12/24/2018
Jet Tech Sports / December 2018
As 2018 comes to an end and we look forward to 2019, I wanted to take a few minutes to review the year, reintroduce the company, and say thank you to each and every one of you that have given us the privilege take care of your watercraft or jetboat.
2018 for us brought a record number of new clients on board. The cumulative combination of the increase in the Yamaha jetboat population, great online reviews (thank you, we are truly humbled by your kind words), social media referrals, and word of mouth referrals amounted to a daunting and challenging workload during the peak season.
Jet Tech Sports has gone through many changes in 28 years. In 1991, after having completed 13 great years in the Service and Engineering division of Yamaha Motor Corporation USA I felt the need expand myself personally. Although I had a lot of options I felt building a PWC business dedicated completely to PWC clients was the direction I wanted to go. Originally located in Marietta on Shallowford Road we quickly began to struggle with the growth and our space requirements. We ended up moving to our Woodstock location and ultimately were housed in a 12,000 square foot building in a business park there. In the economic downturn of 2008-2009 we were all looking at the crystal ball but it was clouded. After a lot of prayer and indecision about what our next step would be our prayers were answered. The building we are currently in became available and the direction was clear. We could be on the lake and at the same time offer even better customer service by actually being on the water. Although we downsized considerably there is no substitute for being on the water for testing, final check purposes, and a superior final product.
Regarding the trends we saw in 2018, there are a LOT of older units still in service. We see an unusually high number of these units since most businesses won’t work on them any longer. Many of these businesses are kind enough to refer them directly to us. As I have said before, working on the older units presents its own set of challenges. Multiple problems requiring multiple repairs, unforeseen problems that appear during the repair process and problems that manifest themselves while we are working on them are just a few are the challenges we face every day. Repairing one area does not take the rest of the unit to the Fountain of Youth so there are always risks involved. What I can assure of is that we make every effort to not bring you any surprises. We are 1/3 medical examiner, 1/3 coroner/ and 1/3 technician when it comes to these older units. We do our absolute best to be your advocate for the best outcome.
On older units there are several known issues that if addressed in a timely fashion will save a lot of heartache and unnecessary financial costs later. Kind of an insurance policy. Rather than make a lengthy list here I would recommend giving us a call for issues specific to your model.
The subject of winterization is always a confusing subject to understand. This is compounded by the fact that OEM’s are constantly in a marketing battle about who is cheaper to operate. Minimizing recommended storage and service procedures has been in the bullseye of their marketing. For our 28 years we have held the position that the minimal cost of a thorough winterization far outweighs the potential damage, aggravation, and reduced PWC life that not winterizing can bring. All I can say is that our long term clients generally say don’t change what you doing because it works extremely well.
In closing, I am proud of our staff. Myself, Kim (the female one!), Zach, and Dylan all share in our goal to take the best possible care of you. We hope your experiences with us have been good and look forward to seeing you in 2019. We wish you great holiday season, God bless you and God bless the United States of America.
Kim Davis
