy's service in handling everything for us was unsurpassed. He has been very patient with all my questions and pleasure to work with.

On the cruising side, this experience has been top notch! Love this boating lifestyle and look forward to many many adventures!

We also had the pleasure this trip of meeting up with some Fellow Tugnuts in Ft Myers Beach, Dale and Karin Dowdy...
So thanks again to you both for the tour of the island and certainly enjoyed our time together.

 

[wincrasher]

Sounds like everybody loves their dealer. 😀

I may be putting the cart before the horse though. I really need to settle on which boat I want. 27, 29 or 31? Like aspects of all three.

I saw some pictures of a 31 without the fly bridge and that really appeals to me, but it may be too heavy for my Duramax Chevy. For some reason, my truck is limited to 13,000 lbs on a bumper pull. I think it's the Class V hitch assembly more than anything - the weight for a 5th wheel is much higher - 17,000 lbs.

Not sure if some of the options on the 31 can be put on a 29 like the Corian counters and the KVH antenna. Don't really need or want the second head, but would like the greater tank capacities.

Not worried about oversize towing. Can get a yearly pass in my state. I'd be hauling to the lake nearby or down to the coast to get on the ICW.

 

[anjin-san]

The extra cockpit and bow seating on the 31 is really nice.

 

[Irish Mist]

Wincrasher
I have a 29 pretty much has all the options and having a year under my belt I would say I would be looking at the 27 or 31 if I had the option. The 27 is very well appointed and very versatile, and if you are planning on a lot of towing is made to tow. In my opinion the 27 is the best all around boat..Moving up to the 29 , you gain some beam and of course the bedroom has a permanent bed. The washroom moves into the bedroom which is nice in the morning or through the night, if you have no company. With guests of course although there is a privacy curtain, they need to enter your space to get to the head, not a big deal but one worth considering. The advantage of the extra head in the 31 is during the day or night, everyone is not having to walk through the boat to use it. I love my 29 is a great boat but what you gain in the 31 for not much more $ is well worth it.The cabin on the 31 is almost identical to the 29. The extra 2 ft is all in the rear cockpit. This also allows the engine to be located back a bit so it is not partly in the cabin as it is in the 29, which makes it a bit quieter in the cabin and allows better access to the engine. There would be little difference in towing between a 29 and a 31. I'm sure if you ordered new you could delete the extra head. You can get pretty much the same options on all 3 boats. Nice you have the option of choosing between those 3 models I would say its either 27 or 31. Ask away here about all of them, as there are owners of each active on the forum and will be happy to answer any specific questions.Good luck 🙂
Mark