Thanks for clearing things up. I have never met you but I do have respect for what you have done . Keep up the good work.

David

I'll start by saying I don't know anyone at Pantera. I don't know much about there company or their historical business practices. What I do know is the pain and suffering caused by putting a lot of money towards a custom boat and not EVER getting one.

Back in '94 -95 I ordered a custom boat from a comapany that had been building boats for over 10 years. Areo Tek was the builder. I was one of the unfortunate few who was swindled by the owner at the end of the existance of this company. He had gotten to a point where he was taking deposits to be able to finish others boats. Well we all know how that ends up. Just like the old pyramid scemes the ones at the bottom are the people that get screwed. This guy even went so far as to send my bank an MSO and builders certificate with serial numbers of boat and motors in order for the bank to release the funds to him. I'm from Wis and he was in Sarasota Fl so i took the documentations and a carefully staged photo as evedince that my boat was completed. Needless to say i never got a boat and he walked away with 90 k from the bank. I settled with the bank and lost over 50 k myself. 4 yrs later when I decided on a having another boat built I aproched many custom builders. Only one said he would build my boat for no money down, knowing what I had been thru ough before. The boat was completed and oly 3 weeks late because the painter didn't get to doing his job on time. We went out for a sea trial then back to the factory at which time I called my back and they wired him the money. I know most custom builders need some sort of deposit to work off of so if i was to do it again I would expect to put some money up front.

My point is this, any company can have difficulties at any time. If It was me in this situation with the boat months behind in delivery from the agreed time, I would be starting to get very anxsious myself. But then agian I've been on the very worst side of what can happen with custom builders.

Just my story, don't know anything about Pantera.

Todd

Nuff said......end of thread.

After posting my sad story then reading what Jo wrote it sounds like you guys have nothing to fear. This the kind of thing that I never got from Areo Tek. I'm also guessing that Jo has an open door policy for customers to come and see the build process. I know Active THunder did while my Active Thunder was being built. The guy at Aero Tek always made you have an appointment. There was just no dropping in on him to see how things were going. He had his place locked up tighter than Fort Knox.

Good luck to all of you and I'm sure you'll all be satisfied in the end.

Jo thank you for the post. I would still like to hear from the owner Dominic.
By the way,Too Old tried to keep this from getting out of hand and it did. That is why Steve has moderators on the board Fred being one of them.

In 2000, I had a 24ft Pantera built and it was a few months late. I paid approximately 80% up front. I can tell you from my personal experience that it was well worth the wait. Because I live close to the factory, I was able to witness some of the things Pantera does that makes there product great and can also attribute to the boat not being done on time. I went to visit my boat in production numerous times and I too was getting a little nervous. With my model 24, we had the larger cockpit with the v-shaped ferring and plexiglass winshield. Pepe decided it was time to make the entire ferring glass because he thought it not only would look better, but it would hold up to the test of time much better. He had to build and tool a mold for this and the results are 1000 times better than I had hoped for(no extra charge). Another time I visited and my original dash wich I thought looked great, was totally changed and looked unbelievable. Pepe said that Jo and him thought it just didn't look right so they redid it. They could have left t the way it was because I was happy with it but they weren't. The point I am trying to make is that they agonize over every detail on every boat and unfortunately they run behind schedule because of it. I have brought the boat back for some warranty work for some minor stuff as a result of racing and I have had wonderful support from them. I asked Jo for a price to build me a race hatch one time when I left the boat for some service work and when I came to pick it up, the hatch was done and they didn't even charge me for it. Jo said it was a gift from Pantera for getting out there and racing and showing off my Pantera.
Sure they could probably get their boat done a little faster and all builders have there difficulty's, but one thing they will NOT sacrifice is quality. If the do not like the way something looks at any stage of completion, it is redone(and their standards are very high)

I am sorry to ramble and I know what you guys are thinking because I was in your shoes. Let me tell you that you may get your boat later than expected but you will also get it better than expected and you will never find a boat in there price range that compares in terms of quality and warranty. It would be tough to find one at any price range that compares as well either.

[QUOTE] Originally posted by WildThing
"Oh by the way, in case anyone cares, it is paid in full too. "




No, he really didn't JO!! ---- Anyway Happy Brithday to You. Charlene

The moral is, 2 sides to EVERY story...

Keep up the good work Jo and family, in todays game its a rare occurrence.

Dean

So how many other factory's have you been to to compare to velocity's. If you are looking for a Winston Cup garage you are not going to find it at any boat building plant. I have been to the plant several times find the people to be very helpful and very friendly. The guys in the shop are always very busy and working on a lot of boats at one time. I don't really understand why another manufacture was brought into this thread.

I'm glad to finally get both sides of the story.