Mercury Marine

This letter is to communicate ongoing issues with a Mercury 2007 60HP Bigfoot mounted on a Tracker Marine Fishing Barge 21 that I purchased new in November 2007. I am again looking for any assistance that your office can provide me and my family. This is the fourth time I am reporting on this issue. See comments below for history of problems.

Since the date of the last report noted below, I have had to have the power head on a 60HP Bigfoot made by Mercury Marine replaced the third time. The services were completed by Chatlee Marine located in Sanford, NC. Unfortunately, this did not seem to fix the problem. The engine has again lost significant power, has severe vibrations, stalls in the water, and shuts off. The same symptoms happened just prior to the last two power heads failing. I have talked to numerous Mercury representatives at their headquarters division as well as Chatlee Boat and Marine and seemed to have run into road blocks as to why the engine can't be fixed properly. Now, I am being told it's a prop issue and the past problems could be related to mounting issues.

Prior to deploying for my fourth deployment in 2010, my family and I decided to take the boat out, and again, the engine seized. Again, I had to be towed in. I was advised by Mercury Marine to leave it with Chatlee to be serviced since they were a premiere dealer and authorized service shop. The boat sat with Chatlee for more than 3 months, waiting to be serviced. I had Chatlee Marine winterize the vessel since I would not be able to pick up the boat until December when I would be home on leave.

I picked up the boat in December 2010 while on leave, and it wasn't until the end of August 2011, when I returned from Iraq, that I was able to run the boat. At which time, I noticed the boat having problems again, similar to the past. After running the boat some more, I noticed the problem was getting worst, thus, I decide to return the boat to Chatlee. Unfortunately again, the boat will now have to sit with them for 2-4 weeks until they can look at it due to technicians not being available. No telling how long this will take.

Please, is there anyone who can help? I am looking for any assistance from your office or any other offices that can provide me and my family some assistance with holding Mercury Marine, Tracker Marine, or Chatlee accountable for failing to fix and/or replace my 2007 60HP Bigfoot mounted on a Tracker Fishing Barge 21. I am wondering if there is a lemon law for Marine products (boats) or any consumer protection that you can assists us with.

I have a 2008 Sun Tracker Fishing Barge 21 with 60hp Bigfoot outboard that we special ordered from Gander Mountain in Fayetteville. They have since been relieved from selling Tracker Boats. I special ordered the boat in August 2007 and purchased the vessel in October 2007 for about 21k, however, I had to winterize the boat in December 2007 and put it in storage due to my 15 month deployment to Iraq.

I used the boat in October 2007, one time, for less than one hour. I returned from my 15 month deployment in April 2009 and used it three times for less than 6 hours. On the third time out at Lake Norman, my family and I were stranded on the Lake and had to be towed in because the engine seized. Since the engine is under warranty, Mercury referred me to the Boat Rack located at Sherrils Ford, NC 28637. I left the boat there for over 2 months for it to be fixed. It stayed in the shop from April 13, 2009 through June 13, 2009. When I picked up the boat, the battery was dead; the battery cables were not connected; the boat carpet had grease foot prints tracked all over it; the cover to the engine scarred and scratched; sap and tree leaves littered the boat; and the steering console was upside down.

I was informed by the Boat Rack that they replaced the upper cowl of the engine and charged Mercury Outboard $4,112.18 for the repairs. After driving over three hours to pick up the boat from Fort Bragg, NC and noticing the way the boat was returned, I was so frustrated that I just hooked up the boat and left. I ran the boat with the new repairs out at Lake Norman for no more than 30 minute, adhering again to the break-in period procedures. Since everything seemed okay at the time, I returned back to Fort Bragg and ran the boat again for about two hours without any noticeable difficulties.

On July 4th 2009, while boating on Bay Tree Lake in NC with the family, the engine seized again and left me and my family stranded on the lake, having to be towed in. My family and I have used the boat less than five times, and between engine repairs has less than 9 hours on two engines.

So far, the Tracker Fishing Barge 21 has had a significant number of defects: the trailer bunk board carpets have torn; the radio has not worked and been replaced twice; the center console has numerous cracks; the carpet on the center console has come apart; the aerator is leaking; the lights on the vessel are not wired correctly, thus, don't operate correctly; and the center steering column is upside down.

Due to the large number of problems with the vessels and engine, I feel it is no longer safe for me and my family to use on the open waters and fear for the dangers my family and I will be placed in if we continue to trailer the boat and use it in the open water. Although the Tracker Boat is no longer under warranty and since it was only a year warranty, I am hoping there may be some legal protection for a consumer who is serving in the Military and was deployed 2 months after purchasing the vessel, requiring it to be stored until returning 15 months from Iraq.

At this time, July 5, 2009, I am requesting Tracker Marine and Mercury outboards to provide me a new factory-ordered Tracker Marine Fishing Barge 21 with new 60hp Bigfoot and provide me a loaner boat to use in the interim. I will accept the trailer since I can replace the carpet myself. I have tried to contact Tracker Marine on the defects since returning from my deployment and received no assistance. Their reply is that it's no longer under warranty and to deal with Mercury for the engine.

I worked 23 years to have a boat like this serving my country and feel that I am being taken advantage of by Tracker Marine and Mercury outboards. My family and I have been left stranded and had to be towed in 2 times in less than 90 days. So far, the cost to repair the engine is over 4k and over 2k in payments, not including payments while I was deployed. So far, travel for repairs, payments, and repairs are over 7k.

For the third time this summer, I have canceled a fishing trip today. It's because my 4 year old 9.9 hp Mercury 4 cycle motor will not start. It just came out of the shop ($300.00 to tune) a few weeks ago.

We have a 2008 Bentley with 115hp Mercury. Not long after purchasing this new boat, we had the starter shorted out. The boat was covered. They did cover the parts to fix this problem. Since then, this boat has been filling up with oil due to gas going into the oil. We have taken this boat to a dealership every time it has been serviced. The dealership said the last person that serviced this motor over filled it with oil. We then took the boat and put about 70 hours on it. We went to the lake on vacation on the 4th of July. We had just made it out of the canal. The boat lost power. It started smoking and then finally died. When towed back to land, we check the oil and the oil came spewing out of it. We took it back to the dealership. That dealer also stated that it had too much oil put in it.

We were telling him that the last dealer that serviced this boat said the same thing. He kept the boat, changed the oil, and told us to take it and run it and see if it was showing the oil level rising. We did and it did show the level rising. So, we took it to another dealer and he said that Mercury techs told them it was a fuel regulator that it had debris in it. This is a filter inside the motor. There is another fuel filter on this boat before it even gets to the fuel regulator. And I know any lawn mower dirt bike or any other small engine.

If the fuel filter is clogged it, will run poorly and you change the filter. I don't believe it had debris in it. I have asked Mercury to cover this under the warranty and they said this is not a warranty issue. However, I do because this boat never ran bad. It's just up and quit. What damage has this done to my motor? I have contacted Mercury. They do not want to discuss this issue. They refuse to cover this under the warranty. If you call me, I can better explain this complaint than typing this. Please call me.

I lost last summer because of it & now almost 1/2 of this summer without a boat. All I requested of mercury is to buy boat back from me or replace it. They do not seem to care the finacial burden & stress this is causing me. This was not an unreasonable request but they seem to be ignoring it. I have all costs documented including the countless phone calls I have made because of this.

I am an avid fisherman in small boats with electric trolling motors. I have used them for years. I bought a new one at Wal-Mart and went fishing. After getting the boat launched I attempted to lower the motor from its locked "up" position to the run position, which drops it into the water. There is only a small plastic button to push to get it unlocked.

Upon pushing the button the motor lowered (as designed) into the water. However, the dangerous situation is when the motor drops, the operators other fingers are left in a moving part area. The movement is like a scissor and it proceeded to crush my left index finger. Not just pinched but crushed.

After many attempts of trying to get the finger out my partner tried as well but the boat was tipping over. I would have gone with it because I was now part of the boat. After an agonizing minute or so, the motor latch/lock had to be broken off to release my finger. I was in immense pain and after 2 months the nail fell off. It took 4 months before a full recovery.

I took multiple digital photos the day of and throughout the recovery and sent them to Mercury and Wal Mart. In my line of work I give group presentations weekly and was always harassed about my "monkey finger". It was black for 8 weeks. How can a company turn their head so easily and just get away with it. Maybe if it was a hot coffee maker and I touched it and burned my finger they would listen? Can you offer any advice?

I contacted Mercury Marine many times after the incident with no reply. After writing a threatening letter to them, their lawyer Todd Lemke called me for details. He explained they just acquired motorguide and would look into things and call me back. He never did. I made many attempts calling his direct number and only could leave messages. He never called back.

By advice of a local attorney I Fed Ex'd a Massachusetts 93A letter in which they need respond within 30 days. It has been 4 months, no calls or letters. They have absolutely neglected me regarding the injury their product had done to me as well the dangerous product for sale to the public without proper warning against injury. Can you help please? Nobody will talk to me. I have asked other boaters of their opinion of this product (Model T-34) and they also feel it is a hazardous product and will create other injury.

First, Jeff should not be trying to deal directly with the company's attorney. A layman against an attorney has no chance of achieving justice. If he wants to be compensated for his medical costs and for pain and suffering, he will have to retain a personal injury lawyer and begin proceedings against the company. To prevent others from similar injuries, Jeff should report the incident to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.