2003 22 foot Suntracker Pontoon Boat - trouble with Mercury motor - doesn't propel boat properly

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on September 16, 2002:

From:

RE: 2003 22 foot Suntracker Pontoon Boat - trouble with Mercury motor - doesn't propel boat properly

My complaint is that we recently purchased a brand new 2003 22' Suntracker Pontoon Boat that has been sold to us that we are unable to enjoy. Recently, Suntracker expanded their 2002 and 2003 models' pontoon size to the 26" pontoons, up from the prior models of 24". This addition to the pontoons allows the boat to sit higher on the water and allows more control and smoother sailing across the water.

The problem is in the Mercury motor. The motor prop size stayed the same as for the 22" pontoons, the manufacturer did not expand it to fit the new expanded size of the pontoons; therefore, whenever there are more than two people on the boat and they are sitting on the front of this 14 passenger boat, the motor lifts out from the water making it suck air and is unable to push the weight of the boat.

All the passengers have to move to the back of the boat to apply weight so the motor will stay in the water. Not only does this motor lift from the water, it actually has a safety feature that disengages and cuts off the engine causing the boat to die.

We purchased the boat from Hern Marine in Florence, KY on August 26th. The boat has now been returned to their store for a part to be added to this boat to allow the passengers to roam freely aboard the boat. Hern representatives acknowledged that Suntracker was aware of this problem with other owners. So, we returned the boat for repair on September 8, and was promised by Hern Marine representatives that they would have the boat fixed by the upcoming weekend.

On Saturday 9/14, when my husband stopped by the store to check on the status, he was told that the part would normally take 3-5 business days to retrieve and replace. Here it is on September 16th and was told today that the part still hasn't come in and they weren't sure when it would be here.

Here's where it gets good folks. Hern Marine has 2 of the same syle and model Suntracker Pontoon Boats on their lot (one in the showroom) to be sold KNOWING that whomever purchases these boats will have the same exact problem that we are having and will have to return the boat for this additional part.

As of this date, my husband brought this to their attention and the manager did not come out of his office NOR did they deny that they intended to sell them without this repair. We paid a monthly fee to have our boat docked so that we would be able to enjoy the remainder of the boating season without worrying about finding an open boat slip.

The boat has been out of that monthly docking space for a week now with no definate return date from Hern Marine.