Total nightmare!!

I doubt the bilge pump theory pans out as it does not matter if switches are off. They always come on if there is water to pump out- unless the battery was dead. Does not seem possible that that much water got in given the weather description.

With the other leaks - maybe it fell off the truck during the delivery. In any case it is an anomaly given the number of the same boats out there in much rougher conditions.

But having no insurance - unbelievable. And the story proves out why.
 
Lots of things to check out before one can point fingers to design. Bilge pump sensors can fail and should be checked regularly. I wonder when or if he ever tested them. If anything it definitely reinforces the chances one takes not getting insurance.
 
Matty":3t69xxde said:
I doubt the bilge pump theory pans out as it does not matter if switches are off. They always come on if there is water to pump out- unless the battery was dead. Does not seem possible that that much water got in given the weather description.

With the other leaks - maybe it fell off the truck during the delivery. In any case it is an anomaly given the number of the same boats out there in much rougher conditions.

But having no insurance - unbelievable. And the story proves out why.
Click to expand...

I'm going to be non-bias. There is 2 sides to any story. Not having insurance I will admit is a questionable decision. Not having insurance didn't sink the boat. I'm sure there is an investigation on both sides Owner and Manufacturer. I would hope that at the end of the investigation the cause of the sinking is made known to all Ranger and Cutwater owners with outboard power plants. Regardless if it is the owners fault or the manufactures fault if it happened to one boat it could happen to another in the right conditions. If the owner left something on and the batteries were dead and the pumps could no longer pump water out. The question would still remain how did that much water get into the boat to sink it? Rough water, to rough for a Cutwater 30 but no damage to a small dock? This issue is well publicized now. I found the blog doing a search for Cutwaters doing the loop. I feel bad for the owner and I'm sure Fluid Motion will do their do diligence in investigating and find the cause. I am really surprised the dealer is not helping their customer. Once again two sides to every story.
 
Will be interesting to see how long this thread lasts. The last one about the sinking disappeared rather quickly...
 
It will probably come down to the lawyers fighting this out. If I had a boat with this motor configuration I would be very concerned. I would be considering a survey for documentation purposes. The original owner of my boat had it surveyed before he took delivery. I had asked my surveyor about this. His response was that he was a prudent buyer, to ensure the manufacturer did their job correctly.
 
30 days without power, and tied stern to prevailing winds will do that sort of thing... owner couldn't replace 1 nut, probably new to boating.

Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk
 
Does that boat and motor configuration come with a rear thruster? I see one in the picture and that seems odd with the twin outboards. Wonder if it was an add on or factory installed?
 
The first thing that struck me in this post was his annoyance that other customers were delaying his time with Dave. While reading this further I noticed he took delivery and then took the boat through the inside passage to Alaska without a shakedown period. This guys either a badass or a dumbass. Reading further I find he had no insurance. Well that answers my question. Who buys a brand new Cutwater and neglects to name it.
Which leads me to wonder if he kept his batteries charged properly. Did he have shore power on his dock? Did he use a generator or frequent runs at speed and duration to keep them charged. I didn’t see anything in his blog addressing this. His batteries could have easily discharged if they sat to long without attention.
And if he already has an attorney actively working on this why does he take time to publicly air his grievances.
It looks like his claim is based on Cutwater installing inadequate bilge pumps. If you need to move more that 1100 GPH of water to stay afloat there is a lot more than a small leak going on.
This guy seems to find outrage in every step of the purchase and delivery of his boat. Now he wants a full refund of his boat, trailer and all his expenses. As if he contributed nothing to his dilemma. It will be interesting to see how this turns out but his blaming everyone involed in the process is telling me he has more problems than just his boat.
 
From posts I read on another site this owner had the resources to self insure. For the rest of us make sure your policy would cover a loss under these circumstances. I’m not in the insurance business but this may be considered a “consequential loss”. If this is not spelled out in your policy you would not be covered. See my previous post. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9472&hilit=+Consequential
 
Noted by a reader on The Hull Truth, the picture of his motors with the broken steering shows open white inspection plates, while the surveyors pictures show black plates. Either different boats, or something else going on here. Can any C302 owners comment on the inspection plates on their pods?
https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-fo ... ock-7.html
Rob
 
What a story,
I saw this on Facebook and read most of it. It's so long I had to take a break. Trying to look for lessons learned for me as a mariner, and so far the big one is from responses to this here: Keep my batteries charged and check the bilge pumps regularly.
This is like a mystery story with so many more questions than clues. I'm doubting a single explanation that fits better than : The Cascade of Failures theory. Many small things and decisions that led to a catastrophic conclusion. Other new boat owners : Insure your boat, spend a great deal of time on your boat crawling around and finding everything you can while safely tied to the dock. Spend some time on the water with at least one capable crew in gradually more challenging sea states to learn the personality of your boat. ( please don't do the inside passage as a shake down cruise) Name your boat it can't hurt.
Basically , bond with your boat before you put your life in her hands .)
 
When we had our boat business in Newport Beach, CA many years ago when I was a service tech for Grand Banks etc....
One of our long time customers purchased a new 36GB with twin Lehman's

I was down on the boat after we took delivery, beautiful boat. I was down just doing basic checks for break-in.
Engine alignments, tachometer calibrations, checking all fittings and clamps etc...

Just a very simple and normal routine visit.

I got to work the next day and was told that their new GB was sitting at the bottom of their slip. I laughed, thought a joke was being played on me... but no joke. Customers came in and was furious. Blaming me for sinking his boat. Then the lawyers got involved and we were sued as well as almost anyone that touched the boat including Grand Banks.

I knew I did nothing wrong. Apparently a transducer broke and the bilge pumps could not keep up, even hooked to shore power. The said I had stepped on it while servicing the boat. It was near the back basically under the starboard prop shaft. Would be nearly impossible to step on.

Very long story short, we and GB hired a metallurgist. This was all a massive expense to us. It was concluded that there a plastic nut on brass thread had cracked and should of never been used in the first place. Fault GB.

In the end our customer eventually got a new boat but it took years and we never serviced their boat again. Bad blood I guess. We never came to blows but of course counter sued. It was a nightmare mess and was a lot to deal with in my early 20's. I don't remember ever last detail but moral of story lots of things can go wrong. This is one of those situations that I don't think anyone after the fact could of prevented. This was 100% the manufacturer.

ALWAYS.. have insurance. I feel bad for these folks but most of this is 100% on us. No one is perfect, not even the boat builders and the folks that assemble them or service them or for that matter own them. Insurance is a must and you have to know the details, what is covered. Even with insurance it can take years to get your money or a replacement boat.

In many of the boats we serviced we added extra bilge pumps. Now with solar and shore power you should be in pretty good shape. But not everything is available. Diligence is key on our part to the best of our abilities. I can tell you some crazy stories and life threatening situations owners got themselves into, all because they just wanted to turn the key and go.

Kirk
 
i'm sorry but to me this whole thing reads like a scam end to end.
 
Whether it is a scam or not... this story sure makes me happy that I have a monitoring system that will alert me when the power is out or the bilge pump is running. It saved my batteries last week when the marina tested the electrical system and tripped my breaker-- and I was able to get to the boat and reset the switch before any damage was done. There are several monitoring systems, but I use Boat Command.. which is about $300 plus another $9/month for the service.
 
First and foremost, we are all very sorry that this happened to one of our customer’s. Regardless of responsibility, we never want something like this to happen to anyone. We also feel for our dealer, Port Boat House, who has received some negative press as a result of this event. We know how hard they work to not only sell, but to also service our customers.

Other than building cool boats and taking really good care of our customers, there are many things that happen behind the scenes to ensure the safest and most enjoyable ownership experience. Here are a few of the steps that are taken prior to our customers receiving their new Cutwater or Ranger Tug. Every new model is built to ABYC standards and then certified by NMMA prior to going into production. Every 302 Cutwater that is rigged at the factory with engines, is taken to the water where we perform a full function test. The discrepancies that are found during our 16 page function test are then corrected before shipping the boat to a dealer or customer.

Regarding the construction of the Cutwater 302. Many outboard boats have an aftermarket pod that is bolted to the transom. The pod on the Cutwater 302 is built in house to our standards and is then bolted and bonded to the transom of the boat to help ensure a strong, waterproof seal. In the event water were to accumulate in this area, we now install a 24/7 fully automatic bilge pump inside the pod as an extra precaution. During our testing we found that no matter how much water was introduced into the pod, it will not fill the boat up with water. We found that a fully filled pod adds 694 pounds of weight to the transom of the boat, and only lowered the water line by 1 1/2 inches. This would be equivalent to three or four people standing on the swim step. It may increase the time to plane, but it will not cause the boat to take on any additional water.

Unfortunately, the owner self-insured his investment and rather than discussing the event with us or with his dealer, he has chosen to contact his lawyers. To date, we have not had access to the boat. We can surmise about the same items that have been noted in other posts, but until we are able to lay our eyes on the boat, any comments would be pure speculation.

As many of you know, we go above and beyond to support our customers and will continue to do whatever is necessary to provide the best ownership experience in the industry. We really appreciate the many emails and phone calls voicing support.


Sincerely,

Jeff Messmer
Vice President
 
Don't you just hate it when facts get in the way of speculation.
 
Yes, Matty facts and speculation sometimes can change the story. Its unfortunate. Its hard to keep a Non-Bias opinion. When I read the Blog a few weeks ago I was surprised to see a new Cutwater floating upside down (Capsized). I read through the Blog and felt that some of the issues were typical issues when purchasing a boat through a dealer. He thought that he was the only customer. That was a common experience when I worked in the marine industry. Spring deliveries, Salemen promise the world, all the deliveries seem to happen at once. A whole winter of boat sales, everyone wants their boat now.The Marine Industry goes through highs and lows and it is in one of the highs now! Manufactures and dealers try to capitalize on this to stay in business. The down sides to this is the customer doesn't get the service from the dealer that he expects while the dealer is doing his best to try to take care of all of their customers. The other issue the dealer has is the manufacture is trying to keep up with all the orders and trying to build as many boats as possible and Quality Control issues start to happen. Warranty issues increase and customers are not happy about issues with their new boat. Dealers are trying to deliver new boats and spend time fixing problems the manufacturer missed.A few things get over looked and now you have a unhappy buyer. This is typical in the industry.

The next part of the Blog that I had to think about is No Insurance! For me I couldn't financially do that. I can't gamble on 400K of my money. Quite honestly I wouldn't use 400K of my savings I would leave the money in my portfolio and borrow the money and then would be required to have insurance. Why criticize an individual for making this decision? Many people self insure assets. Many carry liability balloon policies and no property coverage. Would the insurance have stopped the boat from sinking? The results would be the same the insurance company would be investigating why the boat sank and the boat would still be destroyed. Some say it is a scam. A scam? Who sinks their boat without insurance? Who buys a new boat and wants to go through all this crap. I feel bad for the guy if it was his fault or not.

The last part of the blog needs explanations.Boats sink but it is not typical. This part I don't understand. Is the owner completely lying about contacting the dealer and the factory. I can't image a dealer getting a call from a owner of a new boat stating his boat sank and not sending someone to the sight right away. I also can't imagine a manufacture that started building a new outboard model and finding out that it sunk and not being on sight for inspection and to find out what caused the sinking. Regardless of insurance. What really surprised me was it was a Cutwater. A company with a reputation of going above and beyond for their customers. If it is the customers fault. It would be a learning experience for other owners as to what happened and what not to do. If it was an issue in manufacturing it would be in the interest of the company to find out what happened so they could prevent this from happening again. Matty, I'm Not speculating I'm just saying give the guy a break, give fluid motion a break, let them get the facts. I thought that Jeff gave a good explanation of the what he knows about the "Nightmare" I read the Cutwater Blog this morning and read the response that he had to Jeffs statement. This is an unfortunate experience for both parties, Buying a boat should be a positive experience, building a boat for people to experience that should be positive too.
 
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