Offshoreonly.com - Baja 30OL or Sunsation32SS

Hello everyone!
Just arrived home from the airport (from my trip South of the border to test a Sunsation 32SS) and found so many postings that I can't address them all. All I can say is thanks to all of you....it was very much appreciated. To sum it up, I am going to order the 32SS with 525's tomorrow. As I mentioned before, Joe was sick with sun poisoning so I couldn't visit the factory so I visited a dealer in Grand Haven that had one in stock (496HO's). It was the only time I could get away and wanted to make my decision. Marc (the GM of Wharf Marina) was very pleasant to deal with and has 3 brand new Sunsatons in stock (288, 32 open bow, and 32SS). It's a new line for them and I'm confident they will do very well. I went for a ride in the boat and was very impressed. Talked to Joe on the phone and found him to be most accomodating. Here's what my decision was based on:

Past Baja Experience.........had a 25 OL (2000) and loved it.
Present Baja Experience....Flew to dealer in Western USA to see and drive in a 30OL.....loved the boat and was promised quote(I wanted 525's, Mcleod II bolsters, ITS drives etc) by Tues following week......Wed I called asking for quote....nothing......Friday.....still nothing. (In fairness to this dealer, I think they were waiting on Baja to get back to them which surprises me that a big company like Baja doesn't have a simple system in place that could answer dealers requests in a matter of minutes!). Anyway, gave up here and contacted another much bigger dealer......made an offer and was promised a phone call by noon the next day with what I thought would be a done deal or counter offer.......I called him at 3 oclock and left him a voice mail asking him if he had forgotten about me.....3 days later....nothing and today (about 2 weeks later) still nothing. In the meantime, I sent Baja 2 emails........one asking about the effects of ITS drives on the 30OL and the other asking them to courier me the new colors for 2007........to date, no return emails and no package with current colors. I asked myself if this is the kind of service I am getting when trying to spend very close to 200K, what is going to happen if I have a problem!!! As I'm sure you all can appreciate and have experienced,it takes a lot of time to research a boat and this was a total waste of my time and now I had to start all over again. I looked at Fountains, Cigs (both out of my league for what I wanted) and someone suggested I take a look at Sunsation. I talked to 3 of their dealers to get a feel for pricing.......each and every one of them got back to me the same day and were most accomodating. I talked to the Sunsation head honcho of Sales (Dave) and he didn't do any bad mouthing of any other boats and told me that he would fly myself and my wife to the factory to see what a Sunsation boat is all about......no obligation to buy. I should also mention that my correspondance by phone and email was done on a Saturday and Sunday with him. Joe (one of the owners) tells me on the phone that they will have the boat completely tested and rigged at the factory because of the great distance I am away from the nearest dealer and already had a plan in place how he could still service me directly from the factory (through a Mercury approved dealer which we have several here) and that he would personally make recommendations to me (he said of course it's up to me whether I choose to do so or not) on how to best set up this boat. Anyway, it was a no-brainer for me and at this point in time, I have no question in my mind that I have made the correct decision. The biggest problem..........no boat til August ! Thanks again guys/gal.....your help was very useful in educating me about these 2 boat types.