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Posts: 1735
| I know Tuffy is no longer associated with the site. I understand they just moved and have new ownership. But geezzz. Thought I had a buyer for my boat so I started surfing around the web. I owned a Tuffy years ago and thought it was a good ride although pretty plain Jane. Anyway I went to the Tuffy site to check out 20' Tillers and I found zilch. They mention it's available but currant pictures were coming. It's January, don't you think their web site should be up and ready for boat show season? As it worked out my buyer changed course but it was still disappointing.
Oh well, winter marches on. |
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| Brian Hoffies - 1/3/2020 6:45 PM
I know Tuffy is no longer associated with the site. I understand they just moved and have new ownership. But geezzz. Thought I had a buyer for my boat so I started surfing around the web. I owned a Tuffy years ago and thought it was a good ride although pretty plain Jane. Anyway I went to the Tuffy site to check out 20' Tillers and I found zilch. They mention it's available but currant pictures were coming. It's January, don't you think their web site should be up and ready for boat show season? As it worked out my buyer changed course but it was still disappointing.
Oh well, winter marches on.
Drive past the new shop on the way to visit my 95 year old father in law from time to time, keep waiting to see new boats outside. Hope they can make a go of it. |
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Posts: 1735
| I currently have a 20' Lund Tiller, Skeeter 20'er before that. Love the boats but they are getting so darn wide. Thats what was nice about the old Tuffy, the beam wasn't crazy wide and it just fished nice. |
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Posts: 1735
| sworrall - 1/3/2020 8:08 PM
It didn't need to go that way....no one feels worse about what has happened to Tuffy than I.
It's been a year and a half.
I'm not laying any blame, business is business. Just disappointed in the current state of the web site is all. |
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Posts: 1735
| I can imagine being a small regional boat company is just like any other small business. Doesn't matter if it's a restaurant, grocery store, auto garage or even a internet web site. It's a question of where do the dollars get spent until you get known. With limited sales and a limited amount of dealerships how do you generate sales. Then if you have some sales do you have staff & infrastructure & equipment in place to build and get them delivered. Kind of a slippery slope knowing where to sink the marketing dollars these days. Knowing how and which pro-staff can bring the most eyeballs and turn those into sales. How to get a web site developed and paid for. Once the ball starts rolling and you get known things become easier, the money more available. With a small business it's hard slicing the pie up so enough is left over to make it worth the trouble.
I believe the Warrior guys have done a great job with a regional brand. But there was more then one of those guys when the brand restarted also so there may have been more dollars available.
I also wish them all luck. More choices are good, more jobs are good.
Sorry, I kind of derailed my own thread lol. |
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Posts: 58
| I sold my 1700 last fall with intentions of perhaps getting a 2060 model. Hard to spend that kind of money not having any boats to look at. Not sure how a guy can look at all the "upgrades" that were made when no boats are being built. Ughh |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | Asking honest questions. What has been so sad to see happen to them? The old Tuffy website had very little information and most pictures there were several years old too. Not sure I would base my decision to buy or not buy a boat based on a website or not. Is the company beginning to fail or have they just been to busy to create a pretty website?
Love my 1760. When I buy again I'd consider an 1890 but would but also would like for the company to be around if I need anything. Have also been considering Warrior tillers but haven't been around one in person. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | No kidding. An 18 foot Recon? When they came out I said if they made that layout in a tiller I would be very interested. Could certainly be worth a look. I'm not in any hurry to sell my Tuffy yet. It's still the perfect boat for 95 percent of what I do it will be a hard decision to let it go.
Edited by curleytail 2/17/2020 2:22 PM
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Posts: 1735
| I looked at a Recon a couple of years ago. It had some stuff I liked and also some stuff I didn't like. But thats the boat biz, not a perfect boat out there. I just listed my 20' glass Lund tiller so we will see if that Recon tiller gets here before I buy something else. I'm a tiller guy and a fiberglass guy. I was happy with a old Tuffy tiller I had years ago but really wanted to see something fresh from them. I'm not sure thats coming.
We will see. |
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Posts: 1
| I had the windshield on my 2060 Tuffy broken by a rock while transporting the boat to a trip last summer. I contacted the factory and he had me drop it off to be fixed. Two days later he drove it 3 hours back to me for free and refused to take any money for the repair OR gas! It was the owner Scott that delivered mine and was picking up another Tuffy in the Twin Cities and bringing it back to the factory to work on it as well- name another boat company with customer service like that! I just sold my 2018 and am buying another 2060 with all the new changes. I would say if someone is GOING to buy a boat, take a drive to the factory and see what they have to offer. It's a big purchase and in my opinion is worth a day drive to go shopping. This is the 14th Tuffy I have bought over the past 25 years and I have loved them all. I have also owned 2 Rangers and 2 Yar Craft as well during this period. The boat I'm getting is $25,000 less than the same size glass boat, with the same motor made by other companies with fancy web sites! The ride has always been the best on the water and if Consumer Reports did muskie boat review I'm certain they would give TUFFY the "best buy" stamp of approval. Paul Hartman- |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I communicated with Tuffy yesterday. The delay in launching the new boats, according to the owners, was due to most of the molds needing to be replaced, which takes time. They reported they are busy and have a large backlog of orders. I recommended (from a PR perspective) they up the communication, get more updates out there, and do the best they can to answer all calls and emails.
Here's Tuffy Boats' response:
"The customers that are serious about buying new boats contact us and we get them the information that is needed. 2020 as of now will be a record setting year for Tuffy." |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | I have had great communication with Scott and Tuffy since they took over. They are making awesome changes and definitely moving forward with Tuffy boats. Alot has been done already and even more and better changes are coming!! I'd give the office a call during business hours to get any questions answered or shoot them an email. Scott and his wife are great people and are working hard to get everything up to date. The number of new boats they are building and selling is great sign that Tuffy isnt going anywhere. My new 2100 will be ready soon and I cant wait to get her on the water!! |
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Posts: 944
| Scott the new owner of Tuffy also told me sales have tripled since he bought the company. So they have been very busy building boats.
And as Steve W. mentioned if any one is truly serious about buying a boat get ahold of them and they would be happy to show you one.
I have owned a Tuffy boat for 26 years and will continue to do so.
The old owners were not interested in making improvments and the new owner is.
When the new owners took over all the molds were not in good shape and needed to be redone and this takes time.
For me Scott has been great to deal with and has taken care of any thing I needed or questions I had in a very timely mannor.
Tons of improvements are being made to all the Tuffy boat models . I look forward to fishing out of a Tuffy for many years to come.
Jeff Hanson
madisonmuskyguide.com
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Posts: 1735
| Glad to hear everybody is happy. I'm likely headed towards my last boat but it doesn't look like Tuffy will be in the running. I'm at this point looking at web sites and available options. As I mentioned earlier I have owned Tuffy in the past. Nothing against them.
Thanks for the feedback and help. |
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Posts: 267
| If they're that busy they need to find a way to get a website up and running. Hire somebody. |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | Smell_Esox - 2/19/2020 9:31 AM
If they're that busy they need to find a way to get a website up and running. Hire somebody.
At first glance that would appear to be the best approach but having more business than you can handle is not necessarily a smart business move either. Perhaps they are waiting until the operation can handle anticipated volume before inviting it to come. |
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Posts: 1735
| Chicken or the egg problem it sounds like. |
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| Smell_Esox - 2/19/2020 9:31 AM
If they're that busy they need to find a way to get a website up and running. Hire somebody.
They do have a website, but don't have photos of newly designed boats. |
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Posts: 1735
| OK, let me ask it this way.
Is there a Tuffy dealer anybody knows of that will have more then 1 tiller and 1 windshield boat on-site to look at? I'm looking to see some of the new stuff. In Minnesota we have squat to look at as far as Tuffy goes. |
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Posts: 572
| Why not ask Tuffy that question! |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | There are no Tuffy dealers. They sell retail direct. |
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Posts: 1735
| Thank you, that makes things easy. |
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Posts: 267
| dfkiii - 2/23/2020 7:38 AM
Smell_Esox - 2/19/2020 9:31 AM
If they're that busy they need to find a way to get a website up and running. Hire somebody.
At first glance that would appear to be the best approach but having more business than you can handle is not necessarily a smart business move either. Perhaps they are waiting until the operation can handle anticipated volume before inviting it to come. |
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Posts: 199
| Having potential customers jump through hoops to even research a boat is not good business practice in today's world. |
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Posts: 572
| Without any dealers and selling only direct probably limits potential customers to guides and devoted customers living close.
Sounds like they have plenty of orders right now. Of course, one has to wonder what the future will be for any company that limited their sales to only direct. And, once they do that, how difficult is it to get dealers wanting to sell your product?
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Posts: 91
| In 2019 i sold my tuffy and ordered a new one, this was January, i put money on the a boat with express understanding that i would be done at the opener i was told it'll be done ahead of the target very likely , i was jerked around for three months only to here at the opener that that date was 'unrealistic', and offer a small discount , but with the discount, the words 'but i wont tell you when you'll get the boat.
I ended up going to Minnesota, i had driven Tuffy boats for 20 years, i wont go back ...it is a sad state of affairs
ps if any wants the longer winded version of this ordeal ... message me your # and I will discuss ( just not going to waste my time at a keyboard with this sad story)
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Posts: 1735
| My intent wasn't to turn this into a bash fest. Every brand has had their demons to work through.
The fact that I would need to travel to the factory (wherever that is) to see currant models pretty much eliminates the brand for me. Not a knock on them if thats their business model.
I think this pretty much wraps this thread up unless somebody has currant photos of a currant model tiller then I would be interested.
Thanks for the advice and info. |
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| I will be driving right past their facility tomorrow to visit my 95 yr old father in law, but I doubt they will have any new models outside. But if they do, I will take a picture. |
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