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2021 Yamaha 25 Series Factory Quality Control?

TwoSips

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Year
2021
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252SE
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Hey 2021 Yammy 25 Series owners, has anyone found a bevy of a lack of quality control on the boats or could I potentially be a whiny rookie first time boat owner.

For example:
  • Missing Marine Mat in two locations
  • Missing crappy factory provided ice chest
  • Really poorly finished or cut routing holes
  • Mountains of sharp fiberglass pieces left all over the place
  • Carpeting not fully glued in storage locations
This is just a sample of what my dealership is dealing with when it comes to Yamaha. Frankly, I'm stunned for my very first boat, and an $80K+ boat at that, that it is so poorly finished and ultimately sent from the factory to the consumer in that condition. The mere fact that they SEVERELY slashed factory warranty gives me the impression they believe they don't have to care about quality.

Easy to blame the dealership, but they've been exceptionally communicative and diligent on correcting everything, but even after they correct, they notice other serious issues!

Pretty bummed about Yamaha "Quality" so far...
 

NewBoater

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Sorry to hear that. I figured they would be slipping up on builds with covid and trying to get caught back up. I wish you all the best with your new boat and I hope they get it fixed and it provides years of enjoyment for you!
 

mrcleanr6

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obviously missing marine mat would not be normal. the boats dont come with the mats installed from the factory. they are usually wrapped up or stuffed under a seat somewhere and the dealership snaps them in place. at some point along the line a couple were misplaced somewhere. not hard to remedy that situation. the dealer should be able to get the replacements in a few days. i wouldnt sweat that one and i wouldnt call this a qualits control issue. just one of those things that happens

missing cooler, a while back i heard that was one item that yamaha was having trouble getting. at this point why hold up a boat delivery over a cooler. give the customer their boat and get them the cooler later when it comes in. that makes sense to me. dealer should be on top of getting you one as soon as available. between you and me though, they are not the best coolers anyway. even the engle that came with my 275 was small and compared to a yeti its pretty crappy. thats the first thing to go when the season starts for me.

yamaha as well as most small boats dont usually have really nice finished edges on openings. should they be nice...absolutely but i dont think your going to start seeing really nice finished edges until you get into the upper end boat mfg's. while 80k is alot, its the low end for a boat. our cheapest boat starts at about 350k and all the cut edges on glass that is visible are all sanded and gelcoat brushed on them after the cut. no raw glass is visible BUT of course now your paying for a bot of that level.

the fiberglass pieces all over is something you will get on any new boat build from most mfg's. tons of crap always gets dropped in the bilges during construction and gets caught in that cheap ass grey carpeting they line the storage compartments with. name of the game. tip the tongue of the trailer way up and get in the boat with a hose. start up front and flush all that crap back out the drain plug.

loose carpeting, i hear ya. the storage compartments should be better
 

1WetBoat

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Not sure if you read my post, but when I received my boat it had what looked like to be overspray over just about every surface. Took dealer several days to clean it all out. Scupper drain had a loose clamp on the deck side, not the stern side. Just found out there was a loose crimp on the engine harness today.
I was as thorough as I could be, looked in engine compartment, cleanout hatch looking for anything loose or missing. Looked under helm to make sure none of the electronics where in disarray. Not much left over fiberglass in the bilge. Granted, it might show up later after running her for a bit since things tend to move around. Other than that, nothing else was missing or loose on the boat.

Dealer took care of all items minus the loose crimp prior to delivery.
 

Wicked92

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not making me feel warm and fuzzy as i wait for my 255xd
 

1WetBoat

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not making me feel warm and fuzzy as i wait for my 255xd
I wouldn't freak out too much. Just make sure you are educated on the boat you are buying and check it out along with the dealer. I wasn't expecting a $300k boat when I bought mine. Do I expect it to be free of all defects? Of course, i'm still paying good money for mine. However, I also knew the weird times were going through today and that this isn't normal. If possible get a water check with your dealer to shake her up good prior to taking delivery.

Either way I love my boat and cant say enough good things about the way Yamaha and the Dealer have been with me.
 

mrcleanr6

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i would say the few items that 1wetboat had were more quality control issues and im glad they took care of them and made you feel good about the purchase. in the end thats what its about. i have been in the boat industry all my life and i can say that unless your buying a little carolina skiff, there isnt a boat out there made from any manufacturer where after one to two months of use, the owner doesnt have some type of small punchlist of items that needs to be taken care of. in fact, the more expensive the boat, usually the bigger the punch list. boats are not made on an assembly line with robots like cars. they are hand made so there are going to be issues that need to be addressed on all of them. i had a couple items on my 275. nothing big and actually i was quite surprised the list wasnt longer.
 

PatrickKolby

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My 2021 212SE was finished very nicely (I feel lucky). Only issue is one bubble on gel coat, Connext screen not logging engine hours.

😌😌😌
 

TwoSips

Jet Boat Lover
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Daphne, AL
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obviously missing marine mat would not be normal. the boats dont come with the mats installed from the factory. they are usually wrapped up or stuffed under a seat somewhere and the dealership snaps them in place. at some point along the line a couple were misplaced somewhere. not hard to remedy that situation. the dealer should be able to get the replacements in a few days. i wouldnt sweat that one and i wouldnt call this a qualits control issue. just one of those things that happens

missing cooler, a while back i heard that was one item that yamaha was having trouble getting. at this point why hold up a boat delivery over a cooler. give the customer their boat and get them the cooler later when it comes in. that makes sense to me. dealer should be on top of getting you one as soon as available. between you and me though, they are not the best coolers anyway. even the engle that came with my 275 was small and compared to a yeti its pretty crappy. thats the first thing to go when the season starts for me.

yamaha as well as most small boats dont usually have really nice finished edges on openings. should they be nice...absolutely but i dont think your going to start seeing really nice finished edges until you get into the upper end boat mfg's. while 80k is alot, its the low end for a boat. our cheapest boat starts at about 350k and all the cut edges on glass that is visible are all sanded and gelcoat brushed on them after the cut. no raw glass is visible BUT of course now your paying for a bot of that level.

the fiberglass pieces all over is something you will get on any new boat build from most mfg's. tons of crap always gets dropped in the bilges during construction and gets caught in that cheap ass grey carpeting they line the storage compartments with. name of the game. tip the tongue of the trailer way up and get in the boat with a hose. start up front and flush all that crap back out the drain plug.

loose carpeting, i hear ya. the storage compartments should be better
Definitely appreciate the feedback. The issue with the Marine Mats were that they were missing in places that they would have been glued down. 4 of them had really ugly scratches and scuffs that made it look used. The dealer was already dealing with this when we moved forward with the purchase. The dealership has been great! And you are right, for $80K that's "low end" for a boat, but I would think that Yamaha would put better care, concern and love into a brand new line of products.

After ranting on social media, Yamaha contacted me and told me to call their customer relations line. That was... Not a pleasant experience to say the least. I was lectured that I should have done a better job during the delivery inspection phase of looking for issues and then do a better job of holding the dealership accountable. That kind of stunned me. While I maintained my composure and got the conversation back down to earth, it didn't leave me with the best feelings of how confident they are that they put out an overall quality product.

I will say this as a part of the positives. The boat performs flawlessly. It's in for it's 10. We're already building great memories with family and friends. I think I was taken aback (and so was the dealership) at how much stuff went unchecked prior to sending it out to the end user!
 

TwoSips

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not making me feel warm and fuzzy as i wait for my 255xd
I think dealership is everything in these situations. I know someone commented that their experience with Yamaha has been great and for that I'm actually glad someone has. I did not.

The boat performs beautifully and I don't think it's a garbage product, it's just a matter of holding Yamaha accountable via the dealership.
 

jocolo21

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Before taking delivery of my 252se, i saw a bubble on the snap on seadeck , it wasn't laying flat. The dealer had another 252 so took it from the other and sent it back for warranty
 
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212s

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The mere fact that they SEVERELY slashed factory warranty
Is the warranty different for the 25 footers? I understand it's 10/3/1 years for hull/parts/engine?
Pretty bummed about Yamaha "Quality" so far...
I learned a long time ago not to buy the first year of a new model of anything...part of the learning curve for production. Building during WuFlu didn't help either I'm guessing.

We bought a model that was built in February just before the pandemic hit and overall fit and finish were good. Based on reports here I was expecting a lot more issues, but so far only a couple minor issues like loose nuts and a seat lock that didn't secure properly. Either we were lucky, or people just complain about issues - that's normal I guess...the happy ones have nothing to say.
:D
 

tkeru408

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I think I fall into that category of 'happy ones that have nothing to say'. Our 252SE was part of the very first production batch of the new 25 footers; it was, delivered to our dealer on September 10th and we brought it home a couple days later. I don't know if it got extra QC checks since it was the first batch off the production line or what, but we haven't had any issues with it so far (except a minor glue squeeze out issue around one cupholder that took me a pocketknife and 30 seconds to resolve). Knock on wood that no other problems crop up.

Sorry to hear that others have had some quality issues with their new boats, hopefully the dealer or factory can get them taken care of.
 

marcham

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It's not unusual for a 500 000$ boat to go through several days of commissioning and from that a punch list is drawn up for the dealer to rectify. The same is true on smaller boats. But we have very few systems on board so most issues are cosmetic. This, unfortunately, is a normal part of boat ownership.

I did the 10hr check. 60 mins for oil change, check plugs and lube a few spots, then 2 hrs of crawling through the boat, tightening clamps, screws, anodes, vacuuming construction scraps, checking wiring for chafe, etc... well worth it IMHO.
 

TwoSips

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It's not unusual for a 500 000$ boat to go through several days of commissioning and from that a punch list is drawn up for the dealer to rectify. The same is true on smaller boats. But we have very few systems on board so most issues are cosmetic. This, unfortunately, is a normal part of boat ownership.

I did the 10hr check. 60 mins for oil change, check plugs and lube a few spots, then 2 hrs of crawling through the boat, tightening clamps, screws, anodes, vacuuming construction scraps, checking wiring for chafe, etc... well worth it IMHO.
Completely appreciate that. I think, I was treating it just a like car. HAHAHA! But that makes A LOT of sense and gives me a lot of encouragement!
 

RobbieO

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Hey 2021 Yammy 25 Series owners, has anyone found a bevy of a lack of quality control on the boats or could I potentially be a whiny rookie first time boat owner.

For example:
  • Missing Marine Mat in two locations
  • Missing crappy factory provided ice chest
  • Really poorly finished or cut routing holes
  • Mountains of sharp fiberglass pieces left all over the place
  • Carpeting not fully glued in storage locations
This is just a sample of what my dealership is dealing with when it comes to Yamaha. Frankly, I'm stunned for my very first boat, and an $80K+ boat at that, that it is so poorly finished and ultimately sent from the factory to the consumer in that condition. The mere fact that they SEVERELY slashed factory warranty gives me the impression they believe they don't have to care about quality.

Easy to blame the dealership, but they've been exceptionally communicative and diligent on correcting everything, but even after they correct, they notice other serious issues!

Pretty bummed about Yamaha "Quality" so far...
I don't know what's going on in their factory in Tennessee, but yes, I've had some miner issues. The bilge pump was completely filled with "sharp fiberglass shavings", and I have to vacuum out the bilge. A lot of small issues. The fuse box cover will not go on because it's mounted to close to the hull. The fire extinguisher bracket is already broke. It's a POS, I'm installing a different one. I'm a Diesel/Hybrid bus mechanic so I notice a lot of stuff, like hoses rubbing against engine components, chaffing issues, fasteners that were never secured, wiring dangling etc. It's a great boat, but yes, quality control issues. The dealer said they needed a week to prep the boat before delivery, they didn't do a good QC job. I haven't launched it yet, hope it floats.
 

NewGuy

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I don't know what's going on in their factory in Tennessee, but yes, I've had some miner issues. The bilge pump was completely filled with "sharp fiberglass shavings", and I have to vacuum out the bilge. A lot of small issues. The fuse box cover will not go on because it's mounted to close to the hull. The fire extinguisher bracket is already broke. It's a POS, I'm installing a different one. I'm a Diesel/Hybrid bus mechanic so I notice a lot of stuff, like hoses rubbing against engine components, chaffing issues, fasteners that were never secured, wiring dangling etc. It's a great boat, but yes, quality control issues. The dealer said they needed a week to prep the boat before delivery, they didn't do a good QC job. I haven't launched it yet, hope it floats.
Some of this is concerning, but your dealer didn't do their job at all. Having worked at a rather sizable marina in the past (admittedly a long time ago), there were always issues with new boats no matter the manufacturer that our rigging department was responsible for correcting. Fiberglass shavings, fuse box remount, fire ex bracket etc., would fall under the marina (that's boat prep). Hoses and wiring harnesses don't need to leave the factory like that, but still, the marina needs to review before the boat is delivered. I do recall a high volume year when the marina I was working at had a number of boats come through (entire shipment from Chris Craft) and we actually rejected the whole lot (uncured gelcoat, carpets not cut right, missing bits here and there, etc.). The next boats we received were all perfect. It pays to have a dealer with clout.
 

Bayou boater

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Sorry to hear that you had issues.

I am happy and perhaps lucky that I did not have any issues and the boat seemed to be put together well.
 

RobbieO

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Sorry to hear that you had issues.

I am happy and perhaps lucky that I did not have any issues and the boat seemed to be put together well.
Yes, my boat is definitely well built, but I'm picky, so I notice everything. No big issues.
 

marcham

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I don't know what's going on in their factory in Tennessee, but yes, I've had some miner issues. The bilge pump was completely filled with "sharp fiberglass shavings", and I have to vacuum out the bilge. A lot of small issues. The fuse box cover will not go on because it's mounted to close to the hull. The fire extinguisher bracket is already broke. It's a POS, I'm installing a different one. I'm a Diesel/Hybrid bus mechanic so I notice a lot of stuff, like hoses rubbing against engine components, chaffing issues, fasteners that were never secured, wiring dangling etc. It's a great boat, but yes, quality control issues. The dealer said they needed a week to prep the boat before delivery, they didn't do a good QC job. I haven't launched it yet, hope it floats.
:Welcome: Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new boat!

95% of what you mention are normal new boat commissioning issues.... a new boat is not like a new car. This is why the 10 hr inspection is so important. 2 hrs crawling through the boat will save you headaches 100 hrs from now. Honestly, I don’t think the dealer mechanic will have as much attention to detail as the owner would.

For the fiberglass and metal shavings, I put the boat on the trailer at a slight angle and used a water hose to move everything to the stern. I then just vacuumed what didn't come out the drains. It's impossible to get to all the bits just with a vacuum.

The fire extinguisher is most likely dealer installed....

I find it hard to believe that a dealer would have spent a week doing a PDI. What they probably meant was that they could get to it in one week. Then they probably charged the battery, started the engine and cleaned it inside and out.

I've looked at a LOT of boats over the years and generally, the quality, fit and finish and attention to detail from Yamaha, given the price point, is well above industry average.

If you want to see some really shabby work take a hard look at how travel trailers and 5th wheels are designed and assembled....
 
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