Hi, That thought had crossed my mind when I first saw that post. It might also be one of the couple of supporters of Symbol Yachts who have posted their rebuttals on the other website dedicated to this story.
Dear Ocyam It is great that you are so happy with your boat and the people involved and I note your ongoing desire to protect the value of your boat by your willingness to provide such glowing and moving testimonials both here and elsewhere, will you be nominating your friends Cheng and MacPhail for boatbuilder and dealer of the year, or perhaps the nobel prize? In light of your post and other testimonials perhaps you could explain why you felt the need to engage an independant project manager at your own expense, to oversee the completion of the construction of your boat? You were one of the owners who decided to do this after you inspected my boat when it arrived and were so horrified at the state it was delivered in, were you not? As you are well aware of what happened to us, spoken with me on many occasions during the construction of our boats, and inspected my boat, I invite you to post a response to anything I have stated that you know to be untrue? Did you ever consider that perhaps a better way to protect the value of your boat might have been to make it clear to Symbol, that when they treat customers the way they treated us and others, they are in fact devaluing the brand and therefore the value of all their owners boats? You might like to also expand on what you consider “defects that you would expect in purchasing a new boat”? You may also feel the need to post another glowing tribute on this post http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/general-yachting-discussion/14427-cant-good-design.html Unfortunately my experience as well as that of many others in Australia was not so pleasant, as you well know. Your were indeed fortunate the dealer used a different company to contract your boat, even though our boats were contracted at around the same time, and did not liquidate it, as well as chosing to rectify issues on your boat after I went public with what they did to us. It was amazing how your boat was the first Australian boat to have the compliant AC wire installed and my boat was the last to have the illegal AC wiring installed yet they were both in the factory at the same time, simply amazing!! If only someone had spoken up before me, perhaps I would have been one of the lucky chosen few like you, most fortunate indeed! Happy happy boating!!
I am a broker in the mid-Atlantic. I have sold 8 54/56', 58', 68' Symbols 2003 to 2007. The boats run well and are a good design. The wiring is not high end and the hoses are cheap, gel coat cracks around the swim deck and transom areas are common. Overall they sell for 50% of a Offshore, Fleming or small Aleutian/Marlow product. Owners I know have enjoyed them for years updating some systems but running a lot of hours. I have had better luck with Symbol than Westbay.
I'm putting in an offer on a 1989 Symbol Yachtfisher 51. Had a visual and waiting to go into survey. I'm hoping, and keeping my fingers crossed, that given the visual showed good the owners also took care of the mechanicals, electricals, etc. over all these years. Engines (Cat 375 hp's) are mid hours at around 2000. Just hoping after almost 30 years the bugs have been worked out and I can get at least 5 more good years of light use from her. Time and a survey will tell.