Tired of explaining myself about Cracker Boats.....

[TOMMY RICH]

Just got to get this off my chest.....cuz I get asked quite a bit about this very subject.



Is your tin rig hull made of .100 aluminum?

Not all. In fact, most all stringers and supports are 087. gaguge.

Does this effect the strength of your rig?

Most definitely.

Are the "interior" welds inferior?

Take a look.

Will I buy another?

Hell NO!



Will I bash em' every chance I get?





This winter I will be looking at Express like I did to begin with but, being a ******...I went with Tracker to save a few $.

Live and learn

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Now TEE, you have to admit that boat has done a good job for you for what...7 or 8 years? It's not all been bad. Granted you have had more than your share of problems.



TOXIC

 

[TOMMY RICH]

How friggin' long do you think they should last Tox?

ESPECIALLY if you take care of them and don't abuse them?

Apparently Johnny thinks they should only last til' you pay it off!



Do you really think I would have bought that boat if I had known about the interior welds? No cuz you get a warm fuzzy when they tell you "Limited LIFETIME Warranty" on External welds only.

Why would that be when I have YET to find anyone with "external" weld problems.

 

[Bob Bourget2]

With all due respect Tee, "inferior" is unfair and incorrect. Fit for a particular use, that the masses enjoy, these boats have been through some of the worst conditions I can and have seen....and come out unscathed. I posted in the past that I have seen some failures, but as a percentage NOT significant. Everything breaks. Some are warrantable, some are due to abuse. I feel that they are the best "buy-per-buck" the Marine Industry has to offer. We all know where you stand Tee, and it is lousy that you might have had some "issues". It's time to move on.

 

[JEFF WHITE]

im no expert in the matter,but years ago,some of you older members know i had issues with my boat.took it back to the factory,myself, to get rivets replaced,well,wasnt too happy with there repair technique,but do they make a inferior product?cant say yes or no,but,how many boats have the same problems as yours?



do we have statistics on this?your boat maybe one of ten thousand sold/built. just one? look into the car manufacturers.how many people have had a bad car/truck? did you buy the same brand again?car warranties read like stereo instructions. you have to look at the fine print,such as boat warranties are written.



advice, weld it,sell it,trade it, buy what you want to buy,and be happy!life is too short to stress over the material things in life!



oh,my boat has been paid off for quite a few yrs,and the repair they did is holding up,and that is through some punishing lake ontario 4-6's and some lake oneida 2-4's maybe more waves for quite a few yrs!



sorry,got to get off the box now. said my piece,im done,stick a fork in me!!

 

[Marty Klein]

Well, I am the most unfortunate SOB on the planet as my Nitro has been very, very good to me; my dealer has been very, very good to me; my local Bass Pro has been very, very good to me.



Personally, I think making a crusade of bashing a company because one got a lemon is bad business.

 

[Jim B]

Marty, i guess im righ tthere with you...



Both my Nitro's have been great boats for me and my dealer i can sum up in one word... Fantastic! I know plenty of 100% satisfied tracker aluminum owners too.





My only suggestion for Tee, if you really hate your boat that much sell it and get something else and hope you dont have any issues with that boat too..... You know what they say about the color of grass and fences.....

 

[Gilbert Scales2]

Tee, I feel for you. I have had like others good luck with my Nitro. I know you take care of your boat. One bad apple can ruin a bunch, and yours did. Everyone including me can say how we had good luck, you didn't is all that matters. Bet you this much, you will be hollering alot louder... than us. To me customer service is all that matters, no excuse for the pitiful wells in your boat. If the machines were messing up that day, quality control should have caught it. Even if you launched your boat on the highway, wouldn't make the wells look like that.



Bubby:angry:

 

[Gilbert Scales2]

Tee, I feel for you. I have had like others good luck with my Nitro. I know you take care of your boat. One bad apple can ruin a bunch, and yours did. Everyone including me can say how we had good luck, you didn't is all that matters. Bet you this much, you will be hollering alot louder... than us. To me customer service is all that matters, no excuse for the pitiful wells in your boat. If the machines were messing up that day, quality control should have caught it. Even if you launched your boat on the highway, wouldn't make the wells look like that.



Bubby:angry:

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Do you think it's just my boat?

Get a clue and do some research.



And as far as the "inferior" comment about the welds...I' didn't spend 20+ years as a Tool Maker and R&D not to know what crappy welds look like.

This is my beef....their Lifetime warranty means nothing:angry:

Just sayin'

 

[Jim B]

I don

 

[Bob Bourget2]

UHMMM, most of us DO have a clue. No one is saying you maybe didn't get the raw end of the stick either, but......as a tool maker we respect your opinion of the quality of the welds on YOUR boat. Maybe it was a Friday boat. Who knows. What I do know is that NASA quality welds are not needed on an aluminum boat, but have to be good enough to withstand the "elements" that the MAJORITY of the masses put them through...and guess what? They DO. You have ONE boat, I have seen THOUSANDS. I'm done with this post. We can agree to disagree at this point. Cheers. :blink:

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Didn't think that YOU would agree.

 

[Roy Cody]

The biggest problem I have with my boat is that I don't use it as much as I would like!



2000 901



RoyC

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Dang Roy...your boat is 10 years old!

Isn't it time to buy a new one since the average should only be 7 to 8 years?:lol:

 

[Greg Meyer]

My 1993 Tracker is all rivets... All the original (below the waterline) rivets have been replaced by me. The aluminum is still solid and I have no leaks of any kind on Tracker (as I have been told) built by Lowe. (same aluminum boat that Jeff White, Magna 19 has/had). So, it and my 1981 PolarKraft and my 1956 Larsen (my firdst boat 50 years ago) all three aluminum boats, demonstrate that they can be raod hard and put away wet and will last my limited lifetime if they are well built. I watched my friend's Spectrum 16' aluminum almost disintegrate before our eyes and it "failed" and eventually became scrap. I see aluminum Clarks used by commercial fishermen on the Mississippi River that would give an M1 Abrams a run for its money in a durability/abuse test.



It seems to be all in the engineering and design and then ther manufacturing. Both have to be excellent to deliver an excdellent boat. A good example of "bad" was Tracker's early attempt to power the TV18 with a 150hp motor. Those boats almost twisted apart with the first run up of the throttle.



My conclusion is that in Tee's case it was maybe not the best design and the materials were not at the top of the list so that when Tracker felt it had an affordable boat there was no margin for error in construction (and even I know that inferior welds can be "seen" and probably indicate too hot or too cold or poor welding skills or a combination. And, that would be where Tee and I do agree 100%, it should have been caught at the factory on inspection. And, when it was caught, since Tracker (I am sure) did not intentionally set out to sell a boat that would fail in a few years, they should have made it right, period, no retreat to warranty terms, etc. That would have been good business. Regardless of how you may want this to come out... Tee didn't build it and he didn't abuse it...it failed because the folks who put it together, put together a boat that had problems. Sure in the "percentage game" (one out of thousand) it might be a very isolated incident. But I would bet my last nickel that neither Bob B. or me or for that matter most of the folks here who are in business would hide behind a written warranty when something similar happens (I already know instances where I could have and didn't) regardless of the cost. Simple reason is that I want a happy satisfied customer. I don't want a customer who can "rat me out" any time the issue arises about how I do business.



What part of this is "not Tee's fault" doesn't seem obvious. If the truth hurts or is uncomfortable, it shouldn't be. In my opinion Tee can repeat his story any time the issue of Tracker's warranty or their quality arises. Just as others and I can tell our "good" experiences. Until Rich says otherwise, that is part of "exchange of information", the whole picture. Unfiltered as it has been here for years. It is a feature of this board that I love, civil discourse, truthfully told or debated has always been at the heart of NTOWS.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Good point Greg

The 04 models changed the stringer system that is ONE piece and pressed in by hydraulics.

The 00 to 02 models were not one piece stringers.



I don't mean to piss people off...rather to inform.



Also...if they (Tracker) would have even taken ANY consideration in covering the issues, all they would have had to do was go back and look at the record of problems and it would have never been an issue.

 

[Jeffry Skidmore]

Since I'm back in the "connected" zone, I'll throw in my 2 cents worth.



As the costs of raw materials, labor and factory overhead increase, manufacturers look for ways to save on expenses; we all know that. I'm seeing it in the jewelry business now, just as we did in the early eightiies.



IMO, if a manufacturer can cut a few corners to save some money, they will. If raw materials go up in price, and they can "get by" with thinner material or fewer welds, and it saves money, they'll do it. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't; if it does, ok. Ifit don't, then go back to what works or suffer the consequences.



Poor craftsmanship happens everywhere, everyday. Tee got a POS. He has every right to relay his experiences, express his opinion, and discourage others from purchasing what he feels is an "inferior" product. Where he would cross a line is if he said all Trackers were POSes; he dint. He said his was, and his research showed that his wasn't the only one.



Now Tracker can look into the broken weld issue or ignore it. Word of mouth is a sharp knife that cuts both ways.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

I'm tellin' ya' guys it would blow you away of the quality of the welds that actually hold the front deck on. Eventually one of these days i will get over to my daughters and borrow her PC to post some pics from my digital camera involving every process that I've had to go thru and hours and hours spent getting it "seaworthy".

Which I'm not positive will ever happen.

What my point is that Tracker is "sidestepping" their warranties.

I can also show you some of the best "external" welds I've have ever seen. Hmmmm could this be part of the "side stepping".:wacko:



There are 4 others on "another" site with as new a 2009 model that are getting major internal cracks from getting the welds too hot on aluminum that is less than .100

I can also tell you from doing major mods on aircraft for years...that's gonna be some very weak ****! If it breaks..it will break THERE! period.

 

[Bill McElroy]

Tee,....just sell the mofo and move on,........this issue is going to kill you. Is it really worth it??

 

[JEFF WHITE]

amen!

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Oh come on Mac..you know I thrive on pressure. I work Accounting now:lol:



Can't really swing a new boat at this point so it looks as though I'll have nice winter project of tearing into it again and reinforcing certain areas that are weak.

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

Mac, spot on.



tee, you are too much an engineer. You will tear into that thing this winter and just get all pissed off...again.



Sell it and get a gently used Xpress or your tin boat flavor of the day.



not worth the pain man...not worth it.