Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

First off let me state I have been a member of this and the previous forum for a few years. While I do not post very often I have enjoyed reading the many informative posts! I also apologize for the length of this post but feel it is necessary to properly explain.

I currently own a 2008 X-Plode Cruise with a 250 H.O. Etec on it. Since I live on an island all summer, I do not have a trailer but have a slip at a reputable marina for docking my boat when traveling ashore. This same marina also stores my boat in a covered building during the winter months. The boat was purchased at a Manitou dealer who was on the same lake at that time but has since dropped Manitou as a boat line for whatever reason. I absolutely love this boat and only in the past couple summers have I been having issues.

The initial problem started occurring last spring when a couple of below waterline welds started cracking in the nosecone of the center pontoon. The front cone would completely fill with water causing dramatic performance and handling issues so it was fairly easy to tell something was wrong. Since the dealer where I bought the boat was no longer a Manitou dealer I had my marina pull the boat from the water and they immediately noticed some cracked welds right where the nosecone attaches to the main pontoon on the bottom. My Marina has a weld shop that does beautiful work so I decided to have them fix it as it seemed simple enough and I needed the boat ASAP to get back and forth to my home on the island. Two days and $600.00 later, my boat is completely repaired and the welds look great. I never contacted Manitou for warranty reimbursement as I was just happy to have the boat back on the water. I did ask my marina what they thought caused the cracking and was told they were not 100% certain but most likely weld contamination as there was evidence of gassing in the weld.

Fast forward to this spring... Same performance and handling issue is noticed. I have my Marina pull the boat to find not only more additional cracked welds on the bottom of the pontoon (same area as previously repaired but not same weld) but also this time many of the top structural welds have started to crack where the nosecone attaches to the main frame!! Now I am scared as the structural integrity of the boat has been compromised. This boat is capable of speeds exceeding 50 MPH can you imagine if the nosecone was to completely dis attach itself while going this fast with my family on board!! This would be a complete catastrophic failure with certain injury occurring!

I immediately contact Manitou by email and start conversing with Teresa Brandt telling her the entire history. I tell her that since the pontoons and boats structural parts are warranted for life I need assurance from Manitou by factory inspection that this boat is in fact structurally safe and the nosecone is not out of position or some other issue. She asks for pictures which I take and send to her. I hear nothing back for a week so I contact her again at which time she starts asking questions like how do I anchor my boat. I reply and tell her that I rarely anchor it but when i do I have an rope tension holder attached to the top deck. No response again for another week until I email and ask what is going on. She says her R&D department want to know how I dock my boat. At this point I am very frustrated as they seem to want to blame me instead of just loking at and fixing the problem, so I call her on the phone to answer any other silly questions she or the R&D department may have. She asks if i am looking for reimbursement for the welding that has been done. I tell her no, all I want is an inspection of the boat by a factory rep to ensure the boat is structurally sound and my family is safe.

After no response for two weeks after my last correspondence I once again contact Teresa who replies that they don't feel this is a warranty issue!! Knowing full well that I have no trailer she gives me the address of a previous Manitou dealer that had no service department and no longer even exists!! She says maybe if I take my boat there they may find something different but this really does not look like a warranty claim!! I then ask her why the area rep for Manitou cant inspect the boat...To date no response!

Any other company would have sent a rep to my marina to inspect the boat. If there were structural issues they would have shipped the boat back to the factory for warranty repair or sub contracted the work out locally. One way or the other you would think they would want to make certain the boat is structurally sound.

Now, maybe some of you Manitou owners remember this but Manitou has had serious problems with their nosecones in the past. As a matter of fact all SHP models from 2007 and earlier were found to have nosecones that actually collapsed when riding in rough water. They redesigned the nosecone for 2008 and recalled and replaced many of the earlier ones because they were unsafe.

Just an fyi... I spoke to three previous Manitou dealers in my area who no longer carry the line, all dropped Manitou.

The choice is yours but next time I will be going Premier or Bennington!


All; Through private conversations and a conference call with Manitou’s Vice President and Director of Marketing and communications, I am very happy to report that this issue has been completely resolved to my satisfaction.

I ask that all who care to read this entire thread, please understand that a simple lack of communication was at the root of this problem from BOTH myself and Manitou. Things got heated and mistakes were made…we all make mistakes... how those mistakes get corrected and how we learn from them, is what’s important.

Manitou has now completely addressed my concerns and has agreed to completely repair my boat at no cost. What else could one ask for!!

Thank you Manitou!!!

That sucks, keep us informed

If you can post emails you have and Manitou reply's the power of a toon forum with over 3000 members might be able to help

Man, I am really sorry you are having to deal with this. It's my opinion that for the money we spend on these higher end boats we would have impeccable service and warranties. You may have to consider seeking legal counsel to find out your options. I did a lot of research before buying my South Bay this past February. South Bay seemed to meet all the criteria I had set forth. I have heard only rave reviews about their warranty service. The same can be said for Premier or Bennington of course. Good luck with this and let us know how it turns out.

I sent a link to this post in a Facebook email to Manitou,they are good about responding through FB. Yes keep us posted,please.

Sorry to hear this and I sure hope you can find resolution with them. I always considered them one of the best. Have you contacted Bryden24shp on this forum to get his opinion? He owned one and is well connected there.

Thanks for the heads up .I was looking hard at the Manitou SHP and the Premier PTX.. You just made up my mind. I love my Southbay but I think the Premier 36" Tri is a better performance toon and now with what you say about Manitou ... they wont be geting my 60k plus. The powr of the internet gotta love it. Make sure their reps get the link to the thread. Im sure they wont like it.

That really sucks! I can understand them not covering the repair you had made but there is no excuse for them not wanting to inspect your boat for structural defects. Makes me glad that I bought Bennington.
Jack

Jack65K wrote:That really sucks! I can understand them not covering the repair you had made but there is no excuse for them not wanting to inspect your boat for structural defects. Makes me glad that I bought Bennington.
Jack

+1

Well apparently a rep from Manitou has signed up here as username "ManitouPontoonBoats". I just activated the account. This will give them a chance to explain this situation and reply accordingly.

I've nothing good, bad or indifferent to say about Manitou, but I checked with Sun Tracker regarding me putting strakes on my boat.

They told me that ANY welding done on the boat without their prior approval would void the warranty.

Just food for thought if anyone's considering doing any work on their boat if it's still warranty.

Thank you everyone for your support.

What really irritates me is they will not even lift a finger, something as simple as sending their area rep to my marina to look at it! Instead they want me to buy a $2,000.00 trailer and pull my boat to some dealer many miles away (they lost two dealers on my lake recently!) after they tell me by email that it does not appear to be a warranty issue...why would I do that? How can continued cracking of structural welds not be their issue if the boat has never hit anything or been in an accident!??

Here is just one of the many pics of welds that were repaired I sent Manitou... This weld failed along the ENTIRE top of the nosecone!

Good point. But if thats the case , then manitou should have said " nope, you should have contacted us first before you had an outside party fix it. Now you have no warranty" . Case closed and move on. Sounds more like the run around from them . I would hate to see a catastrophe and get some impartial engineers to say faulty construction. Imagine the law suit that would bring . Nobody wants to see that happen. Lets hope this has a satisfactory outcome. The negative press could cost manitou a lot more than fixing a customers boat.

Dear Dan,

I apologize for taking a few days to respond to your last email.

As I stated before, we do not believe that this is a warranty issue. This is our judgment based only on the photos you provided. Certainly, we recommended that you take your boat to Northern Boats and Boards for an inspection of your center tube for a thorough inspection. You are correct that Northern Boats and Boards is no longer doing business out of their Laconia location but their Bristol location is open. You also mentioned that you do not have a trailer. Unfortunately, as stated in your owner’s manual/warranty, it is the responsibility of the retail customer to transport their boat to the dealer for warranty issues (this is true of the vast majority of pontoon manufacturers). Perhaps you could rent a trailer or have the dealer provide this service.

I understand that when this issue with the tube first arose, the dealership where you purchased the boat was no longer a Manitou dealer. Had you contacted Manitou we would have directed you to a different dealer.

After several discussions within our Research and Development team, who have more than 50 combined years of experience with pontoon boats and aluminum tubes, they came to a tentative conclusion of what may have caused the issue, that being impact. In the photos, the keel, at the junction of the nosecone and cylinder, appears crooked and "pushed into the tube". The other damage to the nosecone would be predictable based on impact damage of this nature. The two holes next to the keel are the location that many weld shops would drill holes to drain the water out of the nosecone. These would be re-welded shut after pressure testing the tube.

As mentioned, this is our tentative opinion of what may have happened. Without inspection, we cannot be certain. Manitou does strive to meet its warranty obligations in a timely manner. Our 11 consecutive CSI awards a 2 JD Power Awards are our customers affirmation of that. As you mentioned in your post we did have issues with our original design on some of the boat and engine combinations but certainly not all or a large majority of them. Although the issue caused denting in the nosecones and WAS NOT a safety issue it was a manufacturing oversight and we corrected all of the affected boats by bringing them back to our factory and installing brand new tubes with the newly designed nosecones. The new nosecones, which are installed on your boat, have never caved in the same manner as the original design.

In closing we would like to find out what 3 dealers you are referencing that allegedly dropped us because of “warranty” issues. This information is simply not accurate.

Best Regards,
Manitou

Manitou;

Here is what i was expecting you to say... "Dear Dan; Sorry for the problems you have been experiencing with your Manitou Pontoon Boat. We would like to send our area rep to see these issues first hand and make a determination as to cause, warranty, but most of all to ensure your boat is safe from catastrophic failure for the safety of you and your family". Guess I am not going to hear that...
Funny thing is in your response you admit this... "Without inspection, we cannot be certain" As to the rest of your response regarding JD Power and the rest of your advertisement, I better get my boots on as the sh&# is really starting to get deep! As far as your area dealers go, maybe you would like to tell us why you go through dealers in this area like I go through socks!

BTW as I stated to Teresa Brandt, there was no impact ever with this boat! I have never even beached it!!

Well guy's there you have it... Make up your own mind as I will let it go on this forum. I appreciate all the responses of support!

I can tell you this, Premier is also not on my lake but about 15 miles away. You cannot believe how they go out of their way to service their customers. If there is an issue, warranty or not, a rep from the dealer comes to the lake to look at it. They then schedule pickup and delivery and warranty work is a priority as is customer service! No one who lives on my lake that has a Premier owns a trailer!

Happy Tooning and bye bye Manitou!

Dan

I'm going to watch this issue closely since Manitou and Bennington are the only two boat brands I'm considering and my purchase will be close to the top end of either brand.

I appreciate Manitou's response here and I do understand they need to also protect themselves against someone claiming an abused boat as a defective boat. That being said I too would expect Manitou to send someone out to the boat to inspect it. Who knows why they lost the relationship with the nearby dealer but the boat was purchased from a nearby dealer so none of that should not become the buyers problem. At the same time I believe it's fair to expect the owner to bring the boat a distance equal to the distance to where he bought it though, if that is the only way. "Benefit of the doubt" and "the customer is always right" needs to be respected here, at least for the initial inspection. Manitou should assume positive intent but instead it seems like they are assuming misuse.

For those worried about a 3rd party (or owner) repair on the tubes being used to cancel a warranty, the Magnuson/Moss Act prevents manufacturers from unilaterally or arbitrarily "cancelling" warranties for any type of modification. The burden of proof is on the manufacturer to PROVE the work caused the issue and if that is proven only THAT part of the warranty can be cancelled.