Tracker boats!BEWARE!!!!

[Basskicker]

Sorry to hear about your troubles....I agree park it at Bass Pro in Vaughan and call the press. That is absolutely crazy!!! I was actually sitting in a Tracker 3-4 weeks ago trying to decide what to buy....thank god I went with a Stratos out of Bridgenorth Sports Marine. Great guys to deal with.

 

Prime example I forgot (MY VAULT) to open the pressure gas relief valve the 1st DAY I brought the boat home...parked it in the driveway, went to work the next day, came home to gas on the side of boat and driveway. I had overfilled the tank and with the heat the gas expanded and somewhat blew open the relief valve and did some minor damage to the seal. They fixed it....NO CHARGE and it was my vault.

 

I hope you get everything resolved!!!

[RudeBuoy]

road like a champ,

 

Correction my friend... Nothing rides like a Champ!

 

 

BTW: I too have heard lots of horror stories attached to Trackers and their quality.

Edited May 7, 2010 by RudeBuoy

[Gerritt]

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/boats/tracker.html

http://tracker-marine-group.pissedconsumer.com/

 

 

Add you're story here..

[oldphart]

~~~~OUCH~~ I'm must be one of the lucky ones, I bought my Tracker in 98, from Seaway Marina. the boat was a 97 new un-sold, and is still running. Yes I have a leak, there is a crack in the bow, started last year, where it meets the hull, and this is from rough trailering, and I have 2 pop rivets, again these I caused, because of some of the back lakes I have phished, where you beach your boat for the night. As for the motor a 40hp Tracker Force, I had to replace the lower gears, because I hit the submerge rail embankment on Rice. And last fall the Starter bushings went and needed replacing. Brand new top speed was 32mph, down to 28 now.

~~Good luck with your protest if you do, I advise against parking a BPS, you could be charged causing a distrubance on Private Property, but if you kept just driving around their store, not much they could against you.

 

~~~~Good luck

[Jer]

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/boats/tracker.html

http://tracker-marine-group.pissedconsumer.com/

 

 

Add you're story here..

 

 

I did a search on both sites regarding Crestliner. Came back with zero results on both...

 

...I'm just sayin'

[Gerritt]

they were sites that are Tracker Marine related

 

Creastliner would not act like tracker has lol

[GBW]

WOW, I'm happy to have read this as I was looking at a bass tracker but NOT any more!

 

I sure hope you get this resovled!!!

[walleyemen]

Well just got off the phone with tracker marine in Missuri or were ever they are, all i got was a cold shoulder and straight out denial for warranty, they are telling me the cracked areas have bondo in them, HAHA only repairs done to that hull are painted areas (repaired by the dealer)in the exact places the cracks are, dealer says no bondo was put in the boat, so when was it put there?, i bought the bought as a demo model that was used at ontario place, hince was the boat in fact damaged and repaired prior to me purchasing it?No body's owning up, going to call the coast guard safety and standards division and see if they can access the boat, structually it's unsafe, as well as physically as it takes on to much water, and guyz just for the record don't knock bps, they didn'y sell me the boat tracker marine did,you will never see a bps indorsment on a tracker boat

Wayne

[HTHM]

Keep it up Wayne, make them want to get rid of you. If you are a big enough PITA, something should happen.

Edited May 7, 2010 by HTHM

[Gerritt]

it appears they have an arbitration process when a BBB complaint is made... perhaps this could be a viable avenue?

 

http://www.bbb.org/southwestern-missouri/business-reviews/boat-builders/tracker-marine-group-in-springfield-mo-10611

 

 

 

And it appears as though there was a class action brought against them... however it has been reversed pending appeal... and is still ongoing.

http://www.kslaw.com/portal/server.pt?space=KSPublicRedirect&control=KSPublicRedirect&PageId=385

http://kingandspalding.com/portal/server.pt?space=KSPublicRedirect&control=KSPublicRedirect&PracticeAreaId=170&us_more=1

 

 

 

[email protected] <---- President

[email protected]

 

G.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Gerritt

[DRIFTER_016]

I did a search on both sites regarding Crestliner. Came back with zero results on both...

 

...I'm just sayin'

 

 

Same thing when I searched for Fisher.

[Billy Bob]

Sorry to hear you problems with your boat...KEEP THE PRESSURE on them...

 

My friend purchased a 1984 Grumman, the same as mine except mine is a 1985....during the second year his hull cracked where Grumman put the splash rail (right along the hull about water high when under plane). What Grumman didn't realize is they just formed the "V" for the splash rail and didn't reinforce it on the inside...so it worked back and forth like a pop can until it split...bottom line they said bring it to Marathan, NY and we will fix it and they did...he did have to trailer it about 4 hours away...mine on the other hand has the reinforcement on the inside as his NOW has...mine you could tell by the rivets all along the splash rail and his had none until they repaired it...25 years later both boats are going strong.

 

Bob

[Rich Clemens]

You guys are scaring me. I just picked up my 3rd tracker boat and I've never had a problem with the prior 2 (kocking on wood now). Sure do hope you can get this taken care of. Bunch on run-around Bull and blaming the other person. Best of luck to you and keep the pressure on.

[Roe Bag]

When Crestliner first started manufacturing all welded hulls they experienced serious growing pains as well. It seems that the heat range of the welding equipment must be very accurate when dealing with aluminium. If not, the material in close proximity to the weld is damaged. It becomes brittle and less plyable and it will crack under stress.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Roe Bag

[Gerritt]

I think I will just trust Wayne in this regard... as he is 100% correct! if we trust planes that are riveted, why should we not trust boats! not to mention the FACT that when aluminum is welded, it is not the weld itself that will fail... it is the area around the weld..

 

perhaps manufactures will someday just stick the basics...

 

I dunno and I am sure I am alone in this! Sure rivets may need to be rebucked.... certainly it beats a cracked Hull!!!

 

G.

[Billy Bob]

I think I will just trust Wayne in this regard... as he is 100% correct! if we trust planes that are riveted, why should we not trust boats! not to mention the FACT that when aluminum is welded, it is not the weld itself that will fail... it is the area around the weld..

 

Aren't the pontoons on the bush planes welded not to mention the pontoons on pontoon boats ? ? ?

[walleyemen]

Aren't the pontoons on the bush planes welded not to mention the pontoons on pontoon boats ? ? ?

They may very well be, but are probally a very much higher guage of metal, making them less likely to flex around the welds.

Ihaven't heard anything back since the manufacture said the dealer was responsable for the said repairs, Ispoke to tracker marine in Vaughn, told them i was getting the coast guard involved and they told me there was no need to do that, they'd get to the bottom of it, all in all i just want it fixed properly or the hull replaced so as i can sell it and loose a boat payment, i've already bought a new boat( 21SS extreme stratos) and right now 2 boat payments kinda make things tight after i got laid off, all said in done this boat will be for sale, it may possibally have a new hull, or at least have the current one fixed, so somebody is going to end up with a nice boat for half of what there worth,Tracker pro guide v-16 sc, 50 h.p merc, boat motor ,trailer, safety gear, 2 fish finders, trolling motor, aside from the cracks the boat been amazing, handles big water nice, wide, deep,all round great fishing boat, in any of my posts you will never find me knock the fishabilty of this boat,i really liked it , just not the cracks LOL!

[DRIFTER_016]

Aren't the pontoons on the bush planes welded not to mention the pontoons on pontoon boats ? ? ?

 

 

Pontoons on every float plane I have ever seen have been riveted.

Pontoons on pontoon boats are welded and are thicker guage aluminum.

All the aluminum ocean boats are welded but the aluminum is much thicker than the Tracker boats.

[limeyangler]

stories like this make me so angry...sorry you are getting asll this Bull Wayne...that really sucks.

 

I'd have to agree with gerrit....get it on all the forums....if i'm ever in the finacial position to buy another boat...guess what it wont be..

[wildeye rainbow]

Wayne, Good luck with your battle with Tracker.

 

Your experience and those of others who post about their experiences with boats such as Tracker will help others in their decision making when it comes to making a boat purchase.

 

I also had a miserable consumer experience with a Ford Winstar & trying to deal with Ford. I did eventually get some money back from them after perservering and complainig for 2 years. Customer service is something these companies really need to work on. When I was going through my Windstar battle, I posted on as many car sites as I could find & was I surprised, I wasn't alone.

 

WR

[irishfield]

Aren't the pontoons on the bush planes welded ? ? ?

Absolutely NOT !

[Radnine]

I think I will just trust Wayne in this regard... as he is 100% correct! if we trust planes that are riveted, why should we not trust boats! not to mention the FACT that when aluminum is welded, it is not the weld itself that will fail... it is the area around the weld..

 

perhaps manufactures will someday just stick the basics...

 

I dunno and I am sure I am alone in this! Sure rivets may need to be rebucked.... certainly it beats a cracked Hull!!!

 

G.

 

Planes don't have to be water proof (they don't have to be air tight either). Aircraft floats use to have to be "sloshed" to be made water tight (I don't claim to be an expert on this, but I remember doing it for a guy once when I was a kid, it blew). Floats also don't spend all of their working life bashing through rough waters. For the most part they are either parked or in the air.

I guess my point is that Gerritt's statement is a little misleading.

Has every riveted boat been water tight out of the factory and stayed that way it's working life? Wayne got a crap boat and crap service. If the boats are as bad as everyone makes out (or as often) then people should boycott the product or the place that sells it.

Jim

Edited May 8, 2010 by Radnine

[irishfield]

You might wanna rethink that through Jim !!

 

"Not air tight"... try being pressurized so the passengers can breath and not pass out at 35,000 feet.

 

As for floats having to be sloshed to be water tight..... in my books that's right up there with the guys that coat their old leaking tinny with fiberglass or box liner crap! Do it right the first time... or go home.

 

I have 4 amphibs in the hangar right now... there will be 5 come Wednesday. Not one of them leaks a drop (and they can sit in the water for 5 months at a time) and there ain't no slosh in any of them, I can guarantee that as I built all 5 sets of floats!

 

...oh and as Bunk and DanC can tell ya.. mine have landed is some ROUGH waters! Not that I wanna try that little Lake Nipigon in 4 footers ever again...but I did and survived to fish another day. (on float skins that are less than 1/2 the thickness of any aluminum boat an OFC'r owns!).. I also land and take off faster than any Aluminum boat here.. including mine.

 

Welding vs riveting is an argument that will live on and on and on here. Ask a supercub owner to look in the logs and see how many times in the aircrafts life that they've pulled the welded fuel tanks out to be fixed... because they crack beside the welds from wing flexing. My riveted wing tanks have not, nor do I expect them to ever, leak a drop. I know.. I just jinked myself...

 

As for Wayne getting a crap boat... like many others before him. I've had more than one Tracker in my shop for patches. Can't imagine the total number of them out there...

Edited May 8, 2010 by irishfield

[JoeG]

yep bought a Stratos, too busy to put it in the water maybe next weekend!

 

I hope you get some satisfaction in your battle with Tracker when I read stories like yours it makes me want to boycott Bass Pro all together.I wonder how some of the pro`s that are sponsored by Bass Pro feel about how they screw their customers???

 

 

The pro's can care less. As long as they get their free boats and sponsorships is all they're concerned about.

[Radnine]

You might wanna rethink that through Jim !!

 

"Not air tight"... try being pressurized so the passengers can breath and not pass out at 35,000 feet.

 

As for floats having to be sloshed to be water tight..... in my books that's right up there with the guys that coat their old leaking tinny with fiberglass or box liner crap! Do it right the first time... or go home.

 

I have 4 amphibs in the hangar right now... there will be 5 come Wednesday. Not one of them leaks a drop (and they can sit in the water for 5 months at a time) and there ain't no slosh in any of them, I can guarantee that as I built all 5 sets of floats!

 

...oh and as Bunk and DanC can tell ya.. mine have landed is some ROUGH waters! Not that I wanna try that little Lake Nipigon in 4 footers ever again...but I did and survived to fish another day. (on float skins that are less than 1/2 the thickness of any aluminum boat an OFC'r owns!).. I also land and take off faster than any Aluminum boat here.. including mine.

 

Welding vs riveting is an argument that will live on and on and on here. Ask a supercub owner to look in the logs and see how many times in the aircrafts life that they've pulled the welded fuel tanks out to be fixed... because they crack beside the welds from wing flexing. My riveted wing tanks have not, nor do I expect them to ever, leak a drop. I know.. I just jinked myself...

 

As for Wayne getting a crap boat... like many others before him. I've had more than one Tracker in my shop for patches. Can't imagine the total number of them out there...

 

 

Semantics!!

I said that they didn't HAVE to be airtight, not that there were no air tight aeroplanes. Any way, you are right this argument will live on forever, and I am already sorry I was a part of it. It reminds me of how I had to have the baseball vs. Rounders argument in every pub I went to in England. The minute someone heard me order a beer it would be "America eh? 'Ow bout that baseball then, girls play it over 'ere it's called rounders. And you have gloves right? In cricket it's bare 'anded........bla, bla, bla. I digress.

All of your points are of course valid Wayne. But I still think that comparing an aircraft to a fishing boat, based only on the fact that both are riveted, is for the most part, bogus.

I know first hand that welding aluminium is a bugger, where as you could train a chimp to pound a good rivet (no offence ) but I assume that some boat companies have it right and some do not. I guess as the owner of a fine welded boat, I get weird when generalizations start to rule the day (or the thread).

Jim

Edited May 8, 2010 by Radnine