New 2019 R3 Owner

[akorcovelos]

If they let you run it in the test tank I'd mandate a lemonade be involved to best simulate the real world environment.

[NautiGirl]

If they let you run it in the test tank I'd mandate a lemonade be involved to best simulate the real world environment.

I'm sure you read the thread, but the group tour was on a Friday - we booked it before Cobalt decided to move to 4 10 hour workdays so the factory was basically closed while we were there. It was awesome because they let us run around like kids in a candy store. The downside however is there were no boats in the tank.

Oh there were five or six boats lined up three across ready to go into the tank, but none actually in the water. BBP and Matt begged our tour guide Rick to put one in. I forgot who was going to hold Rick down while Katie ran up and started the boat. I would guess Matt since BBP is about 5ft tall and couldn't be trusted to actually keep Rick pinned down.

Rick said he would lose his job so all we got was a picture of Matt holding up a V6 engine cover. Which is better than nothing I guess.

[Ytmsn]

Kids in a candy store. That about covers it. Here are the (delinquent) kids in our group.

20181214_110138.jpg

I wonder if anyone ever got an engine upgrade from us writing it in on the work order?

Nauties, Liquid, Cmatt, BB, Yt's. The cool kids!

[tgrace98]

Colour decision finalized. The boat will be Ebony Hull w / Knock Out Red edge stripe and white hull bottom. Interior is Terra Brown.

Also, I'm not upgrading to the Platinum sound with transom speakers (the boat will have premium sound w / transom). So, the only decision left is whether to add Soft Trak Marine Mat, Swim Platform. And, I have to decide whether I want to do a factory tour while my boat is being built.

Nice - that should look sharp. Marine mat is nice - especially on the platform. Now that we have it I wouldn't go back. You can always add it later though, of course getting aftermarket companies to cut the Cobalt logo can be tough.

Do the tour. Seriously if you are at all interested in how boats are put together it is well worth it. Cobalt hospitality is great and the factory is awesome to see in person. I know its a bit more difficult for you since its an international trip to the middle of nowhere Kansas but seriously. Do it. No one walked out of that tour and said "man that sucked we should have skipped". It would have been 100x cooler if we saw our boat on the line. Do it.

I'll see how the timing works out. Boat production starts May 15th ("spray date") so I'd plan on going down a week or so later. The person I'm in touch with at Cobalt told him to let me know when I have my order finalized and he said he'd let me know when the best date to visit will be, to see my boat in production. Makes sense. If I come 3 days after they spray the gel coat into the mould, I'd still get a factory tour, but all I'd see of my boat would be a mould with gel coat sprayed in, or fibreglass laid in on top of the gel coat. Just need to know when the boat will have the engine and electrical laid and preferably just before the top deck is married to the hull.

As to the soft trac mat, I can order it from Cobalt later for dealer install later if I think it was a mistake. I spoke to my dealer today and he said, in terms of value for trade, the mat won't have any value (other than preventing a slip and fall). I'm trying to think about options that will have value on trade. I think 3 - 4 years out there is an R6 in my future, so I need to balance between "want to have" and "trade value" when I tick boxes.

It was the same when I bought a Porsche 911 in 2016. The dealer said after the base options (sunroof, sport steering wheel, nice wheel and Bose sound), all of the rest of the options are worthless on trade (or on the used market).

So you are worried about the 500 bucks you will lose getting the soft trac mat. But you aren’t worried about the 30k you will lose in 3 years when you trade it in for a surf boat?

[Big Block Power]

Nice - that should look sharp. Marine mat is nice - especially on the platform. Now that we have it I wouldn't go back. You can always add it later though, of course getting aftermarket companies to cut the Cobalt logo can be tough.

Do the tour. Seriously if you are at all interested in how boats are put together it is well worth it. Cobalt hospitality is great and the factory is awesome to see in person. I know its a bit more difficult for you since its an international trip to the middle of nowhere Kansas but seriously. Do it. No one walked out of that tour and said "man that sucked we should have skipped". It would have been 100x cooler if we saw our boat on the line. Do it.

I'll see how the timing works out. Boat production starts May 15th ("spray date") so I'd plan on going down a week or so later. The person I'm in touch with at Cobalt told him to let me know when I have my order finalized and he said he'd let me know when the best date to visit will be, to see my boat in production. Makes sense. If I come 3 days after they spray the gel coat into the mould, I'd still get a factory tour, but all I'd see of my boat would be a mould with gel coat sprayed in, or fibreglass laid in on top of the gel coat. Just need to know when the boat will have the engine and electrical laid and preferably just before the top deck is married to the hull.

As to the soft trac mat, I can order it from Cobalt later for dealer install later if I think it was a mistake. I spoke to my dealer today and he said, in terms of value for trade, the mat won't have any value (other than preventing a slip and fall). I'm trying to think about options that will have value on trade. I think 3 - 4 years out there is an R6 in my future, so I need to balance between "want to have" and "trade value" when I tick boxes.

It was the same when I bought a Porsche 911 in 2016. The dealer said after the base options (sunroof, sport steering wheel, nice wheel and Bose sound), all of the rest of the options are worthless on trade (or on the used market).

So you are worried about the 500 bucks you will lose getting the soft trac mat. But you aren’t worried about the 30k you will lose in 3 years when you trade it in for a surf boat?

I couldn't have wrote that better myself.

[Big Block Power]

Really if your thinking about resale there is one thing that will help keep it and that's a 430. At a min a 380.

[BobRae99]

Nice - that should look sharp. Marine mat is nice - especially on the platform. Now that we have it I wouldn't go back. You can always add it later though, of course getting aftermarket companies to cut the Cobalt logo can be tough.

Do the tour. Seriously if you are at all interested in how boats are put together it is well worth it. Cobalt hospitality is great and the factory is awesome to see in person. I know its a bit more difficult for you since its an international trip to the middle of nowhere Kansas but seriously. Do it. No one walked out of that tour and said "man that sucked we should have skipped". It would have been 100x cooler if we saw our boat on the line. Do it.

I'll see how the timing works out. Boat production starts May 15th ("spray date") so I'd plan on going down a week or so later. The person I'm in touch with at Cobalt told him to let me know when I have my order finalized and he said he'd let me know when the best date to visit will be, to see my boat in production. Makes sense. If I come 3 days after they spray the gel coat into the mould, I'd still get a factory tour, but all I'd see of my boat would be a mould with gel coat sprayed in, or fibreglass laid in on top of the gel coat. Just need to know when the boat will have the engine and electrical laid and preferably just before the top deck is married to the hull.

As to the soft trac mat, I can order it from Cobalt later for dealer install later if I think it was a mistake. I spoke to my dealer today and he said, in terms of value for trade, the mat won't have any value (other than preventing a slip and fall). I'm trying to think about options that will have value on trade. I think 3 - 4 years out there is an R6 in my future, so I need to balance between "want to have" and "trade value" when I tick boxes.

It was the same when I bought a Porsche 911 in 2016. The dealer said after the base options (sunroof, sport steering wheel, nice wheel and Bose sound), all of the rest of the options are worthless on trade (or on the used market).

So you are worried about the 500 bucks you will lose getting the soft trac mat. But you aren’t worried about the 30k you will lose in 3 years when you trade it in for a surf boat?

I wouldn't say I'm worried, but I don't see the need to drop $950USD ($1,300 CDN) on the option. I wouldn't say I'm not concerned about the depreciation that I'll face in 3 year. Maybe I'll trade up to an R6 Surf, or maybe my kids won't be into surfing and I'll just keep what I've got. I could keep going on and on with the options, but I feel like I have to stop somewhere. In any event, I think the boat is well optioned as is anyway. Just excited to get it now.

[willyswagon]

And now that the tariff is gone you should call the dealer for the "New Price", on your wonderful tariff free boat!

[BobRae99]

And now that the tariff is gone you should call the dealer for the "New Price", on your wonderful tariff free boat!

I didn't read that the import tariff is gone.

[okielaker]

And now that the tariff is gone you should call the dealer for the "New Price", on your wonderful tariff free boat!

I didn't read that the import tariff is gone.

https://www.outdoornews.com/2019/05/07/ ... s-removed/

[BobRae99]

And now that the tariff is gone you should call the dealer for the "New Price", on your wonderful tariff free boat!

I didn't read that the import tariff is gone.

https://www.outdoornews.com/2019/05/07/ ... s-removed/

Thanks for that.

[BobRae99]

And now that the tariff is gone you should call the dealer for the "New Price", on your wonderful tariff free boat!

I don't think it really affects my boat price. At the boat show here in March, I spoke to a Cobalt factory rep who told me that Cobalt was picking up 100% of the Canadian tariff, because, as he put it; "we don't want to lose a whole sales season in Canada".

I worked hard to get the deal I got from my local dealer and no other dealer I contacted in Canada would sell a new boat out of its territory. Maybe Cobalt is taking the tariff money it had to pay and giving some of it to the dealers, but it's hard for me to reopen a signed deal, especially when I don't know what the effect the tariff removal will have on the dealer. In addition, if the dealer did have more money to play with, they would be losing some of it on my trade, which is a 2016 boat that I bought new last year. That boat was competing with US boats, which until last week were subject to a 10% tariff. My dealer will likely have to lower his asking price on the boat.

What I've learned through the new boat purchase process, is that it isn't like dealing on a new car purchase. You won't necessarily be able to get the boat dealer to sell a new boat at cost plus 3% like I can when I fleet buy vehicles for my business. My boat dealer might put 8 - 10 new Cobalts in the water a year as opposed to the car dealership group I deal with that sells thousands of cars a year.

I've seen posts on this forum claiming a 30% discount on an order. I didn't get anywhere near that and I haven't seen the redacted paperwork on those 30% deals either. In any event, they don't seem achievable in my market.

In the end, I was happy with the number I signed for a couple of months ago, so I have little reason to complain now. Seven days till the start of production.

BR

PS What was the end result of the popping noise with your boat?

[BobRae99]

Today is the day - Finally, my boat production starts - on schedule - gel coat gets sprayed today! It's not looking like I'll have time to make a factory visit during the production of my boat, but maybe I'll be able to squeeze a day in somewhere.

[Krob1114]

Hope you enjoy your new R3 as much as I have.
I love the tower. Premium sound is so good I was wondering if maybe we had Platinum until I saw you post and realized we have one 10”. I was sitting in back, teenage friends of my daughter was playing old Stones. Keith Richards in one channel and Ron Wood in the other. Then Led Zeppelin. Great sound.
We bought out of dealer stock, so we have standard 300 hp and it’s great for us because we cruise a lot. It came with soft mat flooring which we like so far.
We’re tickled pink to be Cobalt owners.
I’m enjoying this website too.

[Big Block Power]

Hope you enjoy your new R3 as much as I have.
I love the tower. Premium sound is so good I was wondering if maybe we had Platinum until I saw you post and realized we have one 10”. I was sitting in back, teenage friends of my daughter was playing old Stones. Keith Richards in one channel and Ron Wood in the other. Then Led Zeppelin. Great sound.
We bought out of dealer stock, so we have standard 300 hp and it’s great for us because we cruise a lot. It came with soft mat flooring which we like so far.
We’re tickled pink to be Cobalt owners.
I’m enjoying this website too.

Sounds awesome. Congrats. Let's get some pictures. I wasn't sure if you already posted in the new member section or not.