Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

[cbavier]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

baineyg WOW!!!!

The pictures and just think this is just what you can see. What about what you can't see and the depth.
Give them a chance though, but get ready to tell them you want a new boat and won't settle for anything else. This is major Hull failure and I would also start looking for a lawyer just in case you need one. The Manufacturer might make it right, by replacing the hull but if they won't. Your going to need a lawyer. Another option is. If you can get BoatUS involved in it. They might act on your behalf. They love tackling these kind of issues on behalf of their members. Also a Marine Surveyor's Documentation will be of extremely advantageous for you should you have to go to court. Don't let them repair the boat however before you talk to a surveyor. He may want to see the boat before anything is done to it. Of course we are imagining the worse. The Manufacturer may just say we will replace the entire hull under warranty and the issue would be resolved.

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

whatever

 

[baineyg]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

Thanks for the info. I'm going to register right now and see what their opinions are. Thanks.
I still haven't decided on further actions w/ Bass Pro. So far they've been upfront with me.

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

whatever

 

[Marcq]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

Frankly, I'm surprised at averyone condeming this boat. Many of the members here have taken old wrecks and made them into beautiful better than new boats. That's the beauty of fiberglass. It can be repaired because that's the way it's made. It's not like a stamped metal fender on your car that is never the same after it bends. I have a fiberglass van and a guard rail went through the two doors on the passenger side. I thought they would be replaced as unrepairable but no, it was repaired and only cost $600. (Not an insurance claim)

Hey, we are not talking about a wreck here, we're talking about a new boat. Of course you wouldn't be able to understand that, since you never owned anything new from the looks of it

Marc..

 

[oops!]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

my internet isnt working right as im a long way from the wireless antenna....


just got a sneek peek at the picks.....
you can see in pic 404 where the choped strand never reached the joint....

if i were you...i would proceed as you are...however i would also ask a surveyor to look at the boat.....
that way the seller knows you are gathering factual ammo....and will not think your a push over.....they will tread a little more carefully

document everything.....twice.....and continue to be polite. a shouting match in the show room will get you much farther behind then polite factual, statments...........speak softly and carry a big stick.

and lets just sit back and see what the manufacture is going to do about it....they havent offically said anything yet....

lets see how they are going to handle it?

you are bound by the agreement you signed......they are also bound by it.
its the company that goes one step further....that wins coustomers.....i would think this is a case for going one step further......

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

I can't imagine that they would charge you to ship it to missouri... you did your part when you hauled it back to Bass Pro's shop. If they want to send it all over the world to get repaired, I would think that would be their responsibility. I also don't think you would have any problem making that case in court... and I'm sure they know that, so I don't think they'll actually ask you to pay that. I could be wrong. If they asked me to, I would feel abliged to serve them with a summons.

 

[azlakes]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

... yikes is right, this boat was dropped and put back on the shelf. get someone on your side soon before its masked over.

 

[Marcq]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

For some reason, the last pictures don't seemed to match with the boat, if you look at the inside pictures, it doen't look like a new boat and doesn't look like baiyneyg's boat. Scratch head

Marc..

 

[Robj]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

I wonder if that is a hard spot type failure. If you continue to get dicked around, then I would threaten to file a complaint with your regulatory agencies in the US. This issue should have been dealt with within a couple of days. In my opinion, this is very simple, major hull failure and they should be giving you a new boat, at absolutely no cost to you. There is no way the fuel tank could cause that type of failure. That failure is caused by concentrated loading, or a very weak spot in the hull structure. You may want to consider hiring a qualified surveyor to look at it and give you a report. That would only give you a stronger case.

I took another look at your stringers. It looks like the failure is from bending and the stringers are nearly broken through. Also the glass has failed, looks like a result of poor workmanship


Have a great day,

Rob.

 

[wncrjb]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

All I would like to add to this is prepare yourself for the worst. You can't have too many pictures of the damage right now and remember to document everything.... It's alot easier to delete all the information if you don't need it, as opposed to trying to remember the date of the conversations and meeting and what they were all about.

wncrjb

 

[Evinrude Boater]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

What do you think now evinrude boater?

I think this boat has some serious damage and I don't think baineyg is getting much benefit from members berating other members.

Good luck baineyg; I hope they treat you fairly.

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

I think this boat has some serious damage and I don't think baineyg is getting much benefit from members berating other members.

Good luck baineyg; I hope they treat you fairly.

I didn't think he was berating you. He was just responding to your comment about how warranties are the manufacturer's discretion. I think he read a little bit too far into that, but still.

Speaking of which, here's my response... warranties are only at the manufacturer's discretion up to the point at which they are written, they can not be changed after the fact.

Now as for whether or not they'll fix or replace, that's clearly catastrophic failure that's very dangerous. If it's not fixed right, it will still be dangerous. I would expect at this point, it would be cheaper and easier for them to just replace the hull.

As a side-note, the consumer product safety commission maybe should have a look. After all, if this is happening with a percentage of their boats, it's only a matter of time before someone is killed as a result.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

I think you are a ways off of lawyer time also but still advise you to do some homework in the meantime. Many states have "lemon laws" and you never know what yours might cover if it has one. Who knows, you law might include boats and if it does, getting a new boat might be easier than would be expected otherwise.



PS: I just went back and read all of the posts here, and I went to your Flickr page to look at all of the photos. The pic that interests me the most is the one of the interior bow area, which shows hull failure that appears to be away from both the fuel tank and the stringers. My guess at this point is that the hull was laid up improperly and that you have major structural problems beyond even what you are seeing now.

I think the recommendations to find a competent and well know marine surveyor are good ones. I would also try to find someone with some sort of advanced and documented expertise in hull construction - you might even want to find an engineer with this expertise. It will cost you a few bucks but, considering that this is potentially about a $40,000 fight (cost of buying a new boat plus the loss you will take in selling this one at a highly discounted price), I'd say it would be worth it.

As for fixing this boat, if all it would entail is fixing the busted transverse member aft of the fuel tank, I would say it is no big deal. The real problem to me is all of the failed areas along the hull, because it looks like they are present along the entire length of the boat. Simply put, I'm not buying the loose fuel tank theory. Even of these probems could be fixed, I would think that the boat would have to be disassembled by removing the cap, all of the flooring and the stringers. From that point, a bunch of fiberglass work would have to be done and I am wondering if you would end up with a boat that weighs several hundred pounds more than the design weight. You could also well end up with a boat that still has hidden defects.

You might get lucky and the manufacturer might see this for what it is and just ship you a new boat. I doubt they will offer to do that for free though. I have seen this sort of thing before in the automotive world and what usually happens there, is that the defective vehicle is depreciated and traded in at that value against the cost of the new vehicle. This is, once again, a very good reason to find out what lemon laws, or other consumer protection laws, there are in your state.

Good luck with this and keep us posted.

 

[JustJason]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

that is some ugly, ugly.... glasswork.

I can do better drunk and blindfolded while high on fumes.....

You need a new boat... there is no fixing that.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

It looks like it was dropped hard at some point, for there to be so many cracks in the glass work...I agree with the new boat idea, for what you paid for a new boat, to have to accept fixing that damage, when it was not wrecked by you, is unacceptable. I can tell you this from my re-build, my old 88 FW had a rotten deck and some rotten stringers, I had been using it for a couple of seasons, not in real rough water, but rough enough and when I pulled all the old wood and foam out, there was no cracking in the original glass work. I had the stringers repaired by a good glass shop because I wanted to make sure it was safe and done right, and they sure as heck looked a lot better than what that manufacturer did there....Like I said, the brand new one I looked at the Nassau Cty boat show had a pretty flexy floor for a new boat, I didn't look around in the ski locker, but the outside of the boat was finished well. Don't let them get away with this!

 

[LeftFeild]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

I've had a good laugh at everyone wanting to re-write baineyg's warranty. The fact remains, he bought a boat with a factory warranty and it's their option to honour the warranty how they see fit. If you want a warranty that says you get a new boat everytime you scratch it then negotiate that in the price otherwise you get what you pay for.
Frankly, I'm surprised at averyone condeming this boat. Many of the members here have taken old wrecks and made them into beautiful better than new boats. That's the beauty of fiberglass. It can be repaired because that's the way it's made. It's not like a stamped metal fender on your car that is never the same after it bends. I have a fiberglass van and a guard rail went through the two doors on the passenger side. I thought they would be replaced as unrepairable but no, it was repaired and only cost $600. (Not an insurance claim)
If you want to have a marine surveyor have a look, go ahead if that gives you peace of mind. I'm sure the dealer and/or manufacturer would welcome the assistance.
Parading around with signs bad-mouthing the company will not win you points, only a slander suit. You're only shooting yourself in the foot if you discredit the brand or company. Get yourself on TV with your boat telling the nation how bad it is and how poorly the company treated you and you'll be known across the nation as the guy with the crappy boat and you'll never sell it for a decent price.

Your just a tad bit jaded there my fellow boater, after reading this thread i find the originating poster being quite generous with his view's. It is very obivious a catastrophic failure of some kind has occured here. Poor assy or a high energy collision who know's, i certainly would hope no person would try to claim failure of construction due to a hard colliosion. Actually unless the bow has been severly damaged i cannot see how that could be anything but assy failure (Pic's please of the bow or leading edge of the lower front boat)

But on to warranty, the very word implie's assurance and implying has vast ramification's.It's not a legal document or remedy to wash a mfg from any potential liability. But a document to assure the potentail buyer of the integerity of craftmanship.

The qestion here is simple or debate, if i did not abuse this vehicle and it broke in half, do i have recourse. If abuse is ruled out yes you do, now do you have to accept a boat that broke in half under warranty and has been repaired???? That is the million dollar question...


This pic could say it all, it look's like two different type's of failure's of the gel coat, Ondarvr care to wander in here??

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

Hmmm.

Well, after taking a look through the pics, it looks to me like the boat was dropped hard or suffered some other major impact. Like it was kept on a shelf and dropped, then someone put it back, or maybe someone parked a forklift on it... or a trailer without suspension had the boat on it and was driven for many miles. Or even that something heavy like a pile of snow was on top of it for a while.

I agree with oops that the chopped strand missed a few spots, and others that the fiberglass job isn't a wonder of quality, but facing facts, I've seen worse glass on new production boats. Remember that the manufacturers are out to make money, not produce boats that last forever.

I'd say the damage in the pics looks to me like:

1) The aforementioned impact/physical damage followed by
2) Gelcoat bubbling caused by use after the damage, when the spider cracks started letting in water.

That's all. There's not much evidence of rot or water ingress, or fungus, or anything that would indicate water did this.

I suppose it could be a contaminated batch of resin, with far less strength than it should have. Or some problem curing, or maybe someone spraying oil all over the boat while it was built.

But boat manufacturers have QA.. it's easy to bash a company that charges so much for something we consider poor quality... but if the boat was going to fall apart this much due to bad resin I think they would have caught it in the factory.

My money is on a good boat exiting the factory, followed by a serious impact or series of them, followed by use on the water after that.

Erik

 

[Robj]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

When I looked at the break, I also looked for impact. But could not see it. That does not mean it is not there, but maybe elsewhere on the boat for which we do not have any pictures. Tough to tell without seeing the whole thing.

Regardless the way the glass failed, like it is just peeling away is poor workmanship.

Have a great day,

Rob

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?

Meh. With enough force most glass will peel away, and it'll look a lot like that. We don't know how much force was applied, hence we don't know if it was a good or bad layup.

But I can tell you that glass looks like that when it's ripped away from wood ​