Prosport ribs

[simmons0]

We got fed up with trying to phone Jason yesterday

Thats the one thing i remember from trying to deal with Jason.

Nice guy, nice boats, but trying to contact him is a real struggle.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by dangers

Ian, they told me that they are now fitting grab rails as standard. I know that Adrian at Stainless Fabrications 01481 248146 took at order from Jason yesterday.

Grab rails have always been standard, mine arrived at the works yesterday!
'In the post' this week.

[Brambles]

I would be intereted to hear owners experiences of these ribs on the water.

I was chatting to a broker today who said that the one he tried (I'm pretty sure he said it was a 7.5m) was bow heavy and it was not very good to drive in a following sea as it darted from side to side. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

[Charles]

I met a very interesting chap on Friday evening at Ribex who is in fact the nephew of Johan Ullman (the inventor of the shock mitigation seat system).
Frederick lives in Geneva for most of the year and commutes to Gotland, Sweden on a regular basis as he is in fact employed by his uncle. Some months ago Frederick was involved in 'speccing' and supplying Prosport with the complete Ulmann system to be fitted to an 8.5m which had just come out the mould. Apparently the system was offered at a knock-down price on the proviso that Ulmann and Prosport would share a water-based stand at Ribex to the mutual benefit of both companies. This makes perfect sense (much like the Zodiac CZ7). Well, Frederick travelled from Geneva on Friday morning and spent the entire day on the phone trying to contact Prosport.
Prosport never bothered to show up at all leaving Frederick incredulous that someone could actually do something like that.
He did have a brilliant time though as his hangover's were to prove!

[TIM]

I also fredrick saying this too.....

I talked to Jason a few times.. I wanted to meet him at southampton, and I phoned his mobile 26 times before he answered..... 3 days after Southampton....

I thinks he is a nice guy.. he builds good ribs at the right price... but needs someone so sell them for him and look after the service side..... so he can get on with building them.....

PS I am Not a stalker ring him 26 times..... just interested in possibly buying one

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by TIM

needs someone so sell them for him and look after the service side

Well, two groups of people have tried and failed!

[Alan]

Frankly it doesnt matter how nice a guy this chap is. If he is as unreliable and disorganised as it appears, his business will fail once his existing customers get fed up with progress chasing the components parts of their boats and his potential new customers go spend their money with people they can get ahold of and who do keep their promises!

[Erin]

I suppose that working out of a shed without all the overheads and office staff to answer telephones is the main reason we are able to get such good value on our purchases from him.

Frustrating certainly, but possibly worth the aggravation for a better value deal?

Glad I'm not the only one who can't get him to answer the phone... thought for a minute he was trying to avoid me.

[simmons0]

I found that once the VAT was added to his price it was only a few hundred quid cheaper than Humber and Solent.

Add the cost of the trip to Gernsey on and its about the same price.

I suppose that working out of a shed without all the overheads..

Hes no longer working from the shed i visited, hes renting somewhere else on the island.

[DepSol]

Originally Posted by dangers

I established the Suz is still in the UK and the agent is waiting for Jason to order it down. The A frame was just ordered this morning! Basically the supply problem is Pro-sport, he has a fat order book, and he can't make them quick enough.

Dangers

I am in Jasons workshop weekly. I am sure I saw your suzi inits packaging.

The problem is for Jason that some items are hard to get hold of at the moment, I am not going to say which bits but I know he was awaiting a certian item for 5 RIBS that were taking their time in getting there. If he know he isnt going to get the tubes for example for 2 weeks and he knows the engine can be there and fitted in 2 days what is the point of having the engine there which he has to pay for whilst it is sitting doing nothing in his workshop taking up space.

I know the answers seem obvious but until its your business and you are doing the work and paying the bills then its not.

The reason he doesnt answer his phone much is because he needs to finish boats, if he stopped and answered every call then your boat would be delayed a lot lot longer.

Give the guy a break he is working damn hard to give you guys what you want a good RIB at a competitive price. Let him do his job.

[Richard B]

Dom, your support for your fellow islander is highly laudible, but in comparrison, if you telephone Graham Jelley for details on a tuppeny ha'penny piece of kit, he will 'phone you back promptly.

[simmons0]

Its not just phone calls. Trying to get an e-mail reply from him is a mission and all his quotes were erratic.

Having seen an advert on BoatsandOutboards advertising this same package at £12.5k i e-mailed Jason:

first off all my apologies in the delay to respond to your emails.
the spec for the 6m comes with hull and tubes in your choice of colours built in 35 gallon fuel tank, side by side console, 2 x 2 man seat pods, no feed back steering double A-frame auto bilge pump, swing beam trailer
£14,500.00

Obviously we had to wonder where the extra £2000 had come from:

We had some special deals on Suzukis but they only had 4 engines left and i am pretty sure they have all been sold now.
we can supply a 6m with 70hp for £10,000.00 still this comes with drivers single console 2 x 1 man seat pods, 35 gallon fuel tank, double A-Frame
with the 90hp we can supply for £11,000.00

So now i get a quote without the double console i asked for repeatedly and now minus a trailer. One e-mail and a phone convo later:

The price given was ex trailer so for the below spec Inc Swing back trailer and side by side console
£12,500.00

At this point i ask for the 115 suzuki upgrade(£900) and for his bank details to place an order.

Hang on whats this, another £2300 has apeared on the price and that is now excluding a trailer?

total price for your personal rib with the 115hp Suzuki to your spec is as follows ex Trailer
Delivery Time Will be On or before the 15th April 2004
I look forward to hearing from You
Kind Regards
Jason
Total: £14,800.00
Deposit: £4,900.00

Remembering that that is ex VAT and not including a trailer it is no longer any cheaper than some of the other boat builders and feeling very gutted i went elsewhere.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Richard B

Dom, your support for your fellow islander is highly laudible, but in comparrison, if you telephone Graham Jelley for details on a tuppeny ha'penny piece of kit, he will 'phone you back promptly.

Well as I mentioned earlier I was quite miffed by my treatment at the Ribex show - firstly the lady on the scorpion stand accused me of being a press photographer and said they charged for the photos - she MAY have been joking. When I said I WAS in the market for an 8 metre RIB I was hardly treated any better.

I waited for Mr Jolly and when he came in I tried to strike up conversation - he didn't seem very chatty and when i asked for a demo he apologised and said he had to go out on a delivery with some customers - he suggested I call to the factory at some other date. Fair enough BUT there were 2 other Scorpions on the water - one even had it's engine running and a crew member sitting there just pottering back and fore.

I realise it was 3pm on the sunday but I DID expect better!

[dangers]

Originally Posted by DepSol

If he know he isnt going to get the tubes for example for 2 weeks and he knows the engine can be there and fitted in 2 days what is the point of having the engine there which he has to pay for whilst it is sitting doing nothing in his workshop taking up space.

Depsol, I don't dispute what you say here, it makes perfect sense.

However my story is as follows: I was told quite clearly that my boat was not finished because the Suzuki engine had not turned up. I called Shoreline Marine (Guernsey Suz agent) to find out what the problem was. Answer: Engine has not been ordered. My reaction: go to Guernsey and see for myself exactly what the state of play is because you are not going to get a straight answer over the phone. I am not trying to give Jason a hard time, I fully understand the pressure he is under. I am just sharing my experience with fellow rib enthusiasts.

[Brambles]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Well as I mentioned earlier I was quite miffed by my treatment at the Ribex show - firstly the lady on the scorpion stand accused me of being a press photographer and said they charged for the photos - she MAY have been joking. When I said I WAS in the market for an 8 metre RIB I was hardly treated any better.

I waited for Mr Jolly and when he came in I tried to strike up conversation - he didn't seem very chatty and when i asked for a demo he apologised and said he had to go out on a delivery with some customers - he suggested I call to the factory at some other date. Fair enough BUT there were 2 other Scorpions on the water - one even had it's engine running and a crew member sitting there just pottering back and fore.

I realise it was 3pm on the sunday but I DID expect better!

Codprawn,

I am sorry you had a bad reception from the Mr Jelly. My understanding is that he was preoccupied at the time with a customers boat that was going to Ireland. I would urge you to take him up on the offer to visit the factory. I did and was very impressed by the quality of the construction of these ribs.

If you go for a test drive, Graham will also answer your questions posted elsewhere about trim tabs. We have them on the 8.1m and wouldn't want to be without them now.

[DepSol]

Originally Posted by Richard B

Dom, your support for your fellow islander is highly laudible, but in comparrison, if you telephone Graham Jelley for details on a tuppeny ha'penny piece of kit, he will 'phone you back promptly.

Ah yes but is he working on he boats all the time aswell or has he seperaed that role from his current position.

I am sure that if Jason is doing some glassing and has just got to the 3rd mat and you phoned he is not going to drop making your boat to chew the fat over a tuphappeny piece of kit. he wants your boat finished and whilst he is chatting to you your boat isnt getting done, isnt getting the correct concentration required and hehas one other person who is waiting for him to get off the phone to carry on working who is being paid for doing nothing.

See other comment on here about Mr Jelley maybe unfair maybe fair but they all cant be where everyone wants them to be all the time, acomprimise has to be made. and you cant just say then he should let someone ele do it because his business might be in the stage that this is not affordable at this time.

Its hard balancing everything in life and not everyone gets it right all the time but there are two side to every coin. I see both sides and understand peoples gripes but there is a thin line when you re trying to get a business moving especially in Guernsey.

Yes maybe he should return calls etc and keep communiction going but like me he prob gets home and fals asleep before getting the chance.

[DepSol]

Originally Posted by simmons0

Its not just phone calls. Trying to get an e-mail reply from him is a mission and all his quotes were erratic.

Obvioulsy you have a point, when I get to this stage I usually put everything down in bullet points easy to read when someone may be tired and not thinking properly and striaght answers can only be achieved.

As I have said before communication is a two way street.

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by Richard B

...but in comparrison, if you telephone Graham Jelley for details on a tuppeny ha'penny piece of kit, he will 'phone you back promptly.

It aint necessarily so.

[Richard B]

I can only describe my own experience!

[Jono Garton]

Interesting points of view

Someone mentioned the hulls being bow heavy??? You can say what you like about jason but the hulls are great, my 6.5 is the dogs dangleys.

If any one wants a 6m pro sport but doesnt want to wait, i have a 115hp suzuki 4 stroke, roller trailer, seating for 5, vhf dsc, gps, fish finder, double a frame 3 months old £13'000 ready for collection now.