New Boat Buying: Builder Integrity Ranks #1

When asked what the most important detail of a new boat is, our answer is the “integrity” of the person running the company. Integrity isn't a trait you assess; it's a pattern you observe. It often only becomes visible when something goes wrong. Everyone behaves well when behaving well is free – but what do they do when things go wrong?

What separates companies is what they do when doing the right thing is expensive? Here are two example that stick in our institutional memory... 

Grady-White, in its early days, built a number of boats with serious flaws because of a bad batch of resin. Once feedback arrived from owners and dealer that his boats’ structural integrity was compromised, Eddie Smith recalled the boats, junked them and replaced them, in mass. This has never been done before or since to our knowledge.

Tiara, many years ago, discovered that a number of its boats had rusted aluminum fuel tanks years after the warrantees had expired, because they sat on pads soaked in saltwater. When a pattern of this was discovered, Leon Slikkers, owner of Tiara, had those tanks cut out of the boats and replaced.  The decks were replaced flawlessly.

These are two examples that we know of where boat builders displayed personal integrity. But we’re sure there are many more examples of other boatbuilders taking care of their customers when they could have found a good excuse not to and saved a lot of money.  

We’d like your help in discovering these acts of fine character. If you know of other examples, please click below and tell us about it.