Warranty Woes

I purchased a new boat last year and have had nothing but problems since the first day. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. The dealer continues to fix the problems under the warranty, but a new issue seems to surface every time an old problem is repaired. At this point, the boat has probably spent more time at the dealer’s dock than at our regular slip. Do I have any recourse against the manufacturer? Is there a ’lemon law’ for boats? In a recent edition of this column (’Dealing With Disclosure,’ Nov. 30, 2006 issue), we compared the strict legal framework under which a buyer is protected in a real estate transaction, to the vague and complicated protection available to the buyer of a yacht. The legislature simply did not consider the issues faced by the yachting community when the transfer disclosure law was drafted. Boaters ran into the same problem in connection with warranty repairs. The ’lemon law’ protects the buyer of a new car from the frustration described above, but it fails to extend much of that protection to the buyer of a boat. Once again, we are on our own. As the buyer of a ’consumer good,’...