I think if I were going to do that I would have had the whole thing made new. My boat has already become an expensive nightmare so even though that would be neat I wouldn't go to the trouble of trying to remove my deck at this point, let alone the expense of a new one. I'll be lucky if I ever get my boat back. If I don't have it by the end of Feb. then I'm putting my engine up for sale. I call the painter every couple days but I think it is hopeless. He has a lot of my money so I'm stuck. You'd think I would know better....
I actually removed it from the crate and put it on a rolling stand so I can move it around the hangar as necessary for whatever I'm doing in there. I'd sell it because it has only one summer left on the warranty, after which it will be worth less. If I can't use it I might as well sell it while it has warranty left on it and cut my losses, which are substantial at this point and look to be only getting worse. I'm not sure how things are going to play out with the paint guy. He's missed every single promised date of completion so far, and it has been nearly a year. As of March 1st I'm going to go pick it up whether it is done or not and then decide what to do from there. Either way, it appears less and less likely that it will be water-ready this spring, so I expect that I'll be selling the motor.
Mark, Isn't there some way you could take this guy to small claims court for a breach of contract, be it written or verbal? Bob
Rob, Mark Bano 'is" a lawyer. Yes...you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip but I believe you can put a judgement against the painter or his business. Bob
Well, here's the deal guys. The painter is actually a very talented fiberglass and paint specialist and he's been doing gelcoat and paint work for the local marine dealer for years and years. The marine dealer tells me that if I am patient I will be thrilled with the results. I can see from the work that he has done that this is probably true. (He actually made a mold and has been re-gel coating and replacing areas of the non-skid on the top of the rear deck and gunwales, which is a bit of overkill, don't you think?) The guy is super nice, and I know he's had some personal problems in the last year. Yes, I am a lawyer and I understand that I can probably put some hurt on the guy but that is just not really my style, tempting as it might be at this point. Nor would this guy be able to pay any judgement from what I can see. Frankly, I'd rather just give up and lose the money. I spend my entire professional life in litigation and therefore I tend to really steer away from such controversy in my personal life (my wife believes that I am simply a wimp though - Rolling Eyes ). I really don't care about the money that much - I just want the boat, so I keep working with him. However, I can't see any reason to keep an engine sitting around for yet another summer while the warranty runs on it. We'll see. I call the painter every 3 days now and I think it is having a positive impact. Supposedly the boat is going to be moved from the fiberglass shop over to the paint booth today. I'm going to call tomorrow to see if that actually happened. I was supposed to have the boat by Jan. 1st and I scheduled a two month window here where my plane is in Indiana having new avionics installed which in turn was going to free up work space in the hangar to finish the boat. The plane is out now but I've got no boat to finish rigging. Best laid plans of mice and men... I'll keep you posted.
Mark, for what it is worth, I think you should hang in there with this guy from what you describe. jim
Mark, If the motor has zero hours on it, a dealer can typically get a printout from the ECM which will show it has not yet been put into service. They can then attempt to get the warranty reset unless this was a promo motor or something of that sort where warranty starts upon shipment.
The motor is a zero time engine. The motor started life as a 2002 Optimax 225. I bought it new in the crate in November, 2005. However, because the engine had been purchased and titled by the dealer (it was going to use it for a promo program but ended up not using it), the warranty had run. The dealer tried to get the warranty reinstated but could not - at first - get that accomplished. Then, a sales rep for Mercury who lives nearby and handles the tournament fishing business for Mercury worked out a deal with my dealer which worked out great for me. Without even taking my engine out of the crate, they removed the complete powerhead and replaced it with a brand new 2006 powerhead (complete engine and accessories). The 2002 powerhead was then returned to the factory to be updated and it ultimately replaced the 2006 powerhead as a backup engine for Mercury's tournament fishing group. Meanwhile, I got a brand new engine for no additional cost. (There had been some problems with the 2002 3.0 litre engines so this was a great deal for me. Then, after all of that, Mercury reversed its original decision and put the warranty back on the engine. (I think I've figured out that they didn't want to put a warranty on the 2002 powerhead...) I could explore the possibility of getting the warranty reinstated but I don't know if I'd have much luck.
