In 1974 I bought my first bass boat and it had an Evinrude motor on it. Since then I have owned five bass boats and they all had OMC motors, either Johnson or Evinrude. Over the years I have had good luck with them and have been pleased with their service.

I bought a 1997 Stratos with a 200 HP Johnson Venom motor four years ago and until recently was very happy with it, too. While fishing in Tennessee I hit a rock and a short time later the motor locked up. When I took it to the Sports Center in Perry to be checked out they found damage to the lower unit housing from hitting the rock and also found a locator pin had come out of one of the pistons and locked the motor up.

The ease with which that motor locked up and had major damage bothered me. It had only 165 hours on it based on the hour meter. It also bothered me that the company I bought the boat from took 10 days to check it out after I took it to them, but I guess they were busy. So far all this is the bad part.

When they called with an estimate I asked them to fax it to my insurance company. I grew up on a farm and dad had all our insurance with Georgia Farm Bureau. When I moved to Griffin in 1972 I transferred all my insurance to the local office and Ronnie Green has been my agent since then. I have always had great service from them but what happened with my motor surprised me.

The Sports Center in Perry, GA faxed the estimate to the Farm Bureau office in Griffin on Thursday afternoon. On Saturday I got a check from them for the damage to my motor. That is incredible service! This is the good part of my experience.

Part 2 - The Ugly - Part 1, 2