Mastervolt where to buy?

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Dauntless66

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2021
Messages
12
Vessel Name
Dauntless
Vessel Make
Cheoy Lee 72
Does anyone have a good recommendation for where to buy Mastervolt products that offers the right balance of cost vs service?

Not looking for the “Cheap and on your own, no after sales support” option.

Also not looking for the “List price” but we support you option either.

Would anyone have had issues with either marine warehouse or citi marine out of Miami?
 
I've bought stuff (not Mastervolt) from Marine Warehouse, no issues but you are not going to get any product support from them.

This is one reason I've switched mostly to Victron, both build good stuff but Victron is much more widely distributed in North America. In the last 10 years Victron has developed a more extensive ecosystem of products as well. If you are buying Victron PKYS is a good place - good prices and knowledgable.
 
My main reason for staying with Mastervolt (Besides the fact the boat already has Mastervolt) is that we plan to travel extensively outside North America. Finding Mastervolt around the world for a 50hz boat (We don’t plan on converting to 60hz) should be easier than in the US.

Option for option, the Mass Combi Ultra 24/3500 charger inverters also seem to have more to offer than Victron but I agree, both are good reliable products.

Marine warehouse was by far the cheapest but as I suspected, might lack support.

Thanks for the help!

DDW said:
I've bought stuff (not Mastervolt) from Marine Warehouse, no issues but you are not going to get any product support from them.

This is one reason I've switched mostly to Victron, both build good stuff but Victron is much more widely distributed in North America. In the last 10 years Victron has developed a more extensive ecosystem of products as well. If you are buying Victron PKYS is a good place - good prices and knowledgable.
Click to expand...
 
I have all Mastervolt in one boat and all Victron in the other. Both are good. Marine Warehouse mainly seems to drop ship stuff from manufacturers, so they may have never seen a Mastervolt product. The Mastervolt stuff was installed in my sailboat in Toronto, purchased by the builder through distribution - but I had to figure everything out by myself, no local expertise.
 
That’s my one major concern, with limited distribution fining very knowledgeable installers for Mastervolt will be challenging. I was considering hiring a company to do all the engineering and drawings for the local installer to follow. Benefit is having that information when travelling so any good marine electrician around the world can figure out the system.

Considering Pacific Yacht Systems to design the upgrades. Then I would not have to rely on support from a wholesaler as much.

DDW said:
I have all Mastervolt in one boat and all Victron in the other. Both are good. Marine Warehouse mainly seems to drop ship stuff from manufacturers, so they may have never seen a Mastervolt product. The Mastervolt stuff was installed in my sailboat in Toronto, purchased by the builder through distribution - but I had to figure everything out by myself, no local expertise.
Click to expand...
 
West Marine is a big Mastervolt house, that's pretty wide distribution in the US. Pricey though, I'm sure. Defender sells it too, probably the right combination of "support" and price. What kind of support are you looking for that Mastervolt doesn't provide?
 
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West marine is certainly an option but was not my first choice. In fact they were who I had in mind for the expensive end.... but certainly do have support.

I deal daily with dealers and reps who represent HVAC and plumbing vendors. It’s having that local or reoccurring relationship that solves 90% of my issues without relying on a help desk.

As a result I build up a trust with them. Now I’m only willing to equate so much $$$ with support they are suppose to have but I also know it takes more profit to afford really good people.

So ideally somewhere between Marine Warehouse and West Marine.


caltexflanc said:
West Marine is a big Mastervolt house, that's pretty wide distribution in the US. Pricey though, I'm sure. Defender sells it too, probably the right combination of "support" and price. What kind of support are you looking for that Mastervolt doesn't provide?
Click to expand...
 
Dauntless66 said:
West marine is certainly an option but was not my first choice. In fact they were who I had in mind for the expensive end.... but certainly do have support.

I deal daily with dealers and reps who represent HVAC and plumbing vendors. It’s having that local or reoccurring relationship that solves 90% of my issues without relying on a help desk.

As a result I build up a trust with them. Now I’m only willing to equate so much $$$ with support they are suppose to have but I also know it takes more profit to afford really good people.

So ideally somewhere between Marine Warehouse and West Marine.
Click to expand...

So Defender then.

I just spent some time exploring Mastervolt's hideous website. Apparently they offer no factory support to end users, so now I understand the original question. They make good products, but frankly I would never buy a Mastervolt product based on this. I think back on the great service I received from brands like Magnum, Charles and Newmar, hell even Xantrex to some degree, not to mention Furuno and others, and find this really unacceptable.

I also see they are now owned by Brunswick.
 
Defender is a great e-tailer, but you will not get any tech support from them on a Mastervolt product. WestMarine either. They both might be able to tell you what's in the manual. An installer with product experience is probably your only hope in N.A. Mastervolt is much more popular in Europe. Tech support for Victron is crowd-sourced, but you can usually at least find answers.
 
This is a common problem with European product distribution in the US. In Europe, they sell through dealers who actually understand and can support the product, and there is no corporate end-user support. Then they try to do the same thing in the US and it fails. It fails because in the US most sellers just sell, and barely know anything about what they are selling. This goes for West Marine especially, and also Defender, Fisheries, etc, etc. If you ask a question, they will open up the manual and read it to you. The killer is that the European companies have no direct corporate support, if you can't solve the problem with what's in the box, then you are SOL. I have approached MasterVolt several times with tech questions that are over the heads of your typically seller and nobody is home. Victron isn't much better, though they do have a lot of on-line info. But it's a very time consuming treasure hunt to find info. I actually gave up on Victron products because I was wasting too much time following bread crumbs trying to find info.
 
Couple of catch up items.

Boarder won’t come into play as our boat will be in Charleston. That’s also what’s ruling out me looking to deal with anyone on my side of the boarder.

Surprised to hear the experiences with Victron are similar, support wise but as mentioned, crowd support makes a huge difference. Likely have something similar for Mastervolt but it will likely introduce language issues in trying to get help from around the world.

So at least both products are well made. This would be incredibly difficult if they had reputations for poor reliability.

Sounds like my thoughts of saving the money and spending it on a good knowledgeable systems engineer might be the best option and at least ensure the system is designed and installed properly. Take that portion out of the equation and hope for the best where product support comes into play.

So lowest cost for the hardware will make sense. At least I’ll actually save enough to cover the entire cost for engineering from PYS.

Appreciate everyone’s input.


twistedtree said:
This is a common problem with European product distribution in the US. In Europe, they sell through dealers who actually understand and can support the product, and there is no corporate end-user support. Then they try to do the same thing in the US and it fails. It fails because in the US most sellers just sell, and barely know anything about what they are selling. This goes for West Marine especially, and also Defender, Fisheries, etc, etc. If you ask a question, they will open up the manual and read it to you. The killer is that the European companies have no direct corporate support, if you can't solve the problem with what's in the box, then you are SOL. I have approached MasterVolt several times with tech questions that are over the heads of your typically seller and nobody is home. Victron isn't much better, though they do have a lot of on-line info. But it's a very time consuming treasure hunt to find info. I actually gave up on Victron products because I was wasting too much time following bread crumbs trying to find info.
Click to expand...
 
Dauntless66 said:
Does anyone have a good recommendation for where to buy Mastervolt products that offers the right balance of cost vs service?

Not looking for the “Cheap and on your own, no after sales support” option.

Also not looking for the “List price” but we support you option either.

Would anyone have had issues with either marine warehouse or citi marine out of Miami?
Click to expand...
Bluewater Rigging in Vancouver (ANDY) supplied and fitted Mastervolt 24|4000-100 mass combi to our OA60 a few years back . Knowledgeable,Good job and easy to deal with.
 
Sounds like my thoughts of saving the money and spending it on a good knowledgeable systems engineer might be the best option and at least ensure the system is designed and installed properly. Take that portion out of the equation and hope for the best where product support comes into play.

So lowest cost for the hardware will make sense. At least I’ll actually save enough to cover the entire cost for engineering from PYS.
Click to expand...

Since you are going to be here on the east coast, I would strongly suggest you consult J. Gordon in Annapolis or Ward's Marine Electric in Fort Lauderdale.

J Gordon & Co. - Annapolis Marine Electrical

https://wardsmarine.com/
 
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