Is this delamination?

[Tbauer]

Holly dog piss Batman, This is my less than 1 year old Fightercat Fantasm, is this what I think it is?

IMG_20140220_230738.jpg

[srislash]

Is that a piece of ride pad??? I have only had that happen on a wood outrigger sponson. I do not see how that could happen on a vacuum formed hull. Unless the surface was repaired or something.

[srislash]

I'm gonna be pissed if mine does that, BUT, it can be fixed and even improved upon.

[larryrose11]

srislash,
Do you know for a fact that they are vacuum formed? The results suggest otherwise.

There have been so many knockoffs. I guess you can tell if it is vacuum formed by the pattern of the peel ply on the inside, sill doesn't mean it was formed with a strong vacuum.
I have done some wet layup, compression, and vacuum forming of CF and FG. Vacuum forming down to 3 inches is a world apart.

[Fella1340]

It's hard to see in the photo but it looks like the whole boat is coming apart? That's going to be a ugly repair as who knows what's going on under the next layer. I hope you can make it work or better yet have them replace it under warranty. Even if it's past warranty they should give you a new one under the "we sure screwed that up" clause. I am curious to see if they will stand behind their product.

[Tbauer]

I don't know about vacuum bagging or not, but I showed Keith at KBB and he confirmed, it's delamination. The entire length of the sponson is coming up like that. Not good, not good.

[Fella1340]

Have you sent an email with pictures to fightercat to see what the are willing to do?

[Tbauer]

No I have not, I am not optimistic they will do anything. but I suppose I should. Gives others a chance to see if Fightercat stands behind their product or not

[ray schrauwen]

Remember Fighter Cat didn't make the hull so, not easy to make them the go to people for this kind of problem.

[Fella1340]

I think that's a great idea. Hopefully it's just a one of and was a bad resin/hardener mix for the boat.

[Tbauer]

Suggestion taken, below is the email with pic that i just sent....



To Fightercat,

I would like to bring something of concern to your attention. I have a Fightercat Fantasm that I purchased from KBB less than a year ago. To our surprise the boat is delaminating. Is this a common issue? Is there any other incidents of this occurring? Are you guys willing to stand behind your product? For over 300.00 this his is not good. Please see attached picture. Thank you in advance for your response.




Travis

[Tbauer]

If you sale it under your name, and not the manufacturers name, I tend to disagree with your assessment Ray. I could be wrong, but they sale the product as if it is theirs, so they own it in my opinion.

[Fella1340]

I didn't know you bought it from KBB. Should he not as the retailer be handling this for you? Anything I buy and have a problem with I take it back to where I bought it. Am I missing something here?
.

[ray schrauwen]

That is true Fella, how do you go after the retailer Fightercat if you bought it from a second retailer KBB ? That's a heck of a conundrum. Don't most people know by now that Fightercat (although very nice to me) has kind of gone out of business except for what they have left in stock? I hope that you get some customer service one way or another because that is quite bad. I've had issues with some Chinese manufacturers and that's why when I do buy a Chinese hull it's a Deltaforce. Never had a problem with them and I've had a lot of them. I find all the others to be really brittle in comparison.

[Tbauer]

No, that's a good question, but NO, KBB is not responsible. Can he act as the middle man, sure, have I asked him, NO. Dude has way too much going on to burden him with that. Now if Fightercat backs down, KBB can decide to put pressure on and refuse to carry their product etc., but ultimately the retailer/distributor is not responsible for the product. Just like when you buy a boat. The boat is warrantied by the builder, the other items Motor, outdrive etc are warrantied by the manufacturer. Some places,. usually larger places with pull, will step in and handle the manufacturers on your behalf. That makes life easier. KBB has done it for me on a couple Swordfish esc's and stuff, but he's building me a MHZ so i'd rather him concentrate on that, not a fubar Fantasm. I can hanlde that. If they leave me hanging, I will post their response and eveyone will see what they think of customers. That's why I appreciate these forums, they give us that juice we would lack as independant consumers..........lol