BoatU.S. Recall Alert System Springs Into Action after 3 Safety Recalls

Three marine manufacturers involved in recent high-profile safety recalls will use the BoatU.S. Recall Registry at www.BoatUS.com to notify boat owners about their campaigns. "Hundreds, if not thousands, of boat owners who might never have been reached otherwise may now get the opportunity to have their boats or engines repaired under the safety recalls," said Caroline Ajootian, consumer affairs director for BoatU.S.

The BoatU.S. National Alert Registry is a service for all boat owners and marine manufacturers. Started last September, the registry allows owners to register their boats online in a secure database, so that manufacturers can easily contact them in the event of a safety recall. Before the registry, many boat owners - especially of used boats - were not contacted because manufacturers' owner records were incomplete.

In the past few weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard has issued three safety recalls affecting thousands of boaters:

• On April 2, a recall was issued for more than 11,000 1999 and 2000 Evinrude Ficht 200/225 hp outboard motors that might leak fuel, causing a fire or explosion. Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC), the engines' manufacturer, filed for bankruptcy in late December; it had notified dealers about the problem, but not owners. Bombardier Inc. of Quebec, which purchased OMC's engine lines, is supporting the safety recall and will repair any of the engines that leak fuel.
  

  
  

• Genmar Holdings, which acquired OMC's boat lines, is supporting the U.S. Coast Guard recall of certain 2000 model year Stratos 20SS bass boats. These boats have performance characteristics that present a substantial risk of personal injury (falls overboard or within the boat) during mid-speed turns. Genmar is replacing the hulls of all affected boats and transporting the boats to and from the Stratos-Javelin factory in Murfreesboro, TN at no cost the owners.
  

  
  

• In late February, safety recall notices were issued for six houseboat manufacturers (Fantasty Custom Yachts, Skipperliner, Stardust, Sumerset Houseboats, Sunstar Houseboats and Thoroughbred Cruisers, Inc.) because gasoline generator exhaust venting into the sterndrive cavities of the boats causes a dangerous buildup of carbon monoxide there, on the afterdecks and the swim platforms.
  Before the BoatU.S. National Recall Registry was set up, manufacturers often had problems contacting boat owners about safety recalls. While federal laws require that companies exercise "reasonable diligence" in maintaining lists of original owners, the system does not always work. "Owners need to know about safety recalls," said Ajootian. "Unfortunately, manufacturers' records on boat owners are often incomplete, especially on used boats. Owners may not notify the company when they sell their boats, or fail to return warranty cards in the first place, and the laws require only that the company notify original owners, not second or third owners," she said.
  

Registration for the Recall Alert registry, available at BoatUS.com, is free and open to all boat owners, not just BoatU.S. members. To protect their privacy, boat owners are assigned a unique password, and manufacturers can only access records of boats they have built. To date, nearly 120,000 owners are in the registry database, where new safety recalls are posted monthly.

With 520,000 members, BoatU.S. is the nation's largest organization of recreational boaters.

Posted: 4-19-2001