Making the 1100km trip south from Emerald in QLD, Andrew and Jody had set aside 4 days from Friday to head south for the Brisbane Boat Show to find a boat, give it a test drive, take delivery and then make the 1100km trip back home in time for work on Tuesday.

A diesel fitter by trade and an avid boatie, Andrew Clein had already clocked up many miles onboard his older model fibreglass ski boat and his dedicated Bluefin 455 fishing boat. However a decision to concentrate more on water skiing and learning to wake board, meant a new a dedicated sports ski boat was needed to handle all the on-water pursuits.

After a decent amount of boating research, Andrew had narrowed his ski boat choices down to two with the Lewis Outback heading the list at the Brisbane Boat show visit. Finance had been personally organised 1 month prior to the show with Andrew aiming for a hassle free purchase experience.

“We had picked out the boat, spoken to Steve Parker at Lewis Boats about the Outback, and were ready to have a serious talk with Wynnum Marine

when I had been told that my finance had been cleared but could not be settled until the middle of next week,” said Andrew.

“It was 6pm on Friday when we found out about our finance and we knew this setback could ruin our plans on making it back to Emerald on time. On Saturday morning, Paul Hamer, Finance Manager at Wynnum Marine, took me across to the YMF (Yamaha Motor Finance) stand and, with all our paperwork handy, we had finance approved within 2 hours. “

All was going well until Andrew and Jody were told that the Lewis Outback on display at the Wynnum Marine show stand, if purchased, could not be delivered until mid Monday morning- too late for the tight Clein schedule. By chance, Wynnum Marine had an almost identical Lewis Outback on display back at the dealership so Andrew, Jody and Danny all piled into Danny’s car to head over to Wynnum Marine.

“Because we had travelled so long to get to the show and wanted to head home with a new boat, we were certainly open to suggestions,” said Andrew Clein.

“When we got to the dealership, Danny gave us as much time as we wanted to look over the Lewis Outback on display. It was also on sale because it did not have the 2006 upgraded dash but everything else was identical to the Lewis at the show.”

“I was quite amazed at Danny’s attitude because on the way back from the dealership, he didn’t even talk about the boat or special prices. He was more interested to find out where Emerald was and what it was like to live up there. He was far from pushy, just a relaxed man.”

Saturday afternoon was a busy time for Andrew and Jody with registration and insurance to be sorted out back at the Wynnum show stand. Come Sunday morning, Danny had organised especially to have the dealership open for Paul Hamer to complete the YMF documents so Andrew and Jodycould pick up their new Lewis Outback and get on the road as soon as possible.

“On Sunday morning we were in and out of Wynnum Marine within 30 minutes,” said Andrew Clein.

“We have since put 10hrs on the boat in the 2 months since we bought our Lewis and we think the boat is very good. Wynnum Marine went out of their way to look after us especially with Danny leaving the show to take us to Wynnum and opening up the dealership for us on Sunday.”

Wynnum Marine is owned and operated by the legendary boat building Nichols family. Wynnum Marine is the home of CruiseCraft Boats plus other quality brands including Ally Craft and Lewis Boats. The company is also an agent for Yamaha, Johnson, and Evinrude outboards and offers the public a large range of marine accessories and a first class marine service centre.

For further information on this story contact:

Danny Nichols
Director, Wynnum Marine
Tel (07) 3396 9777
Fax (07) 9893 2046
Email info@wynnummarine.com.au