I’ve been having some major issues with my three and a half year old aluminum hard top boat and would appreciate some feedback on what to do.

The boat is built by one of the popular brands, I wont say who, for now, as my intention is to get some useful feedback rather than start a slagging off session. The LOA is 6.65, hull is 5mm 5083 aluminum with a HP rating of 115-200hp. Its powered by a 150Hp Etec.

The issues I’ve had are a crack on the starboard chine, about 1500mm up from the stern. My measurement of the crack was 60mm in length.

About 8 months later a second crack was noticed on the same location but different side of the boat. I didn’t manage to measure this one but apparently it was about 20mm

Both occasions the boat went back to the manufacturer for repair.

I keep the boat in a marina and both cracks have meant that the buoyancy chambers have completely filled with water over time. This resulted in a very dangerous situation when out boating with my wife and infant daughter when we nearly tipped over when we crossed a wake of a launch we were coming up behind.

Obviously I’ve been disappointed about the cracks and dangerous situation they have put us in but what has been more disappointing has been how difficult it’s been dealing with the manufacturer, but that’s a story for another day.

After many attempts to get some documentation to support that the repairs have been done properly so that I can have some confidence in the hull and one day sell the boat with a clear conscience, I finally had to contact the marine industry association of NZ to get things to happen. This resulted in a meeting being set up with a marine surveyor who suggested that the way the repair had been done was sufficient and the manufacturer finally sent me an email to support that.

The manufacturer has made it clear that he believes that it is “not a failure of the boat” and that I should “extrude from that, that its something I’m doing with it”

I’m finding this hard to stomach as I have only used the boat in a manner that everyone I’ve talked to or who has been on the boat with me considers to be easily within the expectations for such a vessel. My work situation allows me a lot of flexibility with work hours so I simply go boating when the weather is nice and avoid poor weather.

From my understanding the manufacturer believes that because they make such strong boats and don’t usually have this sort of problem then it must be something I’ve done that has caused the problems. I find this pig headed but wanted to know if there is there any support for that theory out there?

The manufacturer is out there saying they build one of the strongest boats in the markets and is quite happy to slag off other brands. Many people in the industry who are reading this will already know who I’m talking about I would imagine!

Form my understanding, their position is that they think they have bent over backwards to sort out a problem that I caused where as I feel like I’ve been bent over a barrel instead.

I'd really appreciate some feedback on what to do from here?

kaveman wrote: this could be interesting

Agree

i have a 533 stabi, it was mint as when i bought it 5 months ago. ive done 200hours in 5 months now and have 2 cracked welds in the same place either side of the hull. the hull is ten years old but had done no work atall before i got it. I rang stabi (not expecting anything) but wanting to know how i can stop this and other similiar things happening in the future. (ive only been using it 5 months!) but got pretty shut down, was told its a first time they have ever heard of it happening (yeah right!) and that was about it... will be interesting to see how it handles the next couple years. and if the repairs can hold out.. many more cracks and ill be looking for a boat that can handle being used- besides that its been fantastic.

will take sum 

With the boat being in a marina have you had the hull checked by a marine electrician to make sure it is wired correctly and it has the right amount of anodes to control the stray current corrosion?

 Wonder if it is a Factory Weld fault or just a one off! They are meant to be Extremely Well built craft and the quality of their work looks really good from what I have seen.....Would be interesting to find out from others who own similar boats and see if they have had any similar issues. 

Boat sits in the marina, always in the water and not on a cradle. Its been lifted out of the water by travel lift about 4 times.

Rob Optimist wrote: kaveman wrote: this could be interesting Agree Back to the cracks, not acceptable for a hull to crack and definitely not acceptable to be treated like that by the manufacturer. If they had responded properly to the problem you would not be forced to go online here. Keep at them, squeacky wheel gets the oil.

 

Exactly. Its just a constant battle to even get information from them. I was happy that with the second crack they arranged for the boat to be picked up and taken back to the factory. The first crack I had to do 8 trips back and forth, getting trailer form factory, come back, load boat and take to factory, come back, go out pick boat up, come back, go to factory and drop off trailer, come back home. Major hassle and cost.

 

 

Moki Marko wrote: Aluminium does crack - sometimes in random places - the boat maker will know this and should have bent over backwards to fix it rather than stick his head in the sand - I think you should name names WTF, you're not slagging anyone off when you tell the truth

 

I’ve thought long and hard about naming names, but for now I’m just interested in getting some feedback on the issues and whether it is acceptable that they have said that it must be something that im doing with the boat that has caused the problem. The manufacturer has said that cracks have been repaired and the marine surveyor is happy that the repairs are up to standard. (although I feel like they have grinded back a bit too far) It took a lot of effort to get an email from the manufacturer to stand behind the repair work and that only occurred after I contacted MIA.

 

Mark Mac wrote: I googled the info you gave and got only one hit. I hope I was wrong. Ive got the same brand of boat. Did you buy the boat new? What kind of hull warranty were you given? Good luck

 

Bought the boat new off a dealer which has since gone under.

I was certain that the boat came with a 5 year warranty but the manufacturer claims it was only 2 years and moved to 5 post purchase. Info on warranty doesn’t appear to be on their website anymore.

 

 

Death to Below wrote: i have a 533 stabi, it was mint as when i bought it 5 months ago. ive done 200hours in 5 months now and have 2 cracked welds in the same place either side of the hull. the hull is ten years old but had done no work atall before i got it. I rang stabi (not expecting anything) but wanting to know how i can stop this and other similiar things happening in the future. (ive only been using it 5 months!) but got pretty shut down, was told its a first time they have ever heard of it happening (yeah right!) and that was about it... will be interesting to see how it handles the next couple years. and if the repairs can hold out.. many more cracks and ill be looking for a boat that can handle being used- besides that its been fantastic.

 

That sucks. Not the first time for them from what ive heard.

 

RC1 wrote: With the boat being in a marina have you had the hull checked by a marine electrician to make sure it is wired correctly and it has the right amount of anodes to control the stray current corrosion?

 

Yes, been checked by marine electrician and they have installed the correct anodes and replace them when they look like they need to be replaced.

 

 

Tagit wrote: What is it that the manufacturer is telling you that you are doing to cause the cracks? Are the cracks in the middle of a panel or on a weld?

 

I repeatedly asked them what I have been doing to apparently cause the cracks and he just keeps trying to avoid answering the question and says things like “its not a failure of the boat” and that I should draw my own conclusions that it must what ive been doing to it. When asked what I could do to avoid the problem he said I should avoid pounding the hull. I said that I do avoid pounding the hull and that its been used in a normal way but we just go around in circles until he gets angry and the conversation comes to an end.  

 

 

Have got some pics but they are not accessible to me right now. Here is a brief video of the second crack. When I opened the bung to the buoyancy chamber water poured out for over 9 minutes at full flow. http://vimeo.com/28275352

This is an example of how some businesses seem to be unable to see that their reputation is badly affected by the publicity. The internet is very hard on those. Being charitable, it may be the individual(s) involved, and not the business in general 

Warranty: Five years Boat supplied by Extreme Boats, found that on a dealers listing