Barclay Marine appointed Yamaha dealer

by Bob Carter on 5 May 2009
Yamaha outboards are set to become more prolific on the magnificent lakes region around Forster on NSW’s north coast with the recent appointment of iconic Graham Barclay Marine as a Yamaha outboards dealer.

In this region, Graham Barclay is something of a local legend. With a high public profile as a first grade rugby league player with St George and Canterbury plus a world ranking tournament water skier, Graham Barclay Marine was established in 1965 and today has an impeccable heritage and local community standing.

Operating from a modern marine retail business in Forster, Graham Barclay Marine manager Mark Wilson said that being appointed as an authorised Yamaha outboards dealer is the very best thing to happen to the dealership for a very long time.

'In order to take on the Yamaha brand we willingly dropped an alternative brand of outboards,' Mark Wilson said. 'That goes to show how highly we regard the Yamaha product and the lengths we went to in order to earn the right to sell Yamaha to our customers.'

Already Mark Wilson is astounded at the strength of the Yamaha brand. The brand awareness is exceptional with customers coming to Graham Barclay Marine asking for Yamaha by name.

'These are local people that we have never before seen in our dealership, but because we now have Yamaha we are seeing a whole lot of new faces come through our doors.'

In the region around Forster, life is a little more slowly paced with the area being home to a large community of retirees. Typically, the range of outboards sold are between 3hp and 115hp. Two strokes are most popular from 3hp to 90hp while Yamaha’s EFI four strokes tend to be most in demand from 40hp to 115hp.

'We are now selling boat packages with Yamaha outboard engines on the transom, whereas previously these boats were very difficult to move. The brand awareness of Yamaha has made the difference with new boats and re-powers too.'

'Yamaha quality is legendary in the marine industry and now we are experiencing this first hand. The quality is first rate and warranty work well down on what we used to experience. When we fit an engine to a boat we just prime the fuel, hit the start key and it runs right away.'

Graham Barclay Marine has a well staffed and superbly trained service department. In addition to new Yamaha customers, the factory trained and qualified technicians will also be supporting existing Yamaha boaters in the region with both warranty work and routine maintenance.

In addition to the Yamaha outboards, Graham Barclay Marine is also an authorised agent for Yamaha Marine Insurance (YMI) and Yamaha Motor Finance (YMF).

'We have found the Yamaha organisation and the Yamaha people exceptionally supportive and helpful,' Mark Wilson said. 'Nothing that we ask of them is ever a problem, their product support is first rate and they are enthusiastic about the brand.'

'Our customers are happy with Yamaha and so are we.'

Yamaha outboards are available through an Australia-wide network of authorised Yamaha outboard dealers. All Yamaha 4-stroke outboards are supported with a full 4-year manufacturer’s warranty and all 2-stroke outboards are backed by a 3 year warranty – standard conditions apply.