South Austin Marine:
I bought I 24 foot Kenner Tunnel from South Austin Marine on the 23rd of July.
I spoke with the salesman on the phone and told him I would be down to pick up the boat at around noon because I planned on going to work that evening to cover a navy bird roll out ceremony. The boat wasn't ready when I arrived to pick it up with my 3 year old daughter and wouldn't run, I was assured that they had the situation under control and had sent a man to get the part that was needed to fix it. It was at this point that I learned that the motor that was suppose to have about 400 hours on it in fact had 770 hours, the dealer stepped up and offered to put a 1 year warranty on the motor free of charge and I thought that it would be ok. so we decided to keep the deal going.
My daughter and I waited around for about seven hours because we live in Fort Worth and it's quite a drive from Fort Worth to Austin. I bought my daughter a life jacket and tried to do what I could to waste time as they continued to get the boat ready and pumped around 100 gallons of old fuel from the tanks once the part arrived and they started working on it I noticed that there was a bunk board missing from the trailer and asked them to fix it, they sent a man to get a board and they replaced within the hour a that point we were finally ready for a water test. I was worried that it was going to get dark soon and as they were moving the boat into position they broke the trailer jack and rushed to install a new one, finally we were off to the lake to run the boat.
Once at the lake the boat started and ran well but the trolling motor kept kicking on and off when placed on the highest setting and I kept getting an alarm when the boat was trimmed up at full throttle. I mentioned my concern to the salesman and he told me that the alarm was going off because we were hitting the red line. I also told him the motor felt like it surged for a second on one of the runs. He assured me that the motor was working right and so we swapped the trailer and I took the boat home.
AS you can guess I missed the roll out ceremony and that was not all there is much more to come. The next day(Friday) my father took the boat three hours away to Toledo Bend to go fishing. Once there he and my brother launched the boat and ran it for about 25 minutes and then put it back on the trailer and prepared to go night fishing with three other boats. Sunset came around and it was time to put the boat back in the water and go fishing, he fired the engine up and backed it off the trailer and the motor quit and wouldn't start, my phone rings so I load my wife, daughter and an old military buddy up and head out to rescue my 60 year old father, looks like I'm going to miss another day at work.. I called the dealer and told them what happened, they start trying to find a dealer nearby that can fix the boat to no avail. Once I arrived at the lake I checked the fuel lines and found that the hose clamps on the fuel tank weren't retightened after they pumped the old fuel out of the tanks at the dealer, so I tightened them up and primed the system it was at this point that I discover that there was also a fuel leak underneath the cowling on the fuel pump/filter assembly I tightened the bleed screws up after speaking with the dealers service department on the phone and I assumed that I had fixed the problem but man was I wrong.
The next day we got up and tried her again and the motor fired right up and idled well so we went on a water test and everything seemed to be working well until we returned to camp and idled up to the dock and the engine died and once again wouldn't start. I called the dealer again and let them know what was going on and that I will be bringing the boat back to them on Monday and our deal was off.
So the boat sits on the trailer at the camp along with us while everybody goes fishing, seeing that the boat has our attention we start looking at it and my dad discovers that the swivel pin bushings are bad and need to be replaced and that the front live well pump doesn't work along with the depth finder.
At this point my confidence in the dealer is completely gone, on Monday I drive the boat back to Austin from Forth Worth and drop it off, the salesman and owner spoke with me and after a laundry list of things were agreed upon we still had a deal and I agreed not the use the state three day buyers remorse law and kept the boat.
After many phone calls and about three weeks the boat was finally ready with a new swivel pin, bushings, fuel pump gaskets, tires, depth finder, trolling motor circuit breakers, fuse panel, impeller, housing and control cables.
The dealer sent a mechanic to meet me half way with the boat and run it, so after all was said and done the boat was in serviceable shape or so I thought once again.
My father and I wanted to try some different propellers on the boat because the prop on it now doesn't have enough pitch. So I got down and start trying to find out what the pitch is on the prop and I notice that when the dealer removed the lower unit to service the impeller that they didn't reseal the cavitation plate to the motor, as it had been when I first inspected the boat, so I thought no big deal I will pop it off and put some new sealant on it because we all know what happens when a cavitation plate is loose. So I take the brand new stainless bolts on the shallow blaster and get my big rubber hammer and start tapping it off the lower unit. I can't believe what I'm seeing the entire anti-ventilation plate on the lower unit is in worse shape than any I have ever seen.
So I guess South Austin Marine is going to wait till the boat strands my family somewhere before they mention that my lower unit is a time bomb waiting to take the prop out.
So I'm going to take the lower unit off tomorrow and take it to a local guy who thinks he can fix it. So after a month of owning a boat I have been able to use it once.
So as far as South Austin Marine is concerned if you don't see it or it isn't brand new then proceed at your own risk.
Sorry if I'm rambling it's been a long month.
South Austin Marine
VIP Member
