Irwin Marine
 

Did any of you see this ad in the Sunday Union Leader.

Would like to have your opinion about this ad.

All I can say is the guy who open up in Belmont this year re-sealed my Mercury outdrive for $560.00 more than 1/2 cost of Irwins quote of 1,200 and it is still running great.

Seems like pretty straight forward (if not old school) marketing to me. What they're trying to say is trust the big guy who's been around for a long time instead of taking your chances with the new kid on the block. Is this always true? Hardly. What's more telling here is that Irwin is willing to accept installment payments for service. I think that they, as well as others, have come to the realization that some cash flow is better than no cash flow.

I for one know how to and have winterized my own boat. However today there are two schools of thought, If I do it myself and something should happen how much did I save? When I have it done by Shep Browns for what I think is a very reasonable amount the I have recourse, like the pld saying "pay me now or pay me later". For my money I'd rather pay a little now rather than chance alot down the road. Just my opinion but I also don't like to lose any boating time because of a breakdown.

Winter storage-shrinkwrap/motor winterization seems like it is a big percentage of a marina's income. Just wondering how much....20%,30%,40%,50%...?...anyone know? I have no idea?

Convenience
 

What I have found is that the cost of winterization is really only incremental to storage/wrapping. Thurstons charges a fixed fee for winterization/storage/spring setup. In addition, they do service work during the winter so your boat is ready to go when the season starts. In my book, that is advantageous relative to getting someone to do shrinkwrap and potentially losing some of the boating season. On the other hand, I do my own winterization/spring setup on the jetski as I store that myself. It is a bit of a pain to drag it to the dealer for stuff that I can do myself.

Jetskier:cool:

Thurston's
 

I second Thurston's Mine goes there every year, but I also do not have a trailer for mine, but best bang for yoru buck, plus in my opinion the best service out there. They give a lot for their $37 a foot price

Iagree,the jet ski is done at home but the boat not that easy and doesn't fit in the garage

Who do you trust?
 

I think the point is you want your boat service done by someone you can count on. I don't think that means that only Irwin's or a big shop can deliver that service but I've had enough bad service on snowmobiles, jet skis, home repairs, etc that I have become very selective about who I want to do work. That's why the forum is great for this. Recommendations from real experience. No service provider is perfect but you can get a pretty good feel for a place by the comments posted here.

I personally have had my boat at Irwin's for the last 14 years and have not had any significant mechanical problems during a boating season.

Irwin is a Sea Ray "Master Dealer". That is not a trivial thing to earn. I would expect excellent service since they obviously have a reputation for it.

Like anyplace else, they have a lot of really good people and a few boneheads. If you get a good person, everytime you go there, ask for that person to work on your boat. You will be very happy. If you forget to ask, bozo the clown may work on your boat.

Did I miss something?? I did not see if that pertained to one or all the Irwin shops. It sounds like the one in Alton as I haven't heard a SINGLE GOOD WORD FOR THEM. Our boat will never go back there even for just air in a trailer tire.:)

I would have to say they should have let somebody proof read that ad. The words are mis-spelled the sentences are awful. If that really is an ad that persons english teacher is rolling in his/her grave. I only used Miles Marine they are the best!!

Well now there's your problem. You have a boat with tires? :D:laugh:

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: Thanks, dpg, you made my day!!!! And just the way you said it! I think I will be laughing about that all day.

Does Irwin sell these ?
 

Mebbe RLW got one of them new fangled car boat thingees ....

I saw one of those on the Delaware River, by Philly, last year. Same color too. Pretty neat.

See dpg -- try to put a comical response in and someone goes and "one-up's" ya ...........


Laughing my head off at the picture :laugh: :laugh:

Don't laugh. I had a friend that sold the amphibian cars back in 1958. They were nothing like the one pictured and I believe if one stood up the darn thing would tip over. I used one for a whole week and was stopped many times showing off and putting it into the water where it wasn't suppose to go. (No tickets just a chewing out as it was a small town and everyone knew all the cops) I can't remember the name but I have seen them shown on some web sites. It was a blast going down the local river with the radio blasting and the crowds gathering around to watch us going in and out of the river. I do have some pictures somewhere, but the wife said it would take time to locate them after 50 years in storage.:)

This is a picture just like the one I was driving. I'm not sure it is the same make as if you view the attached site the driving wheel appears to be on the right side and the one I had was on the left.

http://www.amphicars.com/acpics.htm

The Amphicar
 

Truth is funnier than fiction. Back in the 80's a co-worker and I thought about getting one of the Amphicars pictured above. We were (are) both car guys and he was a collector of old Ford pickup trucks (primary) and some vintage 40's and 50's cars as well. I almost talked him into going "import" (he had the storage barn in Brookline). Alas we both got sticker shock when we saw how much our little oddity went for. Still sometimes I wonder .... :devil:

The official website http://www.amphicar.com/

Man, how easy it is to get off the original topic of Irwin's marine (Sorry). It was just a simple air in tires comment and look where we have gone. I love it as it has brought back many memories and lot's of chuckles thinking about what we as teenagers would do for a laugh/attention.:)

My opinion is: there are an awful lot of spelling and grammatical errors that were missed before Irwin published this add. Who did their proof reading?

Not all Irwin's equal?
 

Are the Irwin's other marine repair facilities isolated from the Lakeport Irwin's service?

Like Irwin's at Mountain View Yacht Club. Do they work in conjunction with the Lakeport service department on boat maintenance or do they operate mostly as a seperate entity? Would I get better service at Irwin's in Lakeport than I would at Irwin's at MVYC?

I don't have a SeaRay if that makes a difference.

To my knowledge each dealership is run by different managers, technicians and sales people but all come under the umbrella of the main Irwin's and the owners.

Irwin not the publisher?
 

I have not seen the ad, and do not know if it is the result of a camera ready ad, or something that was type set by the Union Leader.

I can tell you that when my wife and sister in law had their yarn shop, they gave a very well written ad to a local newspaper, but not camera ready, and it was butchered by the newspaper.

Don't put the publishing off on Irwin, until we know if it was camera-ready or not.

(BTW, I have dealt with Irwin Alton the last two years, and have nothing but praise for them. Almost sounding like a restaurant thread, huh?:laugh:)

Back to Irwin Marine
 

I wanted to get back to this Irwin bashing and voice my thoughts. I guess you just can not please every one all the time, I have been a long time customer of Irwin Marine in Alton and even when it was Hillcrest. I have been doing buisness in the summer with my Boats and Seadoo's and in the winter with my sleds and I have nothing to say but great thing's. Sales and Service have very good people that will do all they can for you but you always get those customers that think you owe them something or it is your falt they have a piece of crap that needs work because it is 30 years old and they are to cheap to spring for a piece of equipment that was built in this century.
Do your self a favor and check there prices in Alton for storage or winterizing you may be surprised.