New Grizzly 1448 and '21 Merc 15hp Won't Plane?

[Wallyc]

I would lawyer up. I know it cost money but so does having to go through the hassle of dealing with a holes try to get rid of stock. Your trying to make an informed decision by a dealer who is giving bad info.plain and simpleWho ever told you a 15 would push that boat fine was smoking crack.drilling holes at the lowest setting was stupid. Sure let’s just put bolts though a brand new transom because of the installers lack of knowledge. Maybe it’s me. I would cram it down their throats

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I would lawyer up. I know it cost money but so does having to go through the hassle of dealing with a holes try to get rid of stock. Your trying to make an informed decision by a dealer who is giving bad info.plain and simpleWho ever told you a 15 would push that boat fine was smoking crack.drilling holes at the lowest setting was stupid. Sure let’s just put bolts though a brand new transom because of the installers lack of knowledge. Maybe it’s me. I would cram it down their throats

I honestly can not fathom why you would drill holes in a brand new boat.

Sure the major MFGs do it, but they know their combos work and are of a proven design and it adds a safety factor on a larger boat.

Im not (too much) a conspiracy nut, but its almost like they knew that was a bad setup and bolted it on knowing it would be harder to deal with if there was any complaints.

 

[GYPSY400]

This is my 1448 homemade Steel ATV hauler.. the 15hp 2 stroke will plane it out when its empty. I don't know what it weighs, but you can't lift it!
Either your boat is not set up properly, or your motor doesn't run properly. The sales team should have known which motor to put on your boat and how to rig it properly

 

[Superlucky]

In your opening page you indicated that you went from a 9p prop to an 11p prop. I think you went the wrong way........ A lower pitch prop would help with the lower speed and to get on plane. (I don't know if they have a lower pitch than 9p)
Do you have any idea what your RPM was? Did you get even close to max? Is there any chance there is something wrong with the motor not getting up to RPM? Perhaps you could purchase a tach on the internet and let us know what RPM's are being reached.

I do believe that you are way "under-motored".

 

[TimeBomb]

Gypsy, you are correct. The boat is not set up properly, being a longshaft and not nearly enough power for its weight. I'd wager that my boat without anyone in it probably weighs about as much as yours with the ATV. Add to that a prop trying to push all that weight with not enough power behind it, and 3" lower than it should be... It's no surprise that no amount of prop or trim adjustment will get it to work.

Superlucky, I may have gone the wrong way, I'm not sure. The reason I went to the 11 was because the 9 pitch shot out of the hole and got to max displacement speed in no time, it just wouldn't do anything past that. I figured with a little more pitch I'd have a shot of having a little extra umph on the top to get it to pop onto plane. Unfortunately I just sacrificed that little bit of out-of-the-gate performance for nothing.

As an update, I ended up calling the owner of the shop Saturday morning, as a last ditch effort before I gave up on them. He seemed about as irritated with the situation as I was. I've been told that he will be digging into things on his end and that he'll see what he can do. He was much different than the salesman I was dealing with at least, taking the time to ask questions and discuss things. I told him all of my complaints and why I was irritated that I was sold a package based a salesman's suggestion because I didn't know very much about the topic, and when what I got didn't work I ended up having to look it all up myself and got a very contradictory result to what I was told by the guy selling it. Nobody likes shelling thousands out to get something that doesn't work right. We both agreed, at least from that conversation, that I should be able to just return the 15 horse and pay the difference for a 25 short shaft. We'll see what happens. I would be very happy to get a 25 horse on that boat without having to be out $800 on a trade-in for the 15...

EDIT: Haven't mentioned it recently, but wanted to thank everyone who gave me some insight or input. It has all been very much appreciated, this board rocks! Now to just find the person who can tell me where all the perch are hiding...

 

[TimeBomb]

Another update, just because I'm irritated.

When I spoke on the phone to the owner of the shop on Saturday, they told me they would personally be calling me back to see what they could do today. Hadn't got a call and they were closing soon, so I called. Owner had already left.

Probably the 5th or 6th time (honestly, maybe more) that I have heard "Can I call you back at X time?" from this place, and never got it. They did once, when I was approved for the loan I took out. :roll:

 

[86tuning]

Weird that Grizzly builds a 17.5" transom. I wonder what the reasoning for that is?
Hope you get things worked out.

So that a short-shaft motor would be set nice and high for maximum efficiency? Can't see why the sales person and then the tech would install the wrong leg size motor on the boat. That part sucks. And then the run-around too.

Good luck with this, hopefully the store owner will get you sorted out quickly, when you get ahold of them.

 

[jasper60103]

My grizzly 1648 has a 21 inch transom, which calls for a long shaft. I can only guess your sales person was confused.
Clearly the error is all there's.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[ktoelke54]

Shaft length guidelines in reference to Tohatsu / Mercury from online outboards.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[oldfireguy]

Manufacturer specs for the Grizzly 1448 is a 17.5" transom, which would take a short shaft.

If you are still getting the runaround/no call back from the dealer, you may want to call Tracker customer support (417) 873-4555, or 873-4555. They will likely put pressure on the dealer to get things resolved to your satisfaction.

 

[turbotodd]

Yeah the last thing I'd do is "lawyer up".

$500/hr is what most attorneys here are at, IF you can find one that will take a case like that. Every minute you are on the phone with the lawyer, you're on the clock. Remember, $500/hr. If you are on the clock one minute you are going to get a bill for more than a minute. The costs could easily exceed the value of the outboard. Secondly IF it ever went to court, the judge is going to say "did the salesperson hold a gun to your head and force you to buy it?" The obvious answer, is no. Case dismissed without prejudice . I've been through this. Buyer's remorse and it is never good on anyone.

Now there's always the slim possibility that there is a reason they wanted to move that particular rig off of their lot, and those reasons could be many. Could be old stock. Or could be that there's something wrong with it. If you can find what's wrong, and it is not documented, you could have a case, but not until then. Again, buyer's remorse is really the salesman's problem or really anyone else's but the buyer.

Definitely call Tracker support. If you don't like the person you're on the line with hang up & call back, usually get someone else. I have asked for someone else before (with different manufacturer), they are fine with it.

 

[TimeBomb]

Not intending to resurrect an old topic, but yesterday my boat hit 20 across some cold, choppy water! :-D

It has been an absolute nightmare, but it's finally solved; more or less. The shop that I purchased everything from won't be getting any more business from me. In mid-July after talking to the owner, I was told I could essentially return that 15 horse long-shaft and get a 25 short-shaft instead, as long as I paid the difference. So I ordered up a new 25EH as a replacement. They said it'd be in at the end of August.

I patiently waited for a phone call towards the end of August and finally got it! Or so I thought. My $%&# sales guy was just calling to ask if I wanted a manual start or an electric start; he'd been on vacation for a while and was getting ready to order the motor, but he lost my paperwork. Pretty pissed. He let me know that if I still wanted an electric start, they couldn't get one til the end of December. But if I wanted a pull-start, I could get it mid-October. I decided I'd rather just have the pull start version sooner and be done with this whole mess. October comes around; I start leaving voicemails. November comes around, and I'm 8-9 voicemails deep. I finally walk in and talk to the owner again; he says they're having a hard time getting small outboards. So I go to the next powersports shop down the road, and they have two brand new 25's in stock and their sales department say they don't seem to have any problem getting orders in.

I finally get a call back from my sales jerk mid-December; wondering what I wanted! When I ask if my motor has showed up yet, he goes "Oh, I think it showed up a week or two ago" :roll:

End of the long, irritating story; a new 25hp short shaft is finally on the back of the boat, albeit pull-start instead of push-button. No cavitation issues, and full of gear and two bat fastards sitting in it, it would get up on plane and do 18-20. Took a while to top out though. I may end up putting the 9.x pitch prop on there just to see if it gets up to speed faster, I wouldn't have a problem losing a little bit of speed if it meant it didn't take as long to get there. Very pleased though. For the last couple months I've been super salty about this whole ordeal and it's finally sorted out. At least I don't have to deal with the shop anymore.

 

[turbotodd]

Unfortunately I hear of these nightmares too often

yes part of it is due to some folks using coronavirus as an excuse to buy them some time. Sometimes not.

I never had any problem getting small motors, but the dealer sold off their outboard line in August, so they're completely out of the outboard (and boat) business. They'd rather sell higher dollar stuff. And knowing what I do, I can see why. There is a maximum of about $30 profit made off of a 25hp outboard, at least at what they were selling them at. Online retailers are asking a lot more for the same motor. I always thought that the dealer could have sold them for a little more $$$ IF they'd advertised but they never did (ever). Because there was such little $$ made, the salespeople would tend to walk away from anyone who came in looking for an outboard, period. I didn't agree with it but I know they have little mouths to feed at home just like the rest of us.

Glad I don't work there anymore, for many other reasons. They had a banner year as a lot of dealers did but regardless of how much money they made, I am glad to be out of there.