Using your Tracker boat in saltwater? BEWARE!!!

[Robert Bland]

Anyone considering purchasing an aluminum tracker or using one in salt water needs to take note of the following experience:



I have used my boat in salt water 6 times and have cleaned it thoroughly after each use.



Here's an update from my message board post on 5/30/02 regarding the corrosion on my 2000 TV-18 Tracker. Below is a copy/paste of the email I received from Tracker regarding my warranty request for repair of corrosion on my aluminum transom.



"DEAR SIR, OUR WARRANTY DEPARTMENT HAS REVEIWED YOUR CLAIM AND HAS COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT IT IS NOT A WARRANTBLE ISSUE. THEY BELEIVE YOUR BOAT HAS BEEN USED IN SALT WATER. IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER INQUIRES AND YOUR DEALER FEELS THEY ARE WARRANTBLE HE MAY CONTACT US ON YOUR BEHALF. THANK YOU, LESIA"



I'm far from finished with them.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Gee, sounds familiar. Bob, anywhere in your warranty statement or handbook, does it stipulate that use in salt water voids the warranty? If not, they don't have a leg to stand on. I can't help but imagine that there is some sort of corporate objective/incentive reward fo keeping warranty claims to min, so rather than go the extra mile to fix a boat and keep a customer, they continually find any reason, no matter how far fetched not to cover it. Did that make any sense? But when you reach the right people, BANG, problem solved. Really unfortunate. This kind of stuff simply needs to stop. Whatever happened to I pay my hard earned money for a "quality" product, and the company stands behind it. Whatever happened to customer service? Everybody is about the bottom line, and profit margin. If they'd pull their head out of their butt long enough for air, they might realize that short term they reduce warranty expense, but long term give up considerably more to lost sales of unhappy customers and negative word of mouth advertising. There is a finite amount of business out there, and you can only continue that kind of behavior for so long before it ends up costing you market share! There are plenty of boat manufacturers just sitting and waiting that I'm sure would be more than happy to snatch up some of Tracker's customer base, and would gladly do their stinkin job of supporting their product to do it! OK, my dimes up, off the soap box! Good luck Bob, keep your head up, and don't give up!

 

[Marke Cicero]

Bob,



Your post made me a little nervous. I too have a TV-18 and it has been in salt water before. In fact, Tracker offers a galvinized trailer (which I have purchased )specifically for that reason.



I double checked my warranty tonight and I could NOT FIND ANYTHING, that said "VOID IF USED IN SALT WATER".



I have a trip booked next month in Maine to do some Striper fishing. I plan on putting my boat in the ocean for 3 consecutive days with the galvinized trailer that Tracker sold me.



Last year I put my boat in salt water twice and went straight to the car wash and scrubbed and sprayed the crap out of EVERYTHING. When I got home I hooked up the muffs and flushed the motor, livewell pumps, bilge pumps and everything.



Fortunately I haven't seen any form of corrosion or damage.



If Tracker does not want their boats in Salt water then they should put in plain english where everyone can see it and stop offering galvinized trailers. If that's the case then their warranty is vague and their advertizing is mis-leading.



Good luck with your boat and keep us informed.



Marke

 

[Robert Bland]

Thanks folks for all your replies and responses. It would seem to me that Tracker Marine is shooting themselves in the foot big time by making a statement in writing that they will not warranty a problem due to the fact that I used the boat in salt water. I'm anxious to hear what a Tracker Corporate Head has to say about the response I got from his Service Dept. Rep. Stay tuned. Bob.