Behind The Buoy

Boat/US Magazine, May, 2001

When BoatU.S. was launched 35 years ago in the spring of 1966, the world of boating was a much different place. The number of registered boats built of wood still outnumbered those made of fiberglass and there were only one-third as many recreational boat owners on the water then as there are today.

In many respects the boating industry was still made up of mom-and-pop boat and engine manufacturers, particularly when compared to the automotive industry which had consolidated a generation earlier.

Generally speaking, boating was still a pastime for those who could afford it. Service was provided by companies that stood behind their products. Many a boat bore the name of its builder. The truth is, there just wasn't that much distance between the customer and the builder of the boat.

All of this changed in the 1970s as millions of Americans took to the waters and the marine industry began consolidating into a handful of boatbuilders and engine manufacturers. As boating entered the mass market, service deteriorated and some companies failed to stand behind their products.

Somewhere along the line the connection between big business and the consumer went Out of whack. When the federal government issued flow-through ventilation standards in the late 1960s, expecting the consumer rather than the builder to make the re-fit happen, it was only a matter of time before something was forced to change.

In this case it was the U.S. Congress which passed the landmark Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971. It required boat manufacturers to build their boats to minimum federal safety standards. At the urging of Boat U.S. Founder Richard Schwartz, manufacturers were required to repair boats and engines which the government deemed defective and the Coast Guard was given the authority to implement the new law.

Over the next 30 years, a love-hate relationship developed between BoatU.S., the marine industry and the Coast Guard over the definition of a "defect" and when the government should step in to protect the consumer.

Typically, Boat U.S. would receive a report of a defective boat and pass it along to the Coast Guard who, in turn, would ask the manufacturer to respond. Invariably, the manufacturer replied either that there was no "defect" or that any problem was particular to the boat in question and did not extend to others of similar make and model.

Without adequate funding to investigate and little support from higher-ups in the military chain of command, the Coast Guard's "Product Assurance Branch" never had a chance. As the years passed, we developed a pretty good idea of how Don Quixote must have felt tilting at his windmills.

By the early 1990s, the industry's attitude toward its consumers changed as sales growth failed to keep pace with expectations. Many Baby Boomers just didn't have the time to go boating or put up with the hassles.

Remarkably, the marine industry began to change and phone calls by our Consumer Protection Bureau to manufacturers on behalf of our members began to be answered with a "can-do" rather than a dismissive response. The National Marine Manufacturers Association and BoatU.S. soon developed a system of arbitrating consumer disputes (BetterBOAT) that did not rely on the Coast Guard or state or federal "lemon" laws. A number of major boatbuilders even came to Boat U.S. asking us to help get the word out on their recall efforts.

It was with some dismay that we found ourselves at odds in 1998 with Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC), builder of the legendary Johnson and Evinrude engines. Some of OMC's new Ficht engines were having serious problems, conking out, and leaving boaters stranded at sea.

OMC's financial difficulties exacerbated the problem and now that the company has gone bankrupt we are only beginning to learn the extent to which the consumer was cut adrift by OMC's corporate culture.

Fortunately, OMC's brands have been taken over by two well established conglomerates: Bombardier of Canada a $10.3 billion company that makes Lear Jets as well as Sea Doos -- and Genmar Holdings of Minneapolis, MN, the corporate parent to a host of boat builders including Wellcraft, Carver, Hatteras and Glastron.

One of their first corporate decisions was to extend warranties and pledge to repair defects on OMC products sold before they took over the company's brands even though they were not legally obligated to do so (see pgs. 16-19). We are heartened by this turn of events and congratulate those at Genmar and Bombardier who made it happen.

Michael G. Scuilla Editor & Associated Publisher