Honda 50 + Wood Boat and Motor (rant - never again!)

[Paul S]

OK... [rant]

Just had the second significant failure of the 50hp Honda motor on our M. While recovering the boat yesterday, the motor lost forward gear.

Long story short - second call to towboat US, put the boat on the trailer. Great service, very professional, etc. Yeahh to TowBoat/US! Worth their weight in Gold!

Got the boat out of the water. Noticed a rod disconnected in front of the lower unit, It is connected with 2 jam nuts. Apparently they came loose, and disconnected, causing no shifting.

Brought the boat/motor to Wood Boat and Motor to have it fixed. They take 2 minutes to reconnect the linkage, now want to charge me to repair it. They said it was not under warranty. Call me crazy..but having the shift linkage fail...is not a user issue..IMHO. I could find no mention of it in the manual as something I should check.

I also should mention that Wood Boat and Motor repaired the lower unit last year because of the water pump failure.. I think they did not assemble it correctly.

I am sooooo disappointed in Honda...for the second significant failure....and booooo to Wood Boat and Motor for not covering this under Honda warranty.

A call to Honda was pretty useless..They just said to contact the dealer....I did file a case with Honda...but figure that won't do any good.

Add insult to injury...Because of the failure, the boat drifted into a rock and put a significant gouge in the hull (2-3" wide). I was able to secure the boat without further damage.

I am at the point where I just want to chuck the whole Mac + Honda thing. If I can't rely on the motor...I have no use for it.

It has been a while since I had a good rant...am I out of line?...should I pay for the repair? I am going to fight it..but I think I am going to end up paying.... [/rant]

Paul

[Moe]

Since the shifter linkage has to be disconnected to remove the lower unit, I'd say Woods Boat & Motor is responsible. There should be an adjustment nut and a jam nut to lock the adjustment nut in place. Sounds like they forgot to tighten the jam nut after adjusting the linkage.

[Paul S]

Since the shifter linkage has to be disconnected to remove the lower unit, I'd say Woods Boat & Motor is responsible. There should be an adjustment nut and a jam nut to lock the adjustment nut in place. Sounds like they forgot to tighten the jam nut after adjusting the linkage.

I agree...they are denying it just the same. I mentioned it to them. They just said they wouldnt do that.

Paul

[Paul S]

OK.....

Let's add insult to injury.

Honda called back. They looked into it. Apparently the motor is a Canadian Honda motor, not Honda USA So there is no warranty through Honda USA!

Seriously though....how much worse can it get..now I have a motor with no warranty.... You seriously have to be kidding me!!!!

Have a call in with Havencraft to see what can be done.

Paul

[Richard O'Brien]

I agree with Moe Paul. It is Woods responsibility. They should step up to the Plate, and take resposibility since they were the last ones to disassemble the lower unit, and it has been a very short period of time and hourly usage, I presume. Good luck. If it makes you feel better, I lost $1700 on my first motor, but I've had enough fun with no problems since then to make up for it.

[Paul S]

I agree with Moe Paul. It is Woods responsibility. They should step up to the Plate, and take resposibility since they were the last ones to disassemble the lower unit, and it has been a very short period of time and hourly usage, I presume. Good luck. If it makes you feel better, I lost $1700 on my first motor, but I've had enough fun with no problems since then to make up for it.

Last word is Woods is flat out denying any responsibility. Guess I am stuck with the bill.

Got to love first class customer service.

Paul

[Chip Hindes]

Apparently the motor is a Canadian Honda motor, not Honda USA So there is no warranty through Honda USA!

I assume from the way you said you have to check with Havencraft that they sold you the motor? And of course they told you it was a Canadian motor with no warranty when you bought it? What does the warranty say that you got with the motor?

What does Woods Hole want to charge you for two minutes work for something that was almost certainly their fault?

The damage to the boat is "indcidental or consequential" damage, which is normally specifically excluded from most warranties using appropriate weasel words. If Woods Hole were a reputable outfit they'd take care of it for customer relations purposes, though it appears there's not much chance they will be mistaken for a reputable outfit. Just exactly what logic are they using to say they're not responsible?

[Jeff Drumm]

If you dealt with Otho Campbell when you purchased your boat, you should contact him directly for any warranty repair issues. Like you, I was uninformed that the motor I had purchased with my boat was of Canadian origin, but Otho paid for the repair without batting an eye.

I'm surprised you were able to get the motor serviced under warranty the first time; I wasn't . . . the serial number did not show up in the Honda database when the service facility logged the warranty repair request.

[PeteC]

How can you determine where the motor is made?

I have a 2001 Havencraft Mac26X with Honda 50.

[DLT]

First let me say that I am not an attorney and have no idea about the relevent law, especially in your state

It seems to me that there are two separate issues here:

1 - The linkage coming loose. Here, you are saying that Woods screwed up in reassembling it after replacing the impeller. If you can get the judge to accept that, which will depend on the law, then you might be able to hold them liable for repairing it and maybe even the damage to your boat because of it.

How much are you talking about here? A local attorney can likely give you an idea of the local service liability law, but having an attorney pursue the case ain't gonna be cheap.

Alternatively, you could pay for a short consultation with an attorney, with the idea being they give you information about the law so you can pursue it in small claims court...

Lastly, you could just file a small claims case against Woods, have the sheriff serve them, and then see if they are willing to work something out. If not, you could just show up and argue your case before the judge and take your chances. If you loose, you're only out the filing fees... As a bonus, if they don't show up, then you might just win by default... But, you want to use the courts in Woods' county, if that is different than your own, assuming you took the boat to them...

Collecting it will be a whole other issue...


2 - The motor being of Canadian descent, and thus not covered by
Honda USA. It ain't Woods' fault if Havencraft supplied the motor. This is a big concern, but likely unrelated to the other issue, which is more pressing... The Canadian branch of Honda might still be covering it, have you called them?

Even if the impeller was replaced under warranty, which doesn't seem likely given your new found information, no division of Honda is likely to accept responsibility for Woods' faulty repair...

[ralphk]

Motors are made in Japan.

Not sure if there is a nationality code for US or Canadian sales.

[Paul S]

If Woods is supposedly a Honda US distributor, I'd think they'd be in trouble with Honda for selling bootleg Canadian motors here in the U.S.
.

The motor was supplied by Havencraft. Not sure where he got it to begin with.

I can call Honda Canada, but for the $75 it is probably worth just paying it and getting on with it.

Honda said if a motor failed while it was running, it is not covered. Just mfr defects. Call me crazy...how can you find out if a part is faulty unless it is running? It is like a roofer not covering the whole roof and not making a repair because it is not leaking because it is not raining!

Just glad it was nothing more major

Paul

[Paul S]

If you dealt with Otho Campbell when you purchased your boat, you should contact him directly for any warranty repair issues. Like you, I was uninformed that the motor I had purchased with my boat was of Canadian origin, but Otho paid for the repair without batting an eye.

I'm surprised you were able to get the motor serviced under warranty the first time; I wasn't . . . the serial number did not show up in the Honda database when the service facility logged the warranty repair request.

it was not covered under warranty. Otho took care of the bill the first time

Paul

[mtc]

Document, document, document.

You're right in presuming that the linkage should have been properly tightened considering the work that Woods did to your engine. That theyr won't honor such a small claim is prepostorus and warrants action if for no other reason to prevent someone else from them.

A suggestion - approach the dealer with your plans to proceed; small claims court, better business bureau, newspaper, petitions, postings, etc. You may not have to carry through with every step, but if Woods knows that you have a plan (show them your brief letter to the BB and the local Op/Ed page of your newspaper, etc.) they may be more willing to yield

If not, then with the help of the maintenance manuals, small claims court. It was created to handle such minor events and works very well against what you describe here - bait and switch. An attorney shouldn't be necessary with a small claims court filing.

None of this may work, but if it doesn't, then at least letting as many others know what befell you would be doing the right thing.

If you knew of someone else who was treated with such disregard, would you have conducted business with Woods?

Sorry for your plight. It's a shame about your hull. Balance the Karma.

Michael

[PeteC]

Is Woods someone you might need to do work for you in the future?

You might want to be careful about burning the bridge with them, unless of course it needs to be burned.

I have been in similar shoes and had to eat things somewhat because I knew I would need them in the future.

Just another angle you may need to consider.

The realities of life in the real world suck sometimes.