My Yamaha 255xd experience so far......

[ChrisM]

Have you bought a new camper, or RV lately?
Your Yamaha would look like a fine swiss watch movement compared to them. Hopefully you used a credit card for deposit or down payment, prep fees, of which you can file a claim against if needed. Some form of large credit card payment is a common practice for me for any large purchase. BUT as mentioned above you have to take a deep breath, make a complete punch list, and return to the dealer preferably with the boat to show all the issues you have found. Honestly the dealer is as much to blame for lack of QC on the prep portion as the manufacture is on the production. When I took delivery of my Vortex, I noticed the steering wheel was not straight tracked with the nozzles, despite the dealer having done a test drive and any prep I was charged for. I was asked to bring it back for the adjustment, needless to say, my final signature was withheld until they had someone that Saturday come out and correct it.

On a side note,,,,, I bought a brand new 2019 T/T December 2018. The dealer was in MI, some 11.5 hours away. After a moderate shake down and my pride dented after finding many fit and finish issues, I used it 2 months later in February. The morning of day 3, my last day there I smelled something strong, almost like chemical, or mild ammonia like, from the under bed storage accessible from the outside baggage door, and where I keep 1Lb propane bottles, but just couldn't identify it. A week or so later I added a fancy surge protector with bells and whistles, the shore power cord needed to be connected to this first, then it's output fed the camper. Well, this is when I and how I learned of my strong odor.
The one place (under my head) I never got to check, or just assumed would be fine, and this is what I see.

 

[Mesa50]

Mine was the same on the trailer. I changed the bow roller and moved the winch arm back a few inches the last time I was out. It’s only about an inch over the back of the bunk boards now. Now I’m worried about tongue weight. Not sure how much it weighs, but I can’t pick it up, so I hope it’s okay. It slides right off the trailer. I back down until both fenders are covered, then pull forward a tiny bit, then back up a bout a foot and tap the brakes. I also spray the bunk boards with silicone every 2 or 3 trips. It really helps a lot.

 

[Stevepro172]

I agree with everyone Yamaha QC needs to get better but I will say my 2018 AR240 had/has no issues. Am I just lucky? Hopefully not. However if my AR240 had that many issue I would NOT have taken ownership of it! Love this website and the info it provides. New buyers take notice and be aware. If more people refuse to take ownership after a good walkaround things will change. As others of said, every boat is just about sold so Yamaha and the dealers (and I fault the dealer as well on this one because they should have rejected the boat as well) and they are just making easy money and screwing the buyer which will hurt them long term. Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.

 

[Mesa50]

Seems like the hyper increased demand for boats and everything else during covid, has caused quality issues for every type of industry.

 

[HangOutdoors]

@Stevepro172 More people, i doubt, will refuse to take ownership. There is someone else in line who will take it and there are no other boats to be found. Nor do I see people leaving their boat at the dealership after they have signed the paperwork refusing to take it home, while it sits for weeks while calls back and forth are being made. Unfortunately, this is how it is now, and I don't see much change. Unless Inventory, both new and used, increases substantially where they have to up their game and QA, or possibly Yamaha gets some serious competition. Of course a big recession could also have an effect.

I don't agree with any of the poor Quality though, I would like to see a very large improvement.

 

[Julian]

Bummer about the QC issues. Keep in mind that your boat sat on a trailer getting rattled to hell though the mountains on its way to you. Your dealer should have gone through that boat with a fine tooth comb. Mine took 2 weeks prepping mine, and yes, they missed a few things that they took care of later. I was amazed at how your dealer shrugged at the steering issue. My dealer is top notch and has some real experts on Yamahas.

 

[Wicked92]

Bummer about the QC issues. Keep in mind that your boat sat on a trailer getting rattled to hell though the mountains on its way to you. Your dealer should have gone through that boat with a fine tooth comb. Mine took 2 weeks prepping mine, and yes, they missed a few things that they took care of later. I was amazed at how your dealer shrugged at the steering issue. My dealer is top notch and has some real experts on Yamahas.

the techs did a great job fixing and getting it situated, they were the ones that demanded i leave it as they knew it wasnt going to be a quick fix. They put it thru warranty, which they should as yammy should be paying for these fuck ups.

The issue is the sales people dont know the ins and out of things, i come from a performance automotive background, Im overly anal when it comes to things because in my industry, in performance automotive, things have to top notch.

The cosmetics just is sloppy workmanship. We made a punch list yesterday while its in the driveway. Water test more thorough this week as weather permits.

This is what i have so far..........
*blue overspray on bump rails stern location
*starboard side of bow has a white drain i think not even flush with the body, im sure this will get destroyed over time sticking out like this
*starboard drain port to ballast tank not sealed correctly
*starboard driver location speaker/upholstered trim loose
*starboard rear speaker panel not bolted to boat
*Scratch in driver view on windshield
*port side speaker/upoltered trim loose or not pinned to hull
*engine lid sound deadening chewed up on corner (not a big deal but shows what passes a "send it" test on a 93k boat

 

[BrandonG]

This has nothing to do with Covid. Although I hate how that is literally the excuse for every business these days.

When I took delivery of my 2019 AR195 it was a shit show. Mainly due to the trailer, the bow roller was set too far back so the trailer was all over the road, and they put the bunks to far out so the speedo wheel was damaged out of the gate. Numerous other interior quality control issues.

My biggest problem was the absolute trash after purchase help I got from the dealership. I keep my boat stored indoors so I dont have a cover and they basically wanted to keep my boat for however long and keep it outside instead of bringing it inside at night. I ended up just fixing everything myself. Not decided if I will buy another yamaha going forward but I am making sure everything is perfect before I take it if I do.

 

[Stevepro172]

@Stevepro172 More people, i doubt, will refuse to take ownership. There is someone else in line who will take it and there are no other boats to be found. Nor do I see people leaving their boat at the dealership after they have signed the paperwork refusing to take it home, while it sits for weeks while calls back and forth are being made. Unfortunately, this is how it is now, and I don't see much change. Unless Inventory, both new and used, increases substantially where they have to up their game and QA, or possibly Yamaha gets some serious competition. Of course a big recession could also have an effect.

I don't agree with any of the poor Quality though, I would like to see a very large improvement.

If you don't refuse to take ownership (and I get it, you want a boat now) you lose your right to complain later. Because of this site I knew that my delivery inspection by me was going to take some time. I took an hour looking everywhere with a flashlight while my salesman watched. Then we did the water test. Once I was happy, i gave them my check. But this isn't just yamaha either, car dealership pulling the same crap. helped my MIL buy a Honday CRV. We signed the paperwork and all was good. they pulled the car up and a huge scratch was on the drivers door. I said no way am I taking it that way. The dealer tried to tell me it was already mine. Nope. The worst part of it was the guy that was responsible for detailing it said he didn't notice it. Really? I don't fault Honda though, it was the dealership. In this day and age making a quick buck is quicker than giving good service and repeat buyers. Find a good dealer and most of these issues goes away. Good luck

 

[rpm242LS]

If you don't refuse to take ownership (and I get it, you want a boat now) you lose your right to complain later. Because of this site I knew that my delivery inspection by me was going to take some time. I took an hour looking everywhere with a flashlight while my salesman watched. Then we did the water test. Once I was happy, i gave them my check. But this isn't just yamaha either, car dealership pulling the same crap. helped my MIL buy a Honday CRV. We signed the paperwork and all was good. they pulled the car up and a huge scratch was on the drivers door. I said no way am I taking it that way. The dealer tried to tell me it was already mine. Nope. The worst part of it was the guy that was responsible for detailing it said he didn't notice it. Really? I don't fault Honda though, it was the dealership. In this day and age making a quick buck is quicker than giving good service and repeat buyers. Find a good dealer and most of these issues goes away. Good luck

100% wrong on both counts. I have been around the marine industry for over 30 years and yes, some of these issues are not new, you will find various fitment/warranty issues needing to be addressed no matter if your on a $5M yacht or $20K runabout. But to think you can spend a few hours looking through a boat and do a water test and you have found all issues (major and small), and also magically loose the ability to bring up issues later on is foolish. For one thing a few hours looking through a boat is not adequate to find potential issues from a mostly hand assembled (no matter what Yamaha says) vessel with literally thousands of moving parts, assembled in an environment where the stresses from its daily life are not even present (out of the water). On top of that you are simply not able to access most structural areas of these types of boats, areas where stray parts, machining and fiberglass tailings collect and where potential fiberglass voids or sloppy glass mat workmanship can easily be hidden. Only after floating them and subjecting them to daily stresses of being on the water where wave action can place stresses on the hull do some of these issues present themselves. Bolts and screws come loose or fall out, walkthrough windshields may not all of a sudden line up, panels pop out etc.

Now, like I said there always has been some expectation of a "punch list" for items that need to be fixed after purchasing a boat, but in recent years (before Covid) I have seen the level of workmanship drastically decline, issues (assembly errors and issues of flat out incompetence) that no workmen/shipbuilder would have accepted 10 yrs ago. It almost seems like boat builders are short of people so they grab the IT guy out of the back office, shoved a wrench in his hand and told him to go put that boat together! The degradation of workmanship is now commonplace and seems like the attitude of boat companies is to rely on the dealer to shoulder the burden of "preping the boat" and finding/correcting all the issues that quality control allowed to slip by. The further issue is the dealers do not seem to have the same vision that the buyer has, their idea of a $3000 prep charge is to put oil and coolant (if it even takes it), see if it fires up then do a brief wash/wax. So you're left with what you see/read about on these Yamaha forums and countless others (Yamaha is not alone in this). Buyers are left holding the bag trying to work with dealers who don't really care all that much to deal with nonresponsive boat manufactures on your behalf. An attitude like you present of "you take ownership you lose the right to complain" only enables boat manufactures/dealers to continue down this road.

 

[mrcleanr6]

amen to that! truer words have never been typed! lol

i have said it many times on this forum that boats are hand built and no matter who you buy a boat from it is never perfect when you take delivery. its not like a car. a punchlist has to be made over a set amount of time that the dealer will need to take care of. thats all part of buying a new boat. a period of working out the kinks is always necessary.

 

[HangOutdoors]

@rpm242LS You make some very valid points. Also I would like to bring up that Not Everyone is a boat person and that knowledgeable. How would they even know what to look for? It is the same with vehicles. I may know what to look at now....., but certainly my daughter as well as others do not. Should she be penalized forever because she bought a new large sticker item because she is not a fully qualified Mechanic? Same goes for boats, etc. People buy new so that they don't have to, hopefully, go through a lot of the issues that they are not educated/knowledgeable about or have a skill set in.

I don't agree with this. So if the person buying the boat, is not "Joe Boat Guy" and cannot look into everything or knows every little thing to look for Oh Well? That's a bit ridiculous.

If you don't refuse to take ownership (and I get it, you want a boat now) you lose your right to complain later.

 

[LakesideLaw]

I blame it all on the "millennial's" joking joking... sorta.

A participation trophy generation with just a simple lack of work ethic and pride in workmanship vs. "privilege" - I see it daily even in my law firm environment. Shoddy work product out of young associates who are "top" of their law school class - 15 years ago if I turned in some of the work I see to a "partner" at a firm I would have been out of the associate program - now its hold hands and help them along slowly so they don't walk away to another firm offering even more money.

Trickle down to all the trades and manufacturers out there - gone are the day of the true American worker (whether blue collar or white collar) who bust their asses with pride of doing a solid days work. This is not an indictment on an entire generation as I have some in this era that do carry over from a solid parental influence and upbringing.... but a lot of this is they just can't get good quality workers to do anything - blue collar/white collar/rainbow collar - doesn't matter.

But the Dealership relationship is paramount on any big ticket item - I would drive hours just to make sure you get a good dealership.... Boats - Cars - RV's - Houses (builders) etc,... they all have issues if backed by a poor dealer/builder. Owner satisfaction in Yamaha is highly highly tied to dealer satisfaction - IMHO. Ok rant over.

 

[rpm242LS]

@rpm242LS You make some very valid points. Also I would like to bring up that Not Everyone is a boat person and that knowledgeable. How would they even know what to look for? It is the same with vehicles. I may know what to look at now....., but certainly my daughter as well as others do not. Should she be penalized forever because she boat a new large sticker item because she is not a fully qualified Mechanic? Same goes for boats, etc. People buy new so that they don't have to, hopefully, go through a lot of the issues that they are not educated/knowledgeable about or have a skill set in.

I don't agree with this. So if the person buying the boat, is not "Joe Boat Guy" and cannot look into everything or knows every little thing to look for Oh Well? That's a bit ridiculous.

I know, its sad. The more builders try and streamline the build process along with cutting cost the more consumers will pay the price one way or another. With boats in this category you should only have to worry about a few occasional cosmetic issues that may crop up, or occasional warranty issue from a component but not what the OP has encountered. It makes you wonder about what you cant see (stringers/structural beams glassed correctly, through hulls properly bedded etc). If buying a new car/truck you're not going to request the dealer pull the cab off so you can inspect the welds on the frame etc.. We should not have to be a "boat person" or "car person" to have confidence when we buy something. There should be a reasonable expectation the unseen components were assembled correctly. Sadly this is becoming harder and harder to find.

Not trying to highjack the thread but as an example - A recent boat purchase issue with the tower mounting bolts, they were found to be all loose and one almost falling off. Aside from the serious safety issue this presented the workmanship (or lack of) I found was terrible. they used no backing plate just very flimsy washers to back the locking washers. It may have worked if it were not for the piss poor glasswork done as reinforcement (I guess I should be happy they even put reinforcement in) It was not laid flat so the washers were bent, allowing the locking washer behind it to not function, thus it all came loose. My fix of installing adequate SS backing plates is much better for now but I'll have to go back in later and redo some of their glass work, you can see on one of the photos (with the small washer) that they did not make the reinforcement long enough, the bolt only caught 1/2 of the reinforcement and 1/2 is on just marine plywood.

 

[swatski]

I know, its sad. The more builders try and streamline the build process along with cutting cost the more consumers will pay the price one way or another. With boats in this category you should only have to worry about a few occasional cosmetic issues that may crop up, or occasional warranty issue from a component but not what the OP has encountered. It makes you wonder about what you cant see (stringers/structural beams glassed correctly, through hulls properly bedded etc). If buying a new car/truck you're not going to request the dealer pull the cab off so you can inspect the welds on the frame etc.. We should not have to be a "boat person" or "car person" to have confidence when we buy something. There should be a reasonable expectation the unseen components were assembled correctly. Sadly this is becoming harder and harder to find.

Not trying to highjack the thread but as an example - A recent boat purchase issue with the tower mounting bolts, they were found to be all loose and one almost falling off. Aside from the serious safety issue this presented the workmanship (or lack of) I found was terrible. they used no backing plate just very flimsy washers to back the locking washers. It may have worked if it were not for the piss poor glasswork done as reinforcement (I guess I should be happy they even put reinforcement in) It was not laid flat so the washers were bent, allowing the locking washer behind it to not function, thus it all came loose. My fix of installing adequate SS backing plates is much better for now but I'll have to go back in later and redo some of their glass work, you can see on one of the photos (with the small washer) that they did not make the reinforcement long enough, the bolt only caught 1/2 of the reinforcement and 1/2 is on just marine plywood.

Holy cow.
I've been vocal in the past about the importance of checking tower mounting bolts in these boats, and this is a perfect reminder:

 

[Maineiac]

I looked my boat over real good when I picked it up but I missed a few things and a couple things I never would have noticed (like leaks) until I got out and used the boat for a few hours.

It sucks, and Yamaha should have better QC. My dealer has been great through the process. He apologized for missing some things and has take care of everything when I brought it up.

 

[adrianp89]

the techs did a great job fixing and getting it situated, they were the ones that demanded i leave it as they knew it wasnt going to be a quick fix. They put it thru warranty, which they should as yammy should be paying for these fuck ups.

The issue is the sales people dont know the ins and out of things, i come from a performance automotive background, Im overly anal when it comes to things because in my industry, in performance automotive, things have to top notch.

The cosmetics just is sloppy workmanship. We made a punch list yesterday while its in the driveway. Water test more thorough this week as weather permits.

This is what i have so far..........
*blue overspray on bump rails stern location
*starboard side of bow has a white drain i think not even flush with the body, im sure this will get destroyed over time sticking out like this
*starboard drain port to ballast tank not sealed correctly
*starboard driver location speaker/upholstered trim loose
*starboard rear speaker panel not bolted to boat
*Scratch in driver view on windshield
*port side speaker/upoltered trim loose or not pinned to hull
*engine lid sound deadening chewed up on corner (not a big deal but shows what passes a "send it" test on a 93k boat

Hey the anchor locker plug is loose. Make's replacing it with something good that much easier.

 

[mrcleanr6]

@HangOutdoors well i dont think thats exactly whats being said. Atleast by me. I dont think you need to be joe boat guy to be able to identify when something is not working, falling apart like the panels the op posted or is just downright broken. No new boat owner should have to fix these items. Simply be able to make a list of things that they believe to be deficient so they can give it to the dealer to fix. Its the same thing when you buy a house or have one built. At the end before you buy or finalize with the builder you always do a walkthrough and make a punch list. The wife may walk through and not know the first thing about a house but she knows that that big paint drip on the kit floor shouldnt be there, etc.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I looked my boat over real good when I picked it up but I missed a few things and a couple things I never would have noticed (like leaks) until I got out and used the boat for a few hours.

Yeah that's the catch.

 

[Stevepro172]

@rpm242LS You make some very valid points. Also I would like to bring up that Not Everyone is a boat person and that knowledgeable. How would they even know what to look for? It is the same with vehicles. I may know what to look at now....., but certainly my daughter as well as others do not. Should she be penalized forever because she bought a new large sticker item because she is not a fully qualified Mechanic? Same goes for boats, etc. People buy new so that they don't have to, hopefully, go through a lot of the issues that they are not educated/knowledgeable about or have a skill set in.

I don't agree with this. So if the person buying the boat, is not "Joe Boat Guy" and cannot look into everything or knows every little thing to look for Oh Well? That's a bit ridiculous.

I don't disagree that you can't check everything and that is why you have a warranty to cover the things you can't see but to actually see the stuff that is wrong and then complain later? I think of it as no different then buying a new house which I did 10 years ago. Do most people skip a buyers inspection when buying a new house... Yep. Did I? No and it saved me I don't know how much money in the long term as my inspector found issues in the upstairs plumbing that needed to be redone. Should Yamaha have good QC and have most of the issues already fixed. Yes. Will any company ever? We will see. Need to protect yourself and your investment. Nobody is looking out for you except you!