The bad news is my 2009 Lowe Stinger got a hull crack on one of the welds that holds a stringer in place. What's worse...it happened two days after I made my last payment! I was extremely mad that I had experienced yet another hull failure.

This is extremely frustrating because I had experienced 4 hull failures with my 2006 Stinger before Lowe replaced the hull. It was exasperating to experience another hull defect.

The good news is Lowe has agreed to send me a new FM165 Pro!

I asked for a deep-v model because I believe it will be less likely to experience a hull failure. I know there are several guys that catfish out of them.

I am still working out a few details and no telling how long it will take to get here, but everything is looking good so far.

When I get the boat I am going to outfit it with new bee-ready's all around.

Can't wait to see pics.. heck I'd even love to fish out of it

Stinks your boat cracked, cool that they are replacing it....

nice .

Glad to hear they are making it right Brian. When I saw this post I thought, oh no, not again. Hope it gets done quickly.

Oh wow that is unfortunate, I can't believe that the company is going to take care of you on this, most companies have a small warranty and then you are on your own. Can't wait to see the new boat.

3rd times the charm

I definitely wouldn't say it was easy getting them to agree to take this action. I am really good at writing letters, digging up contact info, and stiring the pot. I can say that based on my experiance, Lowe is better than some of their majkr competitiors. They appear to stand behind their product. For example...I have heard some boat manufacturers try to blame their customers for hull cracks. I have never heard Lowe say that. Their problem is they tend to be inefficient at fixing problems. My case was expedited by some connections I made st Brunswick. We will see how long it takes for the boat to get here.

SWEET ending to a crappy situation!!

Just looked up the boat you are getting, pretty sweet!

This is what it wil look like. The black boats on their website look sweet but probably would not be too practical. I didn't get to pick the color anyway. I got word from Lowe that the boat is expected to arrive at Cabela's Fort Worth late next week. Last time they moved my motor from my old boat and put my new boat on my old trailer. This time they are giving me a new trailer, but I still got to keep the old motor. I am not too wild about putting my 2006 50 HP Mercury 2-Stroke on a brand new boat. The standard motor for this boat is now a mercury 60 HP 4-stroke. When they redesigned the boat in 2012 to get to the "PRO" version the Max HP went from 75 to 90 HP. I would love to have a 90 HP 4-stroke...or even a 60 HP HP 4-stroke, but that doesn't look too likely to happen. Hopefully it will be good enough.

Aren't marketing shots just lovely?



That boat needs some catfish slime!

Did ya ask um what kind of deal they would make ya on a 60 or 75 for all your troubles 2 bad boats in a row and all the down time ?

Well, that sucks. But I am happy that Lowes is standing behind it. I have looked at that same boat a bunch. I bet this one will treat you well in the wind and chop..... I have a deep v on the way from Xpress. Should be a couple of weeks. A little splash in the summer is fine, but I love winter fishing!

About the engine. I bet your 2 stroke is really strong. It is only a few years old.
A lot of folks swear by them. It would be cool if you could get them to deal on exactly what you want. But, hey, no boat payment! Yeah.

I have an older bass tracker 17. Your stinger is much nicer, but a similar hull. I can get that thing anywhere...... It is very close to the water. That is great for landing fish.....

But Texas lakes are rough, and being new to boats, I have scared myself a few times with that boat and had to leave the lake earlier than I wanted to.

Tom is still out there fishing in his toon and whistling, and I am heading for the hills. That is why I am choosing a deep v. Higher sides, etc.