I neighbor of mine just bought a 22' Shockwave. He went to pick it up and the saleman said, "do you have any questions?" ....that's it!!
He never showed him around the boat, gave him a quick lesson on procedures to use the boat, gave him an idea of what safety equipment needed, etc...

No wonder why we have so many boaters on the water having accidents these days. I know not all manufacturers are doing this, but alot of them are. The marine industry should wake up and smell the coffee. Every year it's getting harder to boat with restrictions, etc....

ABSOLUTELY. Every customer of my dealership gets UNLIMITED time with a uniformed, trained captain. The process includes "first day" delivery with an emphasis on the particular boat and basic safety and hands-on running the boat for 1-3 hours. The next "class is on docking, trailer loading, putting gas in etc. The third one is on navigation and to cover any areas the customer is not clear about. This usually totals 8-10 hours of training before we really "let" the customer just take off. For real high-powered stuff I will take them to the factory for hands-on Reggie training (100 MPH+). Dealers who just give someone the keys should be held just as liable as the operator if a problem occurs.

Whew! My .02!!

While it is cool that your higher end dealers like Bill go the extra mile... I think that it is the buyer's responsibility to learn safe boating skills and practice them.

It's still a nice touch when certain dealers do this.

A buddy of mine has been selling runabouts and skis for years. Awhile back he took a new job at another dealership. On the day of delivery for the first boat he sold there, he came in and hooked the boat up to his own truck. They thought he was nuts and asked what he was doing. Not one person at that dealership even had an interest in going out on the water...EVER. They couldn't believe he was going to water deliver the boat. (And they wonder why they went out of business a few years later)

So let me ask you this:

Do you think there is a viable market for a person with good boat handling skills (such as myself) to start a business that would allow boat dealers to "hire out" the delivery process? I don't have a captains license, but would be willing to get one if that's what it took.

Think about it... all the dealer would have to do is contact me (or whomever) to do the delivery... handle all the training, etc... with no liabllity to the dealer? Does anyone thing this could turn into a viable job market? I could see a small service like this being busy from ice out to
Christmas around here!

I see your point, but when you buy a car they dont teach you how to drive it.

What about when you buy a used boat?

I think its the responsiblity of the driver.

I don't like the government to interfere in my life anymore than they already do. That being said, I believe that you should be required to have a license to drive a boat. No different than a car or motorcycle. And you have to pass tests to acquire these. In some states boating violations go against your drivers licenses anyway.

Just my opinion.

Foul that may be an idea to look inot but at the same time do YOU want the liability if they were to do something wrong and blame you for something you may have forgot to tell them? Theres TONS of things that happen on the water that you can only get from experience you wouldnt be able to teach people in just a few hours of opperation.

On a side note.....i believe that they should make it mandatory to go through the powersquadron saftey course before they let you get insurance on a boat...that would atleast give newbies a good overview of thinngs to come....

Since neither foul or I can keep a boat running and in the water, maybe we should get our captain's licenses and drive YOUR boats.

I don't want the liability of training newbies.... but I would be very happy transporting cruisers to and from Florida for old people.

Sorry... just dreaming.

Since your talking boating.....does that make it WET DREAMING?