Re: Stringer Pushing through bottom of Boat?
That boat was dropped at some point, there's just too much damage to explain it any other way. My only concern is whether or not Tahoe will take responsibility for it. It may not have happened at the factory, but at the dealer or while in transit.
I've seen vehicles that were damaged by the carrier and have been repaired and reshipped to the dealer with no one ever saying a word. Most of the time the dealer doesn't even know. I watched a brand new van get low bridged and the roof completely removed, the van went back to the carrier, their insurance repaired the vehicle and it was redelivered a few weeks later. If we hadn't recorded the serial number, it would have been the dealers problem, but knowing it was the same vehicle it got refused. I suppose however it got pawned off on another dealer sooner or later. Most states have disclosure laws, but all too often they get ignored or conveniently forgotten. Many states also only require disclosure if you ask, others have dollar amounts. Here it's $1500 or more must be disclosed at the time of sale. If you have any doubt that this law often gets disregarded, take a look at how many flood vehicles turned up all over the country after Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast.
If the boat was damaged by a carrier it's really not the fault of the manufacturer, but your particular state laws may govern the way that is handled. You may at the very least be able to use it in a lemon law type of claim. But beware, lemon laws may not apply to boats and 'recreational vehicles'. If the factory refuses to make good free of charge, I would go after the dealer. Don't threaten to do so, just do it. Warning them gives them time to start planning a way out of it.
I would suspect that the boat was mishandled or improperly transported somehow if not just outwardly dropped, it may well have been hurricane damaged and repaired and relocated. (The age of that boat puts in the suspect time period too). I live within site of a Tracker dealer here, I see boats being delivered and can't imagine how they don't get damaged. I've seen them stacked piggy back with wood forms for supports, even larger boats are hauled that way. The name of the game is to get as many on a truck as possible. Once the boats leave the factory, only the driver knows what happens from there to the dealer. Some come in on trailers, others are mated to trailers at the dealer.
I am also surprised that the dealer hasn't tried to claim abuse somehow, even to an untrained eye, that would be the first question. The dealer may know something that they're not letting on. Especially if they weren't too surprised at the damage.
Do a web search on the company that built the boat, search Tahoe boat problem and Tracker problems. The company has had lots of complaints about hull damage, on both glass and aluminum hulls.
Tracker boats are common here, but mostly aluminum hulls, I have seen several odd failures in their boats, everything from bent hulls to large cracks along ribs in fairly new boats. The worst one I saw in an aluminum boat was one that bent about 6" ahead of the transom, the transom and motor actually looked like it had been pushed downward about 2 inches. The factory did nothing claiming too large of a motor, (it was under the Coast Guard plates max size, and it had been bought as a complete package from the dealer.
The factory blamed the dealer and owner, the dealer blamed the factory, and no one would fix the boat. In court, the court pretty much ruled in favor of the dealer saying that an owner assumes a certain amount of risk when purchasing an 'off road or recreational vehicle' and the factory and dealer have no control or way to observe it's use. In other words the buyer assumes at his own risk that its potentially an unsafe or unproven vehicle and must be responsible for any subsequent repairs created while using such a vehicle. The owner was stuck with a bent hull, the dealer washed their hands of it, and the courts backed it up. They sort of look at boats here as high risk items which are prone to failure and any use is considered possibly extreme.
As messed up as that sounds, their reasoning is similar to buying any off road or high performance part for you car or truck, theres no other warranty other than the fact that it is what it is and the extent of the warranty is against defects, not damage, regardless how the damage got there.
Be ready for a fight, whether or not it comes along. If they won't replace it, go after the dealer, if they aren't at fault, let them go after the carrier or factory too. No matter what, so long as you know that you didn't cause the damage, and from what I can see of the pics, I doubt it unless you dropped it off a bridge to launch it, someone knows more than their letting on. Chances are that they remember what happened and knew right away where to look.
The tank story is crap, it sounds to me like they are trying to down play the extent of the damage. The bubbling around the outer crack looks more like lifting paint than gelcoat? It's hard to tell by the pic. It could be a clue to a former repair.
That boat may also have far more damage than what you see there, they are only digging for what has already popped through the outside, even if the fix those spot and get lucky and it's a successful repair, who's to say that there isn't other damage that hasn't surfaced yet. If that's the case, it for one isn't safe, and second, they may try to pin the blame the second time on you.
No matter what they do, anything short of a new hull, that boat isn't ever going to be right. Even if they do a bare hull and all your old parts, if it's not done by the factory, corners may be cut to save time. I would think that it would be in the interest of the dealer to supply a complete boat, and make peace with you asap. But from what I've read online, that doesn't seem to be the case with this company.
The letter you wrote was good, it didn't threaten and you put the ball in their hands quoting safety and obvious warranty issues. If the letter don't work or if any part begins to get defensive or begins to start placing blame, get a lawyer and let him hire a marine surveyor, it's well worth the money to get this handled asap at that point and to be sure to cover all your bases.
If that was mine, there is NO WAY I'd let them fix that, the only options in my mind are either a complete new hull, or a complete boat. If it was an outboard, the motor swap idea would be more viable, but being an IO, I'd hope they would see the cost of labor and just write off a new boat to customer satisfaction regardless of who or what did actually damage that boat. It's their name on the boat, not the dealers.
Good luck and keep us posted on what happens.
