Doral boat problems!!!!

[doral sucks]

Lets hear about all the problems you have with your Doral boats. Maybe others will use this knowledge to find better boats.
We have a 2005 Doral elegante with merc 496 engines and bravo 3 drives that we bought new and nothing has been modified.
We are currently ingesting water in the engines because doral incorrectly install the exhaust to only 13 inches above the waterline instead of the required 15inches.
We have had to rebuild a bravo 3 drive that failed while driving 25 mph in a straight line.
We had a battery isolater smolder and catch fire under the gen. again factory installed.
We have a shower sump that never shuts off until you fix the float switch.
We have numerous loose and stripped interior cabinet fixtures.
Our cockpit cover never fit right.
Broken fuel gauges.
A fluid leak in the trim tabs.
Needed new seals in the head. lost suction
All of this in just over 100 hours of use!!!!!!
And Doral customer support is a joke. Martin Lalonde is who you call when you want to be even more disgusted.
I could go on, but I will let someone else have a turn.

 

[Chevyboy454]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

Sounds to me like you have a lemon my friend. Every manufacture has this from time to time. There are some things that are common to Doral and yes their cust support is less then desirable sometimes but I think in this forum you will find most of us love our Doral's and stand behind them. I wouldn't have bought one and put all the time in to rebuild it if It were junk. My Brother has the same boat you have and he absolutely loves it. We were out on it many times last summer without any issues. My lil boat is too small for the bay so I'm just a passenger on his Besides he has more money then I do, I could never afford such a beautiful boat.

Sorry about your luck.

 

[doral sucks]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

We don't love Doral and want to let everyone know how they will not back their boats. A good manufacturer will admit to some errors and correct them. Especially when we have proof they installed parts incorrectly. Nothing but problems for our elegante and doral customer support. We figure for what these cost new that no one deserves to have these problems and will hold them accountable for this. Yours is probably better since you rebuilt it and not them.

 

[BSAFlash]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

We don't love Doral and want to let everyone know how they will not back their boats. A good manufacturer will admit to some errors and correct them. Especially when we have proof they installed parts incorrectly. Nothing but problems for our elegante and doral customer support. We figure for what these cost new that no one deserves to have these problems and will hold them accountable for this. Yours is probably better since you rebuilt it and not them.

Your rant could be aimed just as easily at any of the manufacturers of most boats on the market these days for a variety of reasons. How would you feel if you'd bought a SeaRay that kept leaking through the deck to hull joint? Your issues as with mine all seem to relate to the engine setup, why didn't the Merc approved agent pick this issue up and involve them from the start?
These issues are Merc warranty that they would in turn have bounced to Doral when the cause was found. My problems were not picked up straight away because the Volvo agent was completely inept, upon changing to a decent mechanic that knew what he was doing my problems vanished.
If your claims of setup mistakes are correct your best course of action would have been (way too late now) to get Merc involved. Unfortunately for me Volvo are one of the WORST manufacturers on this earth when it comes to warranty. Their cars, trucks and marine machinery are purchased in Australia with the knowledge that no warranty claim will be honoured without a fight, from experience this is not the case with either Doral or Mercury.

 

[Chevyboy454]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

I second the Motion on Volvo, I fix the auto side of it on a daily basis (I am a lic Auto Tech, just so you don't think I am talking out of my behind, I speak based on experience). Volvo's are junk through and through, If the marine side is half as bad as the auto side your in deep S**t. Pull that junk out and put in some Chevy engines

Just my 2 cents.

 

[BSAFlash]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

Lets hear about all the problems you have with your Doral boats. Maybe others will use this knowledge to find better boats.
We have a 2005 Doral elegante with merc 496 engines and bravo 3 drives that we bought new and nothing has been modified.

We are currently ingesting water in the engines because doral incorrectly install the exhaust to only 13 inches above the waterline instead of the required 15inches

. Merc and Doral issue, cannot understand this not being rectified quickly!

We have had to rebuild a bravo 3 drive that failed while driving 25 mph in a straight line.

Doral don't make them!. I'd rather have your one failure than my 5 with Volvo!

We had a battery isolator smolder and catch fire under the gen. again factory installed.

Was the cause the unit or the installation?

We have a shower sump that never shuts off until you fix the float switch.

Common problem with some brands of switch (including mine) should have been an easy dealer fix.

We have numerous loose and stripped interior cabinet fixtures.

Now that would annoy me! Haven't had that problem with Doral, nor have I seen anyone else complain about fit and finish! It is one of the things that sets the Doral above the SeaRays and Riviera's of the World.

Broken fuel gauges.

Easy dealer fix.

Our cockpit cover never fit right

Your boat was NOT commissioned properly by the dealer... the press studs slide to where they are required, if the fixed studs don't line up your Dealer should have sorted it before you ever saw the boat.

A fluid leak in the trim tabs

? As far as I am aware Doral only offer electric trim tabs. Mine had a wiring fault that caused the circuit breaker to trip, the Turkey doing the warranty decided to continually increase the size of the breaker as a fix, my new technicians fixed the wiring (Doral installation fault)

Needed new seals in the head. lost suction

Mine needed a new seal at the vacuum box when it was about 18mths old. replaced under warranty, don't think it's fair to blame the installer for a fault with a seal that worked during both Doral and dealer testing.

And Doral customer support is a joke. Martin Lalonde is who you call when you want to be even more disgusted

Yes it was, but not as bad as their agents over here.

Your only points that are outside of the common new boat teething issues are, and quite correctly, the failure of Doral's customer support. And the failure of Merc to act in their own best interests and have the issue resolved at Dorals expense. IF Merc supplied the correct installation guides and they were not followed they would formally request Doral to rectify the problem both on your vessel and on all future installations (information supplied to me by both Volvo and Doral during my fettling stage). It is not in Mercs best interest to supply components to a small manufacturer that ruins their reputation by failing to follow the guides. I was left with a substantial bill to rectify my issues simply because Volvo failed to show that it was not their fault thus transferring the cost to Doral. In fact I am now aware of other Volvo powered vessels having the same problems and they were not fitted to Dorals. While I believe Doral failed in the duty to me regarding the Volvo issues they have been very good with everything else. (I started with a $10K discount and it finished up owing $10K more than the asking price to have the engines and drives in operating order, excluding the re-builds along the way)

 

[doral sucks]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

This boat has Doral on the side. I bought their product. Merc was involved and gave us the documents that Doral installed the exhaust below merc's min specs. How is that a merc problem. Doral screwed up. Merc doesn't have techs at doral's factory. The bravo 3 drive failure is a merc problem. The isolater was insufficient for the system. That is a Doral engineering as well. A boat should leave the factory ready to operate. The marina shouldn't have to cover for doral's incompetence. When it was delivered from Doral the wiper motor was broke as well. Why do you think it is ok for them to build boats like that and then its the dealers problem. Bottom line is Doral screwed up the exhaust riser height and they are at fault. We didn't buy a sea ray or anything else, we bought a Doral and they should stand behind it.

This not a rant as you say. We want to inform others of these issues with our Doral experience. If sea ray owners have problems I would want them to post their issues. As boaters we need to let others know, so when you buy a boat you can make an informed decision. There are plenty of manufacturers out there. Let people know about all the issues then they can decide which to go with. Also it let's others having these issues know what we have found with ours.

 

[Chevyboy454]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

Don't get us wrong man, we welcome all information regarding Doral boats. It's great to help others out when you have information regarding any product on the market.

With that being said, I think the issue we are having trouble understanding is if you bought this boat brand new and knew about these problems shortly after you bought it, it would have been repaired under warranty from the place you purchased it at. If they were not going to fix it the smart thing to do would have been seek out a Licensed professional to prove they are warranty issues and then seek legal action.

The second issue from what I see, is your initial post was not to share information but to down right black label the company based on issues your having, not to mention your name. We get it, your upset. But telling everyone a Doral boat is junk because you just happen to have bought a lemon (which as stated before, happens in to every manufacturing company, be it an employee with a problem or just down right stupid on that day) Most of the problems could have easily been fixed by the place you purchased it under warranty, some of the issues are common issues and this community is here to help you through it.

We are here to help, this place is a good place to gather information with a good group of people who love our Doral boats. If you want to bash the name have at it, it's your choice. But anyone that reads these forums will see many users and different Doral boats in here and only one person with something bad to say. Sharing information is one thing but what you have set out to do is tell us we own junk, I for one find it a bit offensive. But I'm one guy.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[JBF 1962]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

Been following this thread and I have to agree with everything Chevyboy says. We're all here to share and enjoy our boating experience. After 5 or 6 years of owning this boat that was this terrible and you haven't taken legal action and you still have it...

 

[doral sucks]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

Do you work for doral? We did have lots of these issues fixed under warranty. Are you saying after buying any new boat you would be ok to have these problems. If these issues coming out offend you take it up with doral. All we did is buy what we thought was our dream boat and it has been a nightmare. If we got the only lemon then doral should be willing to work with us to fix our incorrect exhaust issue, not ignore the problem. I spoke with an owner of a 360se and they were having water ingestion issues. They had to replace an engine. I want anyone else who has water ingestion issues to know what it could be. You may like your doral boat but for what we paid We expected a better experience. I think other boaters need to know how doral did nothing for us. It's not right. I want people to know they don't stand behind their boats. The exhaust is not a warranty issue, it is a design, engineering, installation issue. Your right I am not happy with doral. I don't want others to have to go through this nightmare either. Doral had many opportunities to make this right and they chose to do nothing.

 

[doral sucks]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

Again, we had many of the issues fixed under an extended warranty we purchased, so we didn't go to a lawyer when problems came up. That doesn't make all the problems we have had ok because they were under warranty. I am aware boats break but this exhaust issue is rediculous. It shouldn't have come out of the factory that way. The least doral could do is make it right. I have been in contact with doral for months and months and the marina did all the tests doral asked and they still won't do anything about it. It's just not right.

 

[Chevyboy454]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

No I don't work for Doral. No I would not be happy to have problems. But you can bet your back side I would have not taken it well and sought legal action within the warrant-able time period. If you truly have a design flaw and it was proven by a reputable Licensed Marine Technician it was on you to take legal action.

I think You're not understanding what I am trying to say to you. Your remarks in prior posts and your name are giving the impression that we own junk. Warning to anyone buying a Doral - Look for a better boat- don't buy a Doral- Doral Sucks, are not good ways to introduce yourself into a forum which exists only to help people like yourself who have issues get them resolved and share the good times we have had on our boats. This forum is not a complaint department which is what I feel you are doing. You want to complain call the Better Business Bureau, seek legal action, do what it takes to get the problems fixed. If you want to offer information regarding your issues, and how to resolve them or have a question regarding issues you have this is the place to post them. Not to Rant on and on about how you were wronged by Doral and try to steer other people away from buying one. I understand you are trying to warn people about the issues you've had - to make other people aware of what "Might" be wrong with a potential purchase but you are going about it all the wrong way.

We all know Doral Support is not great, but there are other channels one can go through to achieve the same results.

I am very sorry if I am coming off rude or it seems like I am attacking you. This is not my intention, My intention is to show you the big picture we are seeing. Imagine I go into your garage and see that you are very fond of Ford products, and I proceed to tell you Fords are garbage as my brand new Ford was riddled with major issues and the manufacture would not warranty them.. And I tell you because You drive a Ford and that means you own junk, must be too poor to own a real vehicle. That would not result in anything but a major conflict correct?

This is how I feel. I'm not rich, but I sure am proud of my Doral, as are the rest of this group.

I hope you understand what I am trying to say.

 

[doral sucks]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

For your info doral is not in the better business bureau of Canada. And we didn't know about the incorrect exhaust right away but we are in talks with lawyers. If you don't think we are exhausting all options you are mistaken. I own a doral don't forget and paid good money for it, so I can talk bad about it. I wished I had no reason to, but as you have read I have good reason to. I am sorry but I have owned other brands and this one has been the worst. We liked the boat alot that is why we bought it, but way to many issues. Again doral created the boat and it's problems. Why would I not want to warn others from buying one. Sorry if posting all our boats problems bothers you, but fellow boaters don't deserve to go through what we have. If they built our boat better I wouldn't have to let people know of these issues. I don't know if you are aware doral went bankrupt last year and is under new ownership. So you can't just take legal action and think it is going to get fixed right away. I am just informing others about our problems with doral. You might not like to hear about these issues but if I can help atleast one other boater it was worth posting the problems. We are just

 

[doral sucks]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

I have doral boat problems that is why I posted them here on the doral forum. Again I wished I had good things to say, but I don't. Just try and put yourself in my shoes. I don't want my worst enemy to go through all this. Just like the Volvo problems that were posted I am sure it upsets Volvo fans but people need to know of their problems and how they deal with them. I appreciate the Volvo info and will not buy one. If you read my post I never once said your boat must be junk too. If you love yours good for you. Ours has issues that it shouldn't of had. I have listed problems with ours. If you have no problems great, but for those who do other boaters should also be made aware of them. Boaters look out for other boaters. For the person that posted why no legal action in 5-6 years. Our boat was purchased as a new leftover 2005, the first summer was 2007 and we have been feuding over the exhaust for about a year now. As I have said lawyers are involved but nothing happens fast.

Sorry you take offence chevyboy454 but for a guy who says he is not rich, you seem to think it is ok to have to get lawyers involved to get your boat fixed. A good company backs their boat and has customer service. These forums are to let people know about what is good and what is not. Why is it ok for you to say Volvo's are junk, but I can't inform others about how I think our Doral product and customer support sucks?

 

[BSAFlash]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

As a couple of others here have already stated, we are here to help solve problems not run down a product because we had a bad experience.
You mentioned in one of your posts the fact that your boat is an '05 sold new in '07, that is a long time sitting on grass at the dealers! I do believe most of the smaller issues are the dealers fault, you can't expect a vessel to has been sitting around that long to be in perfect operating order, you must check everything, from your comments on issues such as seals, cupboards, switches, wipers and ill fitting covers it sounds like your dealer gave the boat a wash and handed you the keys. Let's not forget the dealer is paid to commission the vessel on Dorals behalf.

I spent a lot of time and money on surveys etc. to determine the cause of my engine and drive issues. The biggest hurdle I faced was my Volvo approved mechanic, by the time he acknowledged my problems it was too late to save many of the parts. I complained of a steering issue, the mechanic said he tested it and it was fine, after getting annoyed I rang Volvo myself, said monkey mechanic hadn't even spoken to them, there was a batch of steering rams that were installed that were not made correctly and were corroding in the boxes. Had I been able to access this forum back then I may have discovered that and fixed the problem instead of putting up with it for 6mths. You have have been fighting with Doral regarding a Merc installation... As per my advice earlier, involve Merc themselves, it is their engine! With the boat now 6 years old it is well past being inconvenient.

 

[doral sucks]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

I agree with what bsaflash has said about the smaller issues and the dealer did correct most of them. The reason I created this post was to let people know of all the problems that were encountered whether they were fixed or not. We have involved merc reps and just so you know merc doesn't install the engines in Doral boats. Merc supplies the engines and guidelines to install them but Doral actually installs them. It is once again up to Doral to make sure they are installed to spec. Why is it so hard for all of you to hear that this is doral's fault. All I can do is pass on the info I have to help others. If some see it as just a rant or brand bashing so be it. But Doral deserves the blame. Just like Volvo deserves to be blamed for bsaflash's problems.
Bsaflash is letting people know about Volvo issues. I am letting others know about my Doral issues and the bravo 3 drive failure which is merc's fault.
I don't want to stay quiet and let this happen to others. We have lost alot of time, money, and boating pleasure because of our problems and don't want others to as well. The brand Doral has to be held accountable for some of these issues. My experience with them has not been great so I am not going to lie and tell people it has. This is info for people to see who have or who are thinking about buying a Doral product. They can decide for themselves if they want to deal with Doral. You might get a good one as some have or you might get one like ours that will cost you alot of time, money, and aggravation. If people don't want to talk about problems so others can be informed then post on another thread.

 

[Chevyboy454]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

Once again you are reading what you want to read. No one here asked you to stay quiet, we do appreciate any information regarding Doral good or bad. As I said before It's the way you went about relaying this information to the board that has everyone on the defense. I'll repeat what I posted before for the last time. Doral Sucks - Don't ever buy a Doral- find a better boat - a worthless company like Doral, these are not a good way to meet people that can possibly help you through your issues. As I said the way you come off is that we all own junk and no one should ever buy a Doral based on one mans misfortune. Posting your issues is a good thing, it guides people on what to look for when buying a used Doral boat it's just the way you went about doing it.

I get the feeling I'm just beating a dead horse, so with that said I'm done trying to have you understand that we appreciate information, just wish you would have worded it differently.

Under different circumstances I probably would have offered to physically help you with your water ingestion issue, My old man has been in the marine industry for over 30 years just retired and always looking for something to do. All I had to do was ask.

Good Luck with your issues, I hope you do get them resolved because despite what you may think Doral builds one of the best Hulls on the market. It would be nice to actually see you enjoy your vessel rather then hate it so much.

Regards, Rick.

 

[doral sucks]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

I do read everything and you do realize chevyboy454 that you have no problem saying Volvo is junk and pull that junk out and put chevy engines in, and if you have Volvo products you are in deep s***. But if I say that about Doral I offend you. Come on really. I do appreciate your well wishes though and I hope this info helps one of you out someday. Not sure what you meant by under different circumstances you would be willing to help me? Doral customer support left me out high and dry. Not sure what you like about that, as it is part of the Doral experience. They were worthless to deal with. They may build a great hull but it doesn't do me any good in the shop every year.

 

[BSAFlash]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

d.s,
I understand what you are going through. My issues related to Volvo were all rectified at my cost as a result of a VERY POOR dealer network and 2 disinterested manufacturers. My opinion of Volvo comes from having dealt with them in all of their machinery businesses and had the same half arsed don't care attitude, it seems it is a cultural issue (Corporate Culture).
Doral sent me an email explaining that, if Volvo sent them a formal complaint regarding Dorals failure to follow their installation procedures correctly, they would rectify the problem, but until that notice was received they felt the problems actually related to Volvo.
I spent a lot of time and money to discover that most of the issues were Volvo, they in turn offered to replace their useless composite drives at a discounted rate (still refusing to acknowledge the the composites had a problem?). Along the way I found a number of other issues that are able to be cheaply rectified at a manufacturing level and have forwarded the suggestions to Doral. Many of the points picked up in the survey are common faults on many mass produced vessels.
I cannot understand why the riser height issue has not been rectified yet! I did a deal with Volvo, one of the most unhelpful companies I've come across, why has your dealer not been onto Doral? why have they not offered some sort of fix?
When your Chevy breaks down under warranty do you take it to Detroit or to the dealer? It is the dealers job to push Doral to sort this not yours. Again, it may be different there but, the dealer here was pre-paid for the first $30K of warranty by way of a wholesale discount (I guess the figure is a percentage of invoice value. This information was passed to me via a former senior salesman). The standard practice here would be for the dealer to negotiate the repairs with the manufacturer if they fell outside of the accepted fettling type issues as yours clearly does.
My recent experience with Doral is the opposite of what it was in the early days and I note somewhere here on the forum that Doral are now under new management.

 

[Chevyboy454]

Re: Doral boat problems!!!!

I say Volvo is junk because I work on them every day, Not 1, hundreds of them. I am Licensed and have been working on all makes and models for the past 20 years. I also said IF the Marine side of it is anything like the AUTO side of it your in deep S***. Again, you are reading what you want to read. I can say the auto side of volvo are junk as I have many years experience and as I said I've worked on hundreds not just one. Can you say you have seen or worked on hundreds of Doral boats, yet you claim they are worthless? Based on one, and possibly one other fellow you spoke with. Once again, I also stated "Doral customer support is less then desirable" So where did you read that I like the way cust support left you high and dry?

And what I meant was exactly as I said, I enjoy solving problems to help people out. If you would have posted your issues and asked for advice, you may have found the answer you were looking for or at the very least made some friends that may have come out to have a look and offer assistance however It's a little late for that now.

If the boat is such a pain in your back side then why on god's green earth did you not bring it back or trade it in at the first sign of trouble??

Once again, Best of luck to you.
Rick.