Respectfully, I do not agree this is a dealership issue. If you go to buy a car off the lot and there are things you don’t like, then you either:
a) Look elsewhere for a different brand.
b) Negotiate the terms of the deal to your liking or know that going in, prepared to do something about it after purchase.
c) If the first dealer won’t negotiate, go to a different one.
Anyone that uses a pickup truck for actual work knows a bedliner protects your investment. This is not a “standard” feature, often a factory option, but you either know it’s a good investment from personal experience OR you’ve done your research and know this. If not, you scratch up your new $50,000 truck bed and learn your lesson. Two minutes of research shows this is a common issue, so when I purchased my boat I had that knowledge in hand. Moot point, as the salesman and I were talking he discovered I was a forum member here and offered to do it pre purchase without me asking. The boat/trailer combo is sold as a package deal by Yamaha. Yamaha sources the trailer from Shoreland’r. You put the pressure on Yamaha, they spec a different trailer and/or trailer components.
Y'know, you're right, that's a bad look at it or bad phrasing on my part. I agree that this is NOT a dealership issue at all. A more appropriate way for me to have phrased it should have been along the lines of this issue being something, at this point, that the dealership is going to be the only one to solve the issue. To your first point, if we were to apply it to our boats, I don't believe anyone is going to look elsewhere for a different brand simply because of the bow roller. I don't think you were saying this, btw, I'm just pointing this out because in SPITE of the warnings around here, many still buy a Yamaha, myself included. I'm learning as I go that I should heed the warnings of you guys on this forum LOL
Your second point is more along the lines of what I was really trying to point out. I read many threads about the roller, ignored them or shrugged them off as less significant than I felt was warranted, so I didn't negotiate the swap of the roller, and was left to deal with it myself. I look at this kind of along the lines of "coolant for winterizing". How you view the importance or lack thereof will dictate what you do.
I guess the problem with the approach of this is that we, having bought our boats already, have essentially told Yamaha that the roller isn't going to deter us from buying their boat, but man, we're sure pissed that this has to be dealt with. I don't see being able to bring enough pressure to bear on this issue, although I do agree that it IS an issue.
I agree with the OP’s direction here by the way, make the manufacturer aware and let them choose to address it. Or not, their choice.
I agree, as well. I "signed". It's the least I could do, since I already threw my money at them mindlessly