Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Wowchad,
Which one did you get and where is it coming from?

Rick

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

I've been looking at the Scanda's but could not find one, in my price range, that lasted long enough to schdule a trip to look at it. Most of those are in CO AZ CA etc.
I found a 1999 22' in Michigan for around 20k and put a deposit on it last week. I was supposed to pick it up on Saturday but the underwriter at the bank is out until the 16th :(

I hope this will keep my rather large, but young family happy until the price on a used Rage drops some.

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

DRAGON SLAYER.......You sure you weren't looking at a NOR-TECH instead of a NORDIC.....common problem these days :D

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Wowchad,
Congrats with your new boat. Hope you get a chance to get some time on it before the snow flys. That should be a nice boat.

Rick

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Rick what kind of boat are you running?
I'm guessing mostly Chain of Lakes....
I'm only 8 minutes from the Lake Michigan launch at Bender Park but with a 22 foot boat you can't venture out far!
I also run a 1997 21' Challenger jet boat and would love to make it down to The Chain one of these Thursday nights.

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

We have a 35 Flame and keep it in drystake at Northpoint Marina on Lake Michigan. We use to run the Chain (about 18yrs worth) but with this boat we stay on the big lake. It is a nice boat and we have had great times with it. We are thinking about selling it and moving up to something a little bigger. If you know anyone looking for a 35 send them over.

Rick

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Well. I have to say Dragon Slayer got this forum going. It has been very dead but it appears more people are looking at it than posting in it.

I find it interesting that Dragon Slayer is in Mira Loma, Eliminators home town??? I been to that place just to visit Eliminator. Very nice people who work there and the boats are very nice. As far as your comment on the plywood I have the following to comment. I had a Velocity for the past five years, they used this white plastic board that would never riot. That was great from that aspect, but you could not keep screws in it. every time I boated in rough water, I would find a screw in the floor. So there is a trade off in every boat. I have Gary's old 35. It only had one nick in it. I looked at it harder after your comment on the gel thickness. It has over 1/8" of gel. I do not know of any paint that thick.

Hustled, Covers are not designed to be fish ponds, maybe you should try putting some poles in the cockpit. Also, you claimed you keep your Nordic inside other than the one week. If so, even home plywood would not riot. Sounds like after your cover broke you just left it outside for the weather to get to it. Your comment on the door motor, I was looking around my boat to see how things were done. It is only five screws to get to the door motor through the cabin. Took me only five minutes to get them off. I will agree with you & Dragon Slayer that Nordic's public relations leave a lot to be desired. I have giving up on getting any help from them. A good friend has a 388. There are very nice boats. He just had his bottom reconditioned due to nicks in the gel coat. At first he thought a lot was his fault, not hitting the trailer right while loading and unloading. After they got to work on the bottom, they found voids in many other spots that was starting to do the same. The company that did the repair on it for him tapped the entire bottom, cut out all the voids, spayed on new gel and polished it out. It looks like new. That cost him about 3K. By the way, if you run Gary, you better have more than 525's or you will be disappointed.

All boats have there set of problems. How well you take care of a boat will limit your problems. I have been very happy with the quality of the Nordic. Seems to be better than east coast boats. Maybe my problems have not come yet. A person I know just got a new Top Gun. He has had numerous problems. Go on the Active Thunder forum, look at Sydways comments. He has had problems. All boats have problems. I think every boat mentioned in this forum are very nice boats and probably will have some kind of problem.

Thanks to all who have gotten the forum going one way or another. Hopefully I have not insulated anyone, if so accept my apology. I did make some stabs though.

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

A lot has to do with the type of waters you run in. I sold mine because I don't think it would have held up in my waters after a few more years. Comparing the Nordic to the east coast designs, there is no comparison in the ride or solidness of the boat in rougher water. For lake/river conditions and occasional chop, the boat is fine.

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Being that I'm going from a Baja to a Nordic, how would you compare the Rage to a 25' Outlaw?
I'm guessing you're saying the East coast builders make a solid boat compared to a Nordic? (If boating offshore)

My wife had a good point on resale, being that Baja's are more common around here (Milw., WI), we would probably get more for it used.
I've been looking at 232 Islanders and sure can't find a 2000 with only 66 hours on it for the price we're getting this Nordic 22' for!

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Indy,
I am not sure how it will hold up in real rough water on a regular basis. I don't think any do well under that. I would have an old barge style boat if I was in 4-5 footers all the time. I probably would give up boating if all I had was 4-5 foot water. Getting beat to death is not my idea of fun. Besides,it spills your beverages.

The 37 Active Thunder is a real good all around rough water boat from what I have seen. A friend of mine has one but he still has stuff falling loose and that kind of stuff.

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You go Linnie!!!

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Wowchad...I've never been on either so I can't be much help there. Please don't get me wrong about the construction of the Nordic...it's high quality, the design is just not as good for my waters as the offshore designs. They still use good materials and take great care laminating the boat. I've never looked inside a Baja, but from what I hear from friends that have been in them, they're not as well built as the Nordic

Linnie...I don't go running in 4' or 5' if I can help it, it's not that much fun for me either. However, the Cigs, Apaches, Pantera's etc. I've been on hold up just fine in the rough. Sorry about your buddy's AT...they seem like nice boats.

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Wowchad...I am the first to admit i know nothing about Nordic, except what i read about in Powerboat Mag. That said, i do know alot about Baja, as i am on my third. I just traded in my '95 and there was no sign of stress anywhere on the hull. The gel looked like the day it left the factory. This boat was not beat on but no babied either. It has been through some pretty rough stuff, both on my lake and the 1000 Islands. For a 22' it handled the slop pretty well...within reason. As for your saying you have seen many Baja's with signs of stress after 10-12 years, i suppose it depends on how these rigs were run. Baja is the biggest selling line in my area, and i can honestly say i've never seen the condition your speaking of. I'm not saying you haven't seen this, i'm just saying i haven't. Any boat, regardless of manufacturer, that is abused will eventually show it's weeknesses. As for the Rage vs. 25 Outlaw question...it's not an apples to apples comparison. The Rage has a relatively flat bottom at 22 degrees...the outlaw is 24 degrees. The Outlaw also is a much heavier boat. On flat water with similar power the Nordic no doubt will be faster. Once the water gets stirred up, the Outlaw will be in it's element. I'm sure the Nordic is a very well built boat. I just wanted to chime in with my .02 on the Baja. The bottom line is get what you like and hit the water with your family.

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jjh3 you bring a good point to this disscussion about offshore capability.

For now this Nordic is a good boat for me being on a 500 acre lake. When I decide to hit the bigger water of Lake Michigan I didn't realize the bottom on the Rage was that shallow. I suppose even a 25' would be too small anyway, but do the larger Nordic's have a better bottom for the rough stuff?
My comment on the Baja's gel coat was from personal experiance on my 20' Outlaw and a neighbors 208 Islander. Both boats are mid to late 90's models and both suffered terrible gel coat cracks. This is from use on our small 500 acre lake!! Mabey they put more effort into their larger boats, but you said yours was only a 22' and didn't have the same problem.....
I would love to buy a stripped 30-32' Baja on ebay and stick a diesel into it with a surface drive!

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jjh3...good points. I don't know much about Baja, are the hulls hand laminated? What type of resins to they use??

Wowchad, the bigger Nordics have a pad at the stern and are 24 degrees. However, the entry angles are not aggressive. The Nordic is perfect for your waters.

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Wowchad...it sucks that you know of two Baja's that have had that problem with the hull. I have heard that the quality control of the line has gotten alot better over the years. Mine were a '90, '95 and 2004. Maybe i just got lucky and you guys did not. These a machines built by human hands, and anything can go wrong. I've had better luck with new boats than i have with new trucks. The Nordic is a great choice for the water you boat on. I'm unfamiliar with the area but you should shred it up.
Indy..i know the Baja's are hand-laid, but as to the types of resins, glass, etc., i can't speak to that. As i said, i have been very happy with my previous two, and after 14 hours on my new one, i can say i am extremely pleased so far. 24'5''...4,000lbs...496 Mag...64.4 on gps. Not the fastest on the water, but i didn't buy it to be.

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

We boat in the Chesapeake Bay a few times a year. I have never been to the big lakes up north but from what I read, they look like on a windy day, they can get crappy. The Chesapeake is the same. On any given day the water on the Bay can change. A good day is 1 to 1-1/2 footers. I've been caught in 6 footers out there. It get as bad as 8 to 10 footers. These are not rollers either, a very hard chop.

I do not know much about the smaller Nordics, but I can say this about the 35. It is a deep V without a pad. In 3 footers going up the Bay it did good. I had to put the tabs down 3.5 lines and only trim up the drives 1.5 lines on the indicators. It lands soft in that type of water. The good thing about the Nordic is the bow will lift for fast speed. In bigger water that is not good because the boat wants to try to launch off the waves. You need to play with the settings to get any boat to handle well in rough water. Have good tabs is a must if that is what you may want to do.
I am a fan of the larger Baja's. The 33 Outlaw is a very nice boat. It will attach rougher water a little better than the Nordic, but is not as fast because it is truly a V bottom. A Fountain on the other hand is a very wet cockpit in rough water. You will get wet.
The answer you are looking for is not clean cut. I would evaluate the costs, decide your use, and pick one you like. I choose the Nordic because there is not one within four states of me. Also I only boat in the Bay a couple of times a year so speed was more important. Remember that length overcomes waves on all boats. Where we are,I had a Velocity. When I got mine it was three. Now there are 15 and selling one is difficult.

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Wowchad,
It has been a while since I have posted in the Nordic forums, but here is my opinion.

I have a 2001 Nordic Heat (closed bow), we run it on the lakes, delta and SF bay in California. The big rivers of the delta can get very snotty, and this little 28 will run with everything in it's class.

As RV has said you have the little rattles and need to keep everything buttoned down after those runs, we call the screw parties! Tighten every screw. Now with that stated their is some good and bad to the Nordic. It is a very stable boat, but not quite as fast as say the Warlock counterpart.

A very good friend of mine has a 25 Warlock that he races as well. The boat has held up, but after only 3 season had to have major reconstruction work done this last offseason. To be fair, he drives this Warlock much harder than I drive the Nordic. I use the batboat in the real rough stuff these days.

If you are looking for a good all around boat, you cannot go wrong with the Nordic. From your post I suspect that you boat with a young family. If that is the case and you take them in the real rough stuff, you should slow down to a point where the boat would not take a beating anyways.

I have buddies with boats from all of the west coast manufacturers and the Nodic is as good as any, and bang for the buck... second to none.

We are very good friends with the Lavey guys, all great guys and build an incredible boat, but the cost difference between the Nordic and the Lavey is huge.

Eliminators are good boats and I know Bob Leach stands behind his product, I could give you details of how he took care of an out of warranty boat that had some problems (he replaced it with a new boat, yes I said it was out of warranty).

In the end all of the "west coast" customs are good boats, and don't buy into that east coast boats are better built for the rough. The only people who say that have not been offshore at Hunnington Beach or Ventura. Trust me, the Eliminators, Warlocks and Lavey's can run with any east coast boat at anytime.

But also bear in mind, the Nordic is built to be a lake boat that can handle the rough.

I have attached a picture of the Nordic and our race boat that we run with Pacific Offshore.

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

I pick up my 22' Sprint tomorrow. :D :D :D
I've heard that east coast boats do better in the really rough stuff, like offshore, do to their steeper V's. West coast boats are flatter until you get into the really big stuff, (over 30'.)

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

For some reason I am finding the need to defend the west coast boats.

Not including the Nordic, I would put the Warlock and LaveyCraft against any east coast under 30' boat. The 2750 NuEra is an awesome boat in the rough.

I have seen these boats run with the best of them in the roughest water there is at the highest speeds. It was not but a couple of years ago the only boat to have in F1 was a Warlock. Then the Activator came on the scene and ruled, now the 2750 Lavey can run with the Activator any day.

Last weekend I watched a 25' Warlock with a 575 run side by side with a 30' Extreme SVL (the 2 time SVL world champion) in a race. So I will not buy that there are west coast boats every bit as good in the rough as their east coast counterparts.

Then again, we can beat all of them in our little 24' bat boat.

The only point I was trying to make is that you do not have to buy an east coast boat to get true offshore performance, in under 30' both Warlock and LaveyCraft can deliver in a manner matched by only 1 east coast boat (Activator).

There is no better proving ground than the races. Poker Runs do not count nor does the Sunday drive across the bay, if you lift in a Poker Run you are the only one who knows. You lift when racing and it gets shoved down your throat very quickly!!!

Rick

Re: Nordic Quality?
 

I appreciate the feed back.
I'm in a Eastcoast world and went searching for a west coast custom for a reason.....well more than one actually.

I've never even seen one, (other than than the old jet boats my pals have) and I put a blind deposit on a Nordic due to all the rave I've heard about west coast build quality!