Boat Lemon Laws

Just curious if anyone out there knows much about boat lemon laws. We just bought a 05 vlx and it's one thing after another with it. of the 5 times we have taken it on the water, it has broken down 3 times. I have briefly researched it on the web, but it appears each state is different and most sites just say to get an attorney that specializes in lemon laws. What is the criteria to know when you have a lemon? is it different when you bought it used? etc.?

I think it has to be brand new to apply to the Lemon Law???

Is your dealer helping you? What is the history of the boat?

I would tend to think nu bu is correct.

nu bu, were you down at Sammamish on Saturday?

Thanks for the replies.
When we got it, they had just put a new engine in it because the last owner didn't winterize it in time and cracked the block. [the previous engine only had 99 hours]. So we have a year warranty on all moving parts. So far, they have been helpful in paying for the fixes. This time, the transmission died. As of now, not sure if it froze or what, but it won't go forward or backward; it just dies. I am hoping that they include the transmission in "all moving parts". If not, that is where i am worried and would want to pursue lemon laws...

It wouldn't be lemon law you'd be looking at it would be breach of warranty. However if they only replaced the engine I don't see why they would warranty the transmission.

Any suggestions on what may be wrong? We were cruising along pulling a rider and the boat just stopped. Turned it back on, put it in gear and it died again. It won't go forward or back, just dies if you try. There is plenty of v-drive oil in the tranny...

if you put it in neutral can you rev the motor or does it die? Is it running normally at idle?

Brett no I was out of town on business. I'm there alot in the summer though, more on weekdays trying to avoid the zoo and open seas chop that the wallies creat pulling the tubers through the one or two section of glass they haven't destroyed yet .

Jeff check the kill switch lanyard. Try putting a thin washer under the lanyard switch and see if it still does it. They could have also screwed up the kill switch function when they swapped the motor, have them check it out. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Jeff....incredible profile pic. Way to go large.

It sounds like the boat runs until he drops it in gear. I does sound like it might be seized up

Thanks Jarrod...hoping this boat issue won't put a damper on the summer...

Yeah, it runs just fine until it is put into gear. Have a feeling it's going to be a big job to fix. Thank you all for your replies...keep em coming if any thoughts come up.

sorry to hear about the problems. its totally not a lemon. the trany wouldn't be covered under the new motor warranty. its a totally different part of the boat even though it is connected to the motor. did you have the warranty transferded when you bought the boat. if so there might be a slight chance that the tranny could still be in warranty. here at our shop we had to a new tige that the tranny went out on and it was going to take like a little over a month to send it back to the tranny manufacturer and get it back. we helped our customer out and took a tranny out of one of our stock boats so the customer could be back on the water the next weekend. if i were you i would keep calm about it when talking to the dealer and get it to them asap to get them going on it. good luck with it.

sounds like either the output shaft on the tranny is stuck, or something in the driveline after that is stuck.

Hope things go well for you. Definitely not a lemon law candidate though based on what you said.

Good luck!

take the kill switch out and switch the wires on the back there will be 4 posts take the wires off of the two there on and put them on the two other posts , thatll bypass the kill switch and let you know that its somewhere else down the line.. also what does the tranny fluid look like ?? is it milky are there metal shavings in it, when it died did it make a loud thunk or no noise at all?

and here in Ga lemon laws favor the dealer, not sure how they are where youre at, but if ya gotta get a lawyer make sure hes a bulldog

I had the same symptoms on my boat. Had less than 30hrs. As soon as I put it into gear the engine would die. Wound up being a bolt in the trans had backed off and got caught in the gears. No damage just needed to be taken apart and threaded back in (loctite this time).