Awhile back I posted a problem that I was having with my 2000 Nitro 185 Sport Fish&Ski. I thought I would give all of you an update on my saga. Today I had a Marine Surveyor look at my boat and he has verified that there is a hull defect with my boat. He is sending his report to my insurance company and then they are going to forward the report to Tracker. During his inspection, he saw a pack of Marlboro's lodged between the top and the hull visible through the lower storage area. Said it could have only been put there by the guy who put the boat together at the factory. Lake tested the boat and he took some great pictures of the boat leaning severe to the left. Added that it was a serious problem that needed to be addressed by Tracker. At this point I am going to wait for Tracker's response. If they again try to skirt the issue, I am going to hire an attorney. If anyone has been through any similiar situations or has any advice, I would greatly appreciate your input.

Thank you,

Bud

Bud,
Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble with the Nitro. I remember reading your post a while back. At least you have some peace of mind now that you know what the problem is. I'll be interested to hear what Tracker does about this problem as I'm thinking of purchasing a Nitro myself. Best of luck to you!

Bud, I feel your pain. I had a Tracker TV-18 for 9 months and it was always in the shop. I kept on Trackers a$$ and made them and Bass Pro Shop take the boat back and give me 100% credit for a new boat. 18 months later that boat(a Nitro 898 Savage) got a crack in the live well. Thay claimed it was out of warranty. My position was that the live well should never crack. Once again I kept on Tracker/Nitro and Bass Pro until they agreed to repair it for free. If you haven't done so call Tracker/Nitro customer service directly and talk to a lady named Sandy. She was the best. She even put me on hold one day and called Bass Pro for a conference call so that they could not tell me a different story then they were telling her. She is the real reason that my boat was fixed. If you need the number drop me an e-mail and I will get it for you. GOOD LUCK AND DON'T GIVE UP!

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SEMPER FI

call channel 8 and give em photo of ciggs in hull that should fix you up .

I am right along with you guy's. I ordered a new 18'6 Nitro exactly like I wanted from Bass Pro and when it arrived it was nothing like I ordered and they would not make good on it so as I stood in the Bass Pro shops I called Plano Marine and bought a new Skeeter bigger and much nicer than the Nitro for a even better price. Send the boat in for a Skeeter. You won't be sorry.
Dave

I have spoken with Sandy in Customer Service and her hands are tied on this one. She says that it is a Warranty issue that needs to be handled by the warranty claims people. So far, the only way to get anything is to complain over and over. My insurance company is now dealing with them for the solution. I have lost my patience with them about it. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.

Thanks,

Bud

Month 5 of the problem and no contact from Tracker? They are ignoring my letters and phone calls. The Insurance company is even having a hard time dealing with them. I can honestly say this has been the most unprofessional experience with a company I have ever had. The last bit of advice received by Customer Service was that I could always sell it. Imagine, pushing the problem off on someone else? I will think long and hard about this for any future dealings when buying my next boat. Ranger, Skeeter, Champion, or Triton here I come!!

Sounds litigious I know but, why don't you have an attorney write a letter for you with the surveyors report, insurance affadavits, etc. and demand your money back? Going to court is a pain but 95% of the time they'll end up settling to avoid coming down to the court house and battling you.

check out this WEB site for the list of Boat Manufactures that BPS (Tracker) owns:
http://www.tracker-marine.com/

In addition, I believe they have a controlling interest in Travis Marine which adds another list of Manufacturers to the pot.

In Lewisville at least Travis is now handling Ranger also.

Last I heard Tracker owned about 40% of Travis. However, around the first of the year, Tracker did take control of the board in an attempt to keep Travis from filing bankruptcy.
http://www.boating-industry.com/News.asp?mode=4&N_ID=37314
http://www.boatbiz.com/News.asp?mode=4&N_ID=38632

Travis' relationship with Ranger is nothing other than a dealership. Genmar owns Ranger.

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UPDATE: Finally received a response from Tracker regarding my boat. They said they will not admit that there are any problems with the boat, but would like to inspect the boat at the factory. Only rub is that I need to bring it to them, no transportation will be paid by them to look it over. It clearly states in the warranty that Tracker is not going to pay for the transportation or be liable for anything. If any of you have not looked at it, you should read it, very amusing. I waited for the promised faxed paperwork for a week and then finally had to call them to get it. I don't think they want to go through with this process. They keep dragging their feet. Ozark, MO is only 6.5 hours, so I will make sure they get to look at my boat. I think I will point out the pack of Marlboro cigarettes glassed into the hull. That is always entertaining to look at. All I can say is, I will never buy another Tracker Boat!!

You really should post a picture of the smokes so others can see....

Here is a picture of the smokes that you guys requested. They are located in the ski storage looking through a 2 inch gap towards the edge of the cap on the drivers side. Ugh... I also included pictures of the boat, so you could get an idea of what it looks like.
http://photos.yahoo.com/l_martz

Are their any access holes that you could run a telescopic mirror into and look with a flashlight shining into it? That thing looks like a Friday layoff time boat, like someone was p.o'd and put some ballast on that side.

There is a space where the wires and cables run through that I could possibly run something through. According to Tracker, their employees are not allowed to smoke on the floor. This was the response I got after telling them about the smokes.