Need a proper “delivery.” Teach us our boat!

[Yvonne & Ian]

We finally took possession of our new boat: 2018 Chaparral Vortex 243 in May. The process to get to the delivery day was an absolute nightmare with the incompetent dealer who was selling their first boat (their store is mostly other things like motor sports). It has been clear that they know nothing about the boat and have known nothing. Many things they did answer for us have turned out to be wrong. We even got our boat with the wrong design, missing things we did order, damage to several little things, holes in the Bimini top, scratches in various places, stickers placed on crooked, badges stuck on wrong or lifted up and so much more. When we took possession, there was no education, no walkthrough or orientation, no real “delivery” or anything. Paperwork was signed via mail!

The differences in a jet boat vs a prop boat are pretty significant not to mention; a new boat from our previous 20 year old boat. Question... is there anywhere we can get a proper “walk through” delivery by someone who is knowledgeable? Even a video would be something. Chaparral is virtually unreachable and when you do reach then, they defer you to the dealer who as I mentioned... has never sold a boat before and is hours away. We can continue to learn by trial but a brand new boat? Would rather not learn by waiting for something to go wrong and trying to figure it out when we can possibly prevent issues if we knew the potential etc. badically, would rather not learn at the literal expense of our new boat - things we should have been taught as new boat owners.

Please advise.

 

[captras]

Hopefully you can find a member near you to help out. I own Yamaha, but there would be a lot of similarities. Gold luck. ...I hope you got a good price! One question. ...how much did the dealer charge you for dealer prep? All the things you are talking about are supposed to be covered by that! Seems you should get those charges returned! Also check this out

https://jetboaters.net/faq/new-boat-and-launching-checklist.109/

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Thanks so much for the links.

In short... we went to a boat show in LA and ended up negotiating for a new boat not realizing the people we were speaking to had no experience with boats so in the lengthy ordering and purchase process they realized that the discount they gave us was too big and would interfere with their profit significantly. They began to back pedal. However, they still had to honor some of the things they said but many of the things they said they did say, they had to go back on. Knowing that the ultimate price of the boat we were purchasing was below cost, we continued and tried to be reasonable with their lack of experience. So we did end up paying more etc but... never did we expect the experience to be so negligent and their knowledge so incompetent. Many things we ourselves researched and found the answer knowing g that what they provided as an answer didn’t make sense. We kept telling them... “just make sure you have learned enough to teach us about the boat and features and how things work etc...” “Absoluyely, will go over everything blah blah” When the boat finally arrived, they brought it to a local local lake for delivery and we found so many problems that we did not take delivery - we took it to the local repair place (who we had already arranged to have some custom things done with ex live well, trolling motor bracket etc..) and the sales guy got approval to leave it there with authorization to address some of the issues. So, when it was done with their issues, we did paperwork via mail and picked up boat with no introduction or walkthrough of boat.

 

[Mainah]

Welcome to the site. That is a great model boat you have and you will end up enjoying it. Perhaps it is a good thing you did not get a walk through. Misinformation can be worse than no information.

There are lots of features on boats these days but the important things remain constant. Don’t approach a dock faster than you want to hit it. Don’t jerk the throttles. Do remember to put the drain plug in and turn the batteries on. As for the rest it takes time to learn anyway and if you have to find the answer yourself amd practice you will know it that much better. Plenty of knowledge folks here too that are willing to give their opinion.

 

[swatski]

There is a map feature where you could identify nearby members and contact them, I bet many would jump out to help.
In the meantime, if I were you, I would just read, read, read, posts of knowledgeable members here including @ScarabMike @Ron@Scarab, @JetTech72 - those are primarily Scarab boat owners/dealers but the boats are very similar and have the same BRP drivetrain and pump system.

--

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Yes, thank you. This site has been amazing with all the generous help and feedback.

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Welcome to the site. That is a great model boat you have and you will end up enjoying it. Perhaps it is a good thing you did not get a walk through. Misinformation can be worse than no information.

There are lots of features on boats these days but the important things remain constant. Don’t approach a dock faster than you want to hit it. Don’t jerk the throttles. Do remember to put the drain plug in and turn the batteries on. As for the rest it takes time to learn anyway and if you have to find the answer yourself amd practice you will know it that much better. Plenty of knowledge folks here too that are willing to give their opinion.

Thank you. I suppose you’re right in that misinformation being worse than no information. I think we’ve got the basics down and having had a boat before this but it’s just that we don’t even know what we don’t know lol. But your advice is great snf the people of this group are very helpful. Thavk you so much!!!

 

[veedubtek]

Some more free advice. I see you're in Santa Clarita, I'd avoid eating the clams at Japopo's.

 

[Yvonne & Ian]

Some more free advice. I see you're in Santa Clarita, I'd avoid eating the clams at Japopo's.

LMAO - too funny. Thanks!

 

[blackhawkpilot]

Same thing happened to us. Find our group on Facebook. Chaparral Vortex Boat Owners Group. Lots of us on there experiencing issues and having to resolve them within the group versus going to a dealer who knows nothing.

 

[geierb387]

You mentioned stern drive vs jet drive... There are some older Sea-Doo videos on YouTube that Sea-Doo put out when they had boats in production. Go to YouTube and search for: SEA-DOO BOAT How to CliniX there are a couple that are good how tos on docking, general driving/turning and so on. When you search for that there are several that wont apply to your boat but there are few since you have BRP power plants in similar controls. You may even find a how to on your touch screen. In general these videos are fairly accurate to your boat controls and your new boat versus the 2010-2012 boats are referring to.

As you've noticed a significant difference in control verse of the two types of boat drives mentioned, you'll get the hang of it in no time. Just be patient and don't get in a hurry!