Is Post in Trouble?

Cult Boats now.....

That is unfortunate. So far I've really enjoyed my '50 convertible and believe they make an excellent boat. Do you know if there is any plan to transfer manufacturing information about our boats in regards to part numbers and other details?

I was told at the Palm Beach boat show that they had filed for bankruptcy, I haven't been able to confirm.

Sorry to see such a great name go.

I agree, but also felt they haven't kept up with the times for the last 5-10 years in regards to styling and engineering. They could've improved cockpit ammenities as well as elsewhere, but kind of stayed stuck in time in my opinion.

Looks like it's official.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/...cle_02161690-5c12-11e0-849c-001cc4c03286.html

Sad news.
We toured the factory twice.
The first time was just my wife and I.
Ken took us on the factory tour himself.
Second time was a whole group who were also taken by Ken.

I always liked those boats and really sad to see them go.

it aint over till its over

All,
It aint over till its over......
many others have bounced back.....

Please google the term "chapter 7" and get back to us.

Liabilities = $5.4M

Property worth ~ $1.2M

Boat building stuff onhand = $150K.....sheesh! I've got that much in boat spare parts in my hall closet.

Buh-Bye.

Hasn't that been the game since "Other People's Money" and the .coms? If Enron,AIG, etc. why not Post.

I suspect that just like Egg Harbor someone will buy the name "Post" , and maybe even some of the molds, and the brand will be back. The question is will the quality and service return with the name. In my opinion, qualiity and service declined under Ken - I have one of his cracked boats that he told me was ordinary "wear and tear" before he hung up the phone....

I think all Post admirers would agree that the 56 was a design disaster, and the 53 though nicer, still lost the "post" look. Post should have been in a perfect position to survive this market because of its semi custom, build on order business model, but because it lost most of its market support through poor service and growth decisions was destined to go under. If the numbers are correct in a prior message, how the heck did Post let it self become so leveraged - a 1 to 5 equity to debt ratio is horribly upside down.

Sooner or later you run out of "Other People's Money".

Hence...............

Beau- You clearly are just throwing out personal opinions about people that you have spoken to maybe twice in your entire life. I have known Ken personally for many years and have worked with him for just as long, and the Ken I know would NEVER hang up on someone, or lie to anyone as you are insinuating. There were 36 boat owners who received boats with the bad gelcoat, if yours was one of them, they would have allowed you to be named in the lawsuit, or would have fixed your boat. Case in point, I know a certain Post owner in Boston who also bought his boat second hand, and it had the actual gelcoat issue, Post fixed his boat for him, free of charge. Additionally, the work load was too great for Post to fix all the boats, so they named the people whose boats they couldn't fix in the lawsuit. Your slander is most unappreciated, and quite frankly, juvenile.

Furthermore, Ken was not president of the company when the gelcoat incident occurred, and took the reins after the faulty gelcoat was used. He has painstakingly worked to fix the problems and defend the company in all of the lawsuits they have endured. How dare you place that blame on him? Lastly, if that is the only thing you base your "poor quality" analysis on, then you are seriously mistaken, the quality of Post never declined. I suggest you think a little bit more before you get onto a forum and slander a person who worked his butt off for the company, and would never treat someone with such disrespect as you imply.

CM913

I have not known Ken as long as you and I respect your opinion. I can only relay what my personal experience has been. And with Ken it was not good. I wish it were different. I had no desire to become a party to Post's lawsuit, which they ultimately lost, I only asked Ken to stand behind his product which had a proven flaw and make it right with me, a customer. He refused. The condition of the boat doesn't lie. In fact, ask Ken if he looked an my boat, then come look at it yourself and draw your own opinion - everyone at my marina has.

Beau

BEAU - I have spoken with Ken about it, and he remembers you real well, and he clarified a few things that you seem to have omitted in your storytelling, but we won't get into that on here.

If the problem you are having was covered under any warranty or was in any way, shape, or form the responsibility of Post, then they would have fixed it. However, as it stands, gel coats can crack for any number of reasons that are not the responsibility of the boat manufacturer after 12 or 13 years, especially when the boat was bought second hand. As it stands, gel coats do not have warranties because there are too many reason why it will crack. Thus, it is now your responsibility to fix it.

Lastly, Ken is not the expert on gel coats, he is simply the president. He sent a highly qualified person to look at your boat, who was very explicit that it was not the same issue that they were having with the other gelcoat in question. Which means that, while I am sorry you are having this issue, it is not the responsibility of Post to fix it. Go ahead and think what you want, but just because you bought the boat, doesn't make you entitled to get that boat fixed for free, especially, as I have already pointed out, you bought it used.

I will have nothing more to say on this subject because you have purposefully left out details of the story to make you look like the victim, when in reality you are using this as a way to push your own agenda and slander a company that has provided quality customer service for over 50 years. Furthermore, Ken is an amazing person who worked for Post for over 30 years, and earned his position as CEO. I'm pretty sure they don't make you CEO for being rude to people and hanging up on them, particularly in a company as small as Post. So how about telling the parts of the story you left out, rather than making Ken into a villain in your pathetic story.

CM913

As I have said, I respect your opinion. I just have a different opinion based on my real experience.

And I do agree, that the contrary opinions you and I hold probably do not add anything to this thread's substantive discussion. So let's just agree to disagree on the gel coat question and call it quits. I think we can all agree, though, that it is sad to see such a icon of the Jersey sportfisher sink.

BTW, I bought the boat when it was 2 years old with just a little over 300 hours from a Post dealer under the impression that I had a warranty - it wasn't 13 years old.

BEAU-

The last time I checked 1998-2011 is 13 years....just sayin'....

willight

I honestly do not know what cm193 refers too when he claims I've left details out, but here is a quick summary of my experience with Post. A back drop to this summary is that Post, undisclosed to me, developed a gelcoat problem in its boats manufactured between 1998 and, I belieive, 2000. The gelcoat would severely craze and crack sponataneously. This probelm is well documented in court papers and industry articles. Post had a problem with at least 36 boat, 37 if mine had been included.

In 2000, I purchased my boat with a little over 300 hours on it from a Post dealer. The boat passed its survey on all levels. That winter I had the boat hauled to have the bottom done. When they took off the bottom paint, the gel coat looked like a cracked mirror. This was the Spring of 2001. The manager of my marina called Post to inquire, and he was told by Post that they knew nothing of such problems. I stripped off the gelcoat and had the bottom repaired. At the same time the mananger notice a crack between the starboard deck hatches. We thought it was unusual for a quality boat but did nothing with it at the time.

Slowly the boat began to develop cracks all over the boat, most notably in the sole of my cockpit (I will try to attach a photo) The manager teasingly asked me if I was jumping off my hardtop. Anyone who looked at the cracks was amazed to see what was happening. The gunales developed transverse cracks that look like long black hairs. People aboard would actually try to pick them up as though the were a hair.

We again emailed and called Post. We were, at this point, told they did have a "small" problem with a batch of gelcoat, but the problem didn't included my boat. Now we got suspicious and started doing some investigation. By the way, all this is happening over the course of several years. I don't have definitve dates with me as I write this summary.

Our investigation revealed that Post and Viking had a lawsuit against their Gelcoat supplier for improper formulation, among other things. The supplier counter sued claiming that Poat and Viking misapplied its material. Post and Viking ultimately lost that suit.

When I found out about this, I was livid and called Ken Jensen directly. I told him I had discovered this problem with the gelcoat and that I did not believe he had been honest with me. He again told me that what I was describing was not part of Post's gelcoat problem. After much prodding and pleading I was able to convince him to send his production manager to inspect the boat, convinced that if they actually looked at the boat, no reasonable person could deny there was a problem with this boat.

His production manager did inspect the boat and spent quite a while going over the whole boat with my marina manager in attendance. The production manager was quiet, but at one point said to my marina manager something like "well, at least we're not busy right now" My manager took that to mean that a problem was recognized and that Post might now come up with a repair solution , and told me so when he gave me his report of the inspection visit. This inspection was perhaps four or five years ago, I believe.

After the inspection. time passed and I heard nothing from Post. I again called Ken. I believe he called back with someone else in his office and we had a conference call. Ken told me the result of the inspection revealed nothing but normal wear and tear, and that Post would not offer any help, and the call was abruptly ended. I believe I followed up with a letter on my law firms stationary which was referred to Post's Florida attorney. You can imagine the subsequent conversations and email exchanges I had.

I had two lawyers from my law firm begin investigating a possible lawsuit against Post. Ultimately, I decided not to bring an action because that cost of litigtion (unrecoverable in a lawsuit) would have exceeded the cost of repair, and my law partners convinced me to let it pass for my own sanity.

For the last several years, I have been having the cracks repaired as they develop.

And so my summary ends. If I have omitted any material fact, I would ask others to correct me.

Sorry to have unintentionally hi jacked this tread.