I have to say if this happened up here....someone would be in a box by now.

Such as...

I owned a 2003 36 Concept delivered on September 5th 2003. I kept the boat until I sold it in late august 2005. I was so excited about my Concept that I was the one who got Concept this forum on OSO. After 6 months of ownership I realized I made a big mistake with buying this boat.

With my 2003 36 Concept:
1- it was delivered with water in the gas tank

2- with in 6 months the powder coating on the arch started to bubble

3- with in 6months the powered coating on the bow rail started to bubble

4- with in weeks after delievery the battery charger came off...it was screwed down with just 1 screw!

5- port side k-plane pump was screwed into transom with regular fine thread screws (nut and bolt type and not wood type stainless screws) and it fell off.

6- at 9 months parts of the painted graphic started to chip off in small perfect round spots around the size of a dime and a quarter.

7- right before I sold the boat it developed a bad creaking sound down in the hull near the bow. Marine surveyor said bulk head and stringer joint is coming loose.

8- boat drains water to the bildge so that when it rains the bildge pumps run and the battery drains. A CC boat like this has to have a self draining deck...period!

8- bolsters were not solidly bolting correctly into the floor. It seemed like a few of the screws went into a stringer and the other just lossly into the thin floor.

The good points about the boat were:
1- styling
2- went through head on chop very well
3- no much flex in the boat and it never had stress cracks
4- electrical wire rigging was flawless
5- upholstry was very well done

Mike,

If you were to buy another CC other than the Fountain, what would it be? Nothing crazy, but in the same price range. Do you think those problems would still happen with the Concept? I have read that they can be self bailing, but that stringer problem sounds bad.

Well of course!!! ?

I was thinking about purchasing a new concept 44 until I read this thread.
Now I'm thinking, not so much.
Not the way to take care of your customers concept!

Mike...some of those issues are pretty bad. Since my next boat will be a CC (not for a while unfortunately) I had an eye for Concepts because they were sportier than the dedicated fish boats. My waters are tough and I'll need a boat that can handle it, however I don't want to throw good money after bad. Concept has tons of fans so every boat can't be like yours but surely yours shows lack of oversight or at the least workmanship from those who either don't care or aren't trained properly.

Another mark of a good company is how they respond to issues. I took delivery of a new Nordic in '01 and it had $700 of repairs from my marina right off the trailer. Nordic wanted nothing to do with it. How did Concept respond to your issues?

Truthfully I am not sure of any boats in the same price range as the Concept. For a 36 Concept the price is pretty cheap compared to other 36 CC's. At one time you had Renegade, possibly Glasstream and Oceanhawk...but I do not know much about those boats anymore. However I'd really like to go for a Intrepid 32 or so. More fishy type of CC's beside the Fountain on my list would be something along the lines of Yellowfin but then you are getting way up in price. Also Deep Impact too. I'm sure I am missing some really well built boats but I have not been shopping or researching boats for a while.

As far as the Concept being self bailing...from what I looked into out of the water on a lift it will self bail but not in the water because the deck is below the water line. The desgin of the boat is not self bailing and that came to me from Luis the owner. He said he has a kit that can help and can self bail on a lift or trailer.

If anyone is looking to buy a Concept I suggest you go look at some used Concepts and see what you think. Maybe my boat was just a bad build because I hear of many people loving their Concept.

That's what I'm thinking...everybody I talk to loves theirs.

I Love Mine And Shes For Sale For a NewOne