I recently purchased a new Sylvan 2008 2258 Mirage Signature from Lake of the Wood Marine in Northern Virginia and I am disgusted with the numerous issues I've had and continue to have with the boat! I only took delivery a few months ago and I have spent considerably more time repairing it than I have using the boat. The list of issues is long and the majority of them appear to have been caused by the dealer, but at this point I dont care whose fault it is, all I know is I have a 3 month old Sylvan boat that Im ready to sell, and I would never recommend that anyone buy a Sylvan or SmokerCraft! I have attempted to contact or get some support from Sylvan directly but all my attempts have resulted in being referred back to the dealer! They do not publish or have any contact information available to customers, instead they hide behind there dealers! My list of problems is long so I will just list them, but I should mention that I bought the boat without a motor as I already had a 2007 Evinrude on my current boat. The terms of the sale for my new Sylvan included removing my 2007 Evinrude from my old boat and installing it on the new Sylvan.
The list to date:
1. Oil tank installed in changing room leaving no room for porti-potty
2. Tachometer set incorrectly caused me to incorrectly pay to have prop re-pitched
3. Hydraulic steering mechanism improperly installed, does not give full steering deflection
4. Hydraulic steering not compatible with dealer installed jack-plate
5. Trailering motor with jack-plate in down position results in sheered hydraulic fittings
6. Running live well for more than 1 minute trips breaker
7. Numerous wiring issues caused by improperly crimping butt splices
a. Jack-plate gauge inoperative
b. Mood lights Inoperative
c. Burnt and loose wires
8. Depth finder wiring harness damaged (cut)
9. Missing screw in Captain seat floor base
10. Missing and loose screws on rear side railing
11. Bulging side panels
12. Scratch in paint, promised but never received touchup paint
13. Tongue jack installed so that crank handle passed with in 1/4 of loading stairs caused gouge to bone in finger
14. Boat incorrectly rigged on trailer resulted in extremely high tongue weight
15. Numerous wires spliced with non-waterproof connectors
16. General engine wiring and plumbing unsightly (ugly and unprofessional)