I have a 2004 stratos 285 magnum with a 175 johnson. i bought this boat brand new, 0 hours in 2005. ever since i have had the boat i have had problems with my cranking battery going dead. initially i thought maybe i was leaving something flipped on. after recharging my battery and being stranded a few times, even after running a good ways before i would get to the first fishing spot to make sure that i am giving it enough time to charge it, i called riverside marine. they told me to bring the boat in and they would look at it..they told me everything was fine, battery was good and alternator was charging. a couple days later, i took it ou, fished for 2 hours and was stranded yet once again. it was daylight so no lights were being used, only trolling motor and graphs. called riverside back and they told me that it was the low grade batteries that are rigged from the factory, and that if i wanted to night fish that i would have to get a 1000 amp cranking battery..keep in mind this is after him telling me the battery tested fine. i questioned his answer, but got a new battery that he recommended, although i shouldn't have had to because the boat was still under warranty. well with the new battery, it still went dead and hen i start out on a fishing trip it will show 12 amps, but the work it way down to 10 after only a couple of hours. i am running this boat enough to charge the batteries if there wasn't an issue.now i have developed a new problem. i was fishing yesterday and developed a new problem. all of the sudden while i am fishing my trim starts trimming down on its own. with the power button flipped on i cant use trim on the wheel to trim up, only to trim down. when i flip the power i can use it both ways..with power on i can use trim at the bow both up and down, but as soon as i stop trimming up at the bow it trims itself back down. needless to say when i am running down the lake now my power must be shut off which means no depth finder..kinda dangerous, also, if i must have power off to run my boat it means i cant night fish either. sop getting tired of these problems, i loaded the boat, trimmed the motor up as always, and while i am pulling out of the ramp, my motor trimmed itself back down and ground some of my skeg off. should this be covered under warranty? the wiring i think should be, i and i also think that stratos would be responsible for a new skeg since i was sold a faulty boat. the boat i owned before this one was a $3000 boat that never gave me a bit of problems. i go out and buy a 20000 boat and i have had problems since day one and cant get much help from the dealer. it is not like i haven't tried to get the problem fixed, i am just getting run around in circles by the dealer. i am a very unhappy customer, unless i see some great customer service. what route do i need to take no? and once again should stratos have to fix my skeg? thanks and sorry for the long post.
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