Bad electrical connection led to hole in pontoon

Mtg

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2018 22gfs bought new sept 2019 was running boat and power to helm went out. I just retired planned in spending a lot of time crabbing and fishing. I ran the maintenance garage for municipality I lived in for 31 years and was haevy equipment mechanic for 10 years before that. I grew up boating in the Susquehanna. I figured a fuse blew once got back to dock checked everything under seat it all was good. Next day pulled boat and tested under helm no power coming in from battery took side cover off pontoon to test wiring. Immediately I seen green buildup on heavy wire from battery and a hole corroded through the top of pontoon. I touched the wire and it was separated where it connected to 2 wires to feed the helm. I contacted dealer who said would have to bring boat and to send pictures. I had the boat there in 30 minutes. It took 5 1/2 weeks to get it back they had to send it to their welding shop to put patch on top of pontoon. It couldn’t be more than a 2 hour job to repair wiring and patch the pontoon. I understand how busy and demand is crazy right now but they certainly could find time to repair it . I easily could have done it myself but figured it’s warranted and if any problems down the road they can’t say I did something wrong . I called several times and stopped in after 2 weeks to find they haven’t even looked at it yet ‼️. I had side panel off would take 1 minute to look at and contact Bennington about it. Then 3 more weeks to weld and repair wiring and replace filler neck that was very hard yo open from new. The boat is in salt water but I pull it out almost every week clean and hose underneath and pontoons. Hopefully was just a poor factory electrical connection and not common problem. If they would have made it a foot longer the connection and and connectors would have been inside helm out splash zine and much easier to troubleshoot. My next new Bennington will be from different dealer regardless of how convenient it is being only 5 miles away.
 

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Wow!!! That’s crazy. Glad you found the issue. I’m still waiting for my flooring repairs to be scheduled.
 
Oh man unbelievable! At least it's fixed now. Enjoy it!
 
Crazy situation. Glad they eventually got it repaired. Not sure it will be any consolation, but my dealership has had my boat for 7 weeks and has yet to complete inspection, let alone move forward with repairs…
 
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