This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics

I love boating. And I bought a new boat to enjoy my time on the water but I am starting to think buying a new boat wasn't the best decision.
I have fixed:
- glued loose grip tape on both gunwales
- glued loose deck material
- glued hole in deck
- glued loose cuddy trim
- recrimped new fasteners for bimini top
- repaired fuel line leak
- repaired loose speaker connection on right side
- repaired strap for doghouse
- glued the cuddy door trim, aligned the latch
- repaired the lights to the tach
- vacuumed out all the aluminum shavings from the drilling when they made the boat
And this boat still has to go back to Starcraft for a complete repaint of the hull! (Read my other thread for this).
And this is before heading to the water.
The splash went ok. The 4.3 ran great and we were having a good time. I was following the break in to the letter but we only managed 2.5 hrs...
I had noticed the speedo wasn't working and assumed maybe a loose wire from when I repaired the tach lights? But a quick check revealed all was tight behind the dash. Nothing I can do right now so we kept on cruising
The Humminbird 597ci HD DI worked great. No problem reading depth at all speeds and no rooster tail. I am very happy with Stermate mount and it worked just as they said it would.
Then smoke from the doghouse.....
Ok, no big deal, just and overfilled leg oil reservoir which was puking oil on the exhaust manifold.. Cleaned it up up and on we went.
Then the trim quit............
Reservoir empty! And the line is dripping with oil.
I had noticed a cracked crimped line end earlier but thought nothing of it assuming it had been tested. The line had leaked all the power tilt oil into the bottom of the boat. The moron who put this together should be fired on the spot.
I had a small bottle of trim oil on board as it had come with the boat (for what reason I have no idea). So we left the leg down and headed for the launch. We managed to load the boat with 1/4 inch between the skeg and the concrete and then added the small amount we had. This brought the leg up enough to clear the ramp and I used a strap to secure it.
So now the boat is back in the driveway dripping oil.
Is the power tilt line a Mercruiser warranty item or Starcraft?
I found the line going to the speedo on the leg was not connected. I plugged that back in and I am going to assume it will work now.
The line for the power trim looks very difficult to replace. I can't even touch the bottom end. I was going to remove it and see if I can get an end crimped on as I want to go fishing tomorrow but that is just not going to happen. New boat, new problems.
Now for some pics.


No rooster tail.






No speedo!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Ricohman with his first new boat!








Then a problem that we could not deal with on the water.


Line has a cracked crimped end.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

I am feeling pretty low here. "All this money and the same old thing" is all I can think.


New boat leaking oil. Same as last year only much, much more expensive.


Where it goes, no one knows...


I have two precious months and I need to get this fixed. I am probably going to have to do this myself. How hard is it to remove this line? Does the drive have to be removed?
Who builds boats? The quality of workman ship in this boat is laughable. If any of my new trucks were built this way I would imagine the Ford would be bankrupt.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

While I cannot offer any help with the repairs, i want to second your comment about the level of workmanship. It's like the factory guys didn't even bother (was your boat made on a Friday before a holiday by chance) and your dealer should have probably caught some of these issues as well. That's a mighty long list of fixes you have done on a brand new boat.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

I think the engine may have to come out to replace this line.
No fishing tomorrow, no boating for how long. This is really frustrating.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

sorry to hear of more trouble, ive read most of your post , and i must say you are way more forgiving then i would have been ... i would have backed that boat through there showroom by now and had the sales man by the throat untill i got a complete refund ...there is no excuses for what has happened with this boat from the begining.and i believe the dealer knew there were problems with that boat or at least of the rivets and paint.......anyway hope it all works out for you...

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Really sorry to hear of more problems with your boat.


Did they discontinue the Islander? I don't see it on the Starcraftmarine.com web site.

Did you buy the last one made?

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Not to dump on you but are sure you didn't void the warranty by working on the boat yourself, generally any repairs done to a boat are done at an authorized service center, by tearing into this like you did you almost gave Starcraft a free ride, since you have been working on it they have no idea what problems the boat had and what problems you caused or made worse by working on the boat.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Real sorry to hear of your ongoing troubles. Splashing a new boat should be a joyous occasion and what you are finding out about the quality of workmanship and dealer prep is really depressing. I notice Don posted a great diagram of the trim line replacement in your other thread so hopefully that goes ok and you are back on the water asap. Btw that Humminbird looks like a slick unit. Does it have charts loaded or is it building an image from the readings as it goes. Could you post a pick of the transducer mount you mentioned? (when you get the trim fixed of course! ). Good luck!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Here is how you replace the line:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=449460

Honestly though, if you are looking for a quick fix then just take the boat over to your local hydraulic hose shop and have them crimp a new fitting on the existing hose, or call a mobile service.
See if these guys have a local location:
http://www.pirtekusa.com

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

scoutabout said:

Real sorry to hear of your ongoing troubles. Splashing a new boat should be a joyous occasion and what you are finding out about the quality of workmanship and dealer prep is really depressing. I notice Don posted a great diagram of the trim line replacement in your other thread so hopefully that goes ok and you are back on the water asap. Btw that Humminbird looks like a slick unit. Does it have charts loaded or is it building an image from the readings as it goes. Could you post a pick of the transducer mount you mentioned? (when you get the trim fixed of course! ). Good luck!

Click to expand...

Here is a pic of the Sternmate mount. And its glued on. No screws.
I am running a Navionics card as the factory loaded maps don't include Canadian lakes. I'm really happy with the Humminbird and I like the split screen options and the down imaging.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

The hull should be Starcraft warranty and Mercury should cover the Mercruiser and systems - like TnT. In hindsight you should have taken a test ride at delivery when 95% of these problems would have been discovered. The selling dealer pocketed your prep money and laughed because all he did was some paperwork and wave bye-bye as you began your cross Canada trek home. The wrap you pulled off after 6 months or so was the factory transport wrap. The dealer did no pre-delivery prep which is obvious from what you are finding now.

Take the boat to the Mercruiser dealer that you already have assurances from Mercury about warranty claims. While it's there have them do a full pre-delivery checklist.

It's too late now but you should have treated the purchase as if the you lived next to the dealer with a check ride and not have taken delivery until you were satisfied. You rushed to get there and rushed to get back home. I am sorry this has not been a good experience for you and it is going to take extra time to get all the bugs worked out. I hope you can be happy with the Islander some day.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

5150abf said:

Not to dump on you but are sure you didn't void the warranty by working on the boat yourself, generally any repairs done to a boat are done at an authorized service center, by tearing into this like you did you almost gave Starcraft a free ride, since you have been working on it they have no idea what problems the boat had and what problems you caused or made worse by working on the boat.

Click to expand...

I don't have time to drive 3 hours to the dealer and leave the boat. I would rather just glue and tighten the screws myself. I don't imagine that gluing loose grip tape would cause the power trim hose to fail.
And its the same with this hose. I am going to talk with the dealer across the road but I would bet (since he doesn't deal in Starcraft) that he may not even want to work on my Mercruiser trim. And if he does, I am going to be waiting until there is absolutley nothing else waiting as far as customers who bought boats there. And I only have 2 months of boating left. Waiting a month isn't an option. So if this hose is reasonable I will have to buy it.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

GA_Boater said:

The hull should be Starcraft warranty and Mercury should cover the Mercruiser and systems - like TnT. In hindsight you should have taken a test ride at delivery when 95% of these problems would have been discovered. The selling dealer pocketed your prep money and laughed because all he did was some paperwork and wave bye-bye as you began your cross Canada trek home. The wrap you pulled off after 6 months or so was the factory transport wrap. The dealer did no pre-delivery prep which is obvious from what you are finding now.

Take the boat to the Mercruiser dealer that you already have assurances from Mercury about warranty claims. While it's there have them do a full pre-delivery checklist.

It's too late now but you should have treated the purchase as if the you lived next to the dealer with a check ride and not have taken delivery until you were satisfied. You rushed to get there and rushed to get back home. I am sorry this has not been a good experience for you and it is going to take extra time to get all the bugs worked out. I hope you can be happy with the Islander some day.

Click to expand...

Again, I assumed it was like buying a new truck. And this entire experience has been trying.
The local dealer is closed. I have accepted the fact that I will not be fishing today or maybe this week. I will call the dealer tomorrow and see if they will look at the boat. Worse comes to worse, I repair it myself and get back on the water. The bolts holding that manifold on are new so at least I won't be fighting with corrosion.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

ricohman said:

I am feeling pretty low here. "All this money and the same old thing" is all I can think.

Click to expand...

I feel for ya rico, big time. These kinds of problems are the ones that we have to deal with in buying used boats. Stuff like that is just par for the course for a boat with hours on the meter.

You were looking to skip all that garbage and simply enjoy boating and fishing. Your hard earned dollar should have given you that. You shouldn't even have to think about all these ridiculous repairs.

Bumming for ya man, what a disappointment.

I do hope all this stuff ends well for ya. Maybe once all the kinks get worked out (that the dealer should have already completed) you can have a rig to love.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

If you have to fix the trim hose yourself call some hydraulic shops if you have any in the area. If they use hand ferrule crimpers the hose can be fixed in the boat without removing both ends. Just pull the pump end and crimp on a new ferrule. Can't be too expensive.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

GA_Boater said:

If you have to fix the trim hose yourself call some hydraulic shops if you have any in the area. If they use hand ferrule crimpers the hose can be fixed in the boat without removing both ends. Just pull the pump end and crimp on a new ferrule. Can't be too expensive.

Click to expand...

There are a few local ag shops around here. If I can loosen the line somewhat maybe they could crimp on a new brass ferrule with it still in the boat?
This would be the best solution.
I just don't know how much room they would have to work back there.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Hand crimpers are about 30 inches long and use a hydraulic cylinder. Best thing is call and take the boat to let them look. I think it can be done.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Maybe I missed it but couldn't you take it back to the dealership or sales office and get them to repair the leak and get the speedo working? It doesn't seem right that you have to deal with a broken fitting on a new boat! There are always few bugs to work out with a new boat but these seem pretty major. I hope they help you resolve the problems.

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

Re: This new Starcraft Islander is bringing me down on its first splash...pics!

skagit17 said:

Maybe I missed it but couldn't you take it back to the dealership or sales office and get them to repair the leak and get the speedo working? It doesn't seem right that you have to deal with a broken fitting on a new boat! There are always few bugs to work out with a new boat but these seem pretty major. I hope they help you resolve the problems.

Click to expand...

I am going to call the local Mercruiser dealer tomorrow. I just don't want to wait weeks for it to be repaired.
At least digging around back there let me find another problem. The blower vent tube to the starboard side it falling apart. It looks like cheap dryer vent flex hose if that makes any sense.
I have wrapped some duct tape around that so the blower will be exhausting outside the boat now. Which I believe is the way it was supposed to be.