New Owner says Hello

[Fisho]

Hi everyone. I wanted to add my five cents worth after now owning my sixth large boat. I have now downsized to a RT 21EC from larger vessels as we get older and a bit slower. First I sympathise with owners that may have some QA issues with expensive new boats. Frustrating to say the least but there is an upside. First all the problems will be sorted out in time and secondly you will know your boat much better at the end of the process. With all my boats, five of them new, 12 months was the minimum time to fix little things, fine tune, understand all the technology and systems as well as the idiosyncrasies of the boat, but basically set the boat up the way I want it. I have tried all the ways of making a new boat near perfect from factory and dealer, but I never seem to reduce the 12 month settling in period. Regarding Ranger Tugs, they are a brilliant design, after sales even for a second hand owner is second to none and are a very functional and a fun boat to use. But there is no getting away from the fact that the bigger the boat and the more accessories, electronics and options the more to go wrong and the more to learn. Persevere and you will get on top of it. Actually great fun. Remember all big boats are basically hand built and are almost a one off. There will always be lots of little things to fix. Unfortunately not like mass produced cars. Great to have a good dealer or boat place to do the big things. But maintaining, modifying, understanding and fixing a boat is really what boating and cruising is all about. We are all very fortunate to have the Tugnuts site. Very useful information that can solve almost any problem. Happy boating.

 

[griervictoria]

I have read the many responses to your concerns about problems and omissions on your new RT .
I bought the Seattle Boat show R31 in 2014 and had it delivered in early April of that year. We were so pleased and very excited about the new vessel. However after 2 weeks I got a call from a neighbour at the marina telling me that an alarm was going off in my boat. I was out of town and a friend went down and discovered about 2 feet of water in the engine compartment and the bilge pump not working. She was able to manually start the other bilge pump and got the water out.
Here is what happened.... The manufacturer had not tightened the the seawater filter cover adequately and it had leaked water into the bilge. Secondly manufacturer grindings had not been cleaned properly and this had prevented the automatic bilge pump from operating. Result I needed a new alternator as it is near the bottom end of the engine and got covered in salt water. However RT would only pay for a rebuild of that alternator despite my railing on about the cause of the disaster, namely poor clean up at the factory. 2 years later and maybe 200 hours of use the alternator totally failed and as i had a 5 year engine warranty, they did replace alternator with a new one.
Now the boat is 5 years old and I have had to replace the fresh water pump and had issues with slow running taps all of which were caused by fiberglass grinding being left in the water tank.
Ranger Tugs have had much success and have produced vast numbers of boats but I feel that mass production has led to a drop in the quality control.
Another issue I can mention is that several stainless screws throughout the boat have rusted and left rust stains on the fiberglass which are very unsightly and annoying, since even with good metal polish and FSR glass cleaner, the stains persist. I am told that most ss screws are US made but some Chinese ones may be used here and there. It has been a source of frustration to see one rusty screw on an otherwise immaculate fixture.
My R31 Glasgow Ranger has always been boathouse kept and well maintained and is still a source of pride and joy and has given us huge pleasure these last 5 years. I suppose unless you purchase the Bentley of boats these faults and blemishes are to be expected. This does not excuse the problems you have had with your new RT and I hope it is not a sign that the more Ranger Tugs produce, the lower the quality of the product. I hope someone from the factory has read these comments.

 

[FWTMD]

Accepting the inevitability of a shakedown period, suddenly the $2500 Factory Experience including systems instruction and a shakedown cruise of several days before leaving the factory's hands seems like a relative bargain. More eyes will be on the condition up front before you arrive, a factory Rep will be aboard with you for days and they too can spot stuff, and then the odds are less you will be sent off on a cruise with untested systems. Not cheap, but perhaps worth it to accelerate the shakedown process.

 

[BradOwens]

The Factory Experience is worth every penny in my mind. We didn't find any issues on our boat, but these are complex boats with lots of features, and having someone from the factory showing us how all the systems work was invaluable.

 

[NorthernFocus]

It's interesting that Fluid Motion has (thus far) managed to turn current manufacturing philosophy on its ear. Since the 90s there has been a huge effort in US manufacturing towards quality control in manufacturing. Whereas Fluid Motion seems to put the emphasis on marketing and esthetic design on the front end and correcting all of the manufacturing defects on the back end while just getting by in the middle(i.e. manufacturing). And considering the growing product line and customer base it's hard to argue that the philosophy is flawed.

As the old saying goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it. As long as people are waiting in line for the product there's not a lot of incentive to do anything different. More power to them.

 

[BB marine]

And considering the growing product line and customer base it's hard to argue that the philosophy is flawed.

That was and is the attitude and philosophy of many up and coming manufactures. As manufactures go Fluid Motion is one of the new guys in the game. Small company with a small network of dealers but growing. 12 years of manufacturing with 4 of those years in an upside down boating market. Look at a NADA guide and see how many other companies used that philosophy (marketing over quality control). Pages and pages of manufactures that "were and then became were nots". The key component in the marine market is customer service. For every one customer you please you gain one new customer. For every one customer you fail to please you loose 10 new customers. Quality control and customer service is the equation for longevity in the market. Ranger Tugs had a specialty market. They are now expanding customer demographics. Along with that expanding demographics comes more product lines. Ranger Tug/Cutwater specialty market is being consumed by many other manufactures of (pilothouse style boats). When the effort of maintaining good quality control is second to larger production. All the marketing in the world will not bring the company back to what once was. The list is of boat manufactures that this has happened to is long. Innovation awards within a company should be commended. Quality control and customer service awards should be applauded! Fluid Motion needs to maintain the philosophy of being applauded for quality control and not just commended for marketing.