I don't know if I dare comment... If I can play mediator for a moment? I read thru the most recent comments and I may be interpreting the conversation between
@swatski and
@Williamsone46 a little bit differently and may be able to defuse things... Maybe?
1) I don't think
@Williamsone46 was implying or suggesting that you in particular had not checked your knobs. I think that was made clear in previous posts. Perhaps post that had fallen back a few pages that
@Williamsone46 had not had an opportunity to read...? I think it was being suggested that those others who witnessed their knobs loosening may not have checked theirs...? Obviously you and they are the best witness and testimony as to whether or not that's the case. His statement was more an opinion and less of an accusation. "...knobs should be checked prior to each use..."
2) I think
@Williamsone46 is trying to take a fact of the matter approach to the tower failure. Much the way I think it was approached by the Yamaha technician did, which I think there is room to argue with... but perhaps
@Williamsone46 isn't the one to target with that argument. I apologize
@Williamsone46 if I painted you as a target by mentioning you were a Yamaha rep...
3)
@Williamsone46 "Yamaha's response" that has been referenced is simply that of the response to
@swatski's warrantee issues. Which the majority here seem to disagree with. Yamaha has not addressed this thread in person.
4)
@swatski in my short perspective of the jeboaters.net forum appears to be a fondly regarded member of the community here and has over the course developed a solid reputation as someone who "knows their stuff" (not saying other members don't) but I think that why there is so much support to help him fight his fight.
5)
@swatski I think
@Williamsone46 is genuine in his sympathies for what occurred.
6) We all have the ability to speculate - Who's to blame? - What's the cause? - Why is Yamaha saying what they're saying? Facts of the case are, Yamaha has placed the blame on the "USER" in regards to the tower. They've made a judgement... according to their technician. I think the major question that everyone here has is what recourse is there to argue with against "their" technician? Does the opinion or testimony of their client have any measure? Can an independent party be requested for an opinion? Or after his denial is
@swatski left to seek legal representation? Is it worth it for Yamaha to sour the relationship with a customer like him and so many others who respect his opinion.
My own thoughts: As I've said before... I like my boat (2016 AR240) and I feel like everyone else should too. But now I feel like I have "one of those boats"... one of the boats that has the tower the fell on" the guy". I don't know how to respond to that now, because I have doubts about how reliable it is, because I don't feel like the actual cause has been identified. Other's here, even engineers, have their doubts... Mine has never had a problem... but could it?
@swatski says he checked his knobs, it's the general consensus that he would have known if he had cross threaded it. He believes in his mind his tower was erected properly. I put mine up and down after each outing and have felt confident I have it erected properly each time and never given it a second thought.
@swatski left that day feeling the same way, right up until it fell on top of him. We can sit here and argue with one another and take sides for weeks...
But what is the answer??? Who do we trust to give it to us?
Anyway... there's a lot of thoughts bouncing thru my head. I could probably write another page. I still love my boat... but I'd love it more if the tower's had a little more security. I think Yamaha would be wise to address the possibility that if it happened once and partially happened a number of more times and it could happen again. Perhaps a simple warning and throwing the responsibility the "user" to know about it, isn't a good idea... not everybody is as responsible as us here.
By the way, I happened across this picture on my phone that I took a while back for something unrelated. There is some general warning about keeping the knobs tight. At least on my boat... Sorry, it's cut off.
