Covered under the 7 year warranty?

[Indian_Lake_Bum]

 We were spending a few extra days at the lake last weekend due to work schedules working out in our favor for a change....nothing better than 4 days at the lake cruising around on the new boat.  We were out with family and friends this past weekend (saturday and sunday) having a great time......exactly what boating is all about for us.   Only problem is that when we took the table down and removed the post on monday to put the cover on we noticed a couple 1/2" marks (looks like a cut or split) in the port side rear lounger seat cushion.  

 I am wondering if it would be somehow be covered under the factory 7 year warranty as the boat is only 3 months old.....granted we have put 74 hours on it so far  

We have contacted the dealer and they suggested to bring it over for them to look at it and see how to handle the repair (was raining all day yesterday so we didn't take the boat out) .  Without seeing it they suggested that their vinyl repair guy could probably fix it since he uses some kid of liquid vinyl to repair the seat.  Has anyone had this type of vinyl repair done to their boat and if so how well did it hold up over the years?  The vinyl repair option was quoted at roughly 75 bux (without actually seeing the damaged seat) and as a second option a whole new seat cover from bennington that would cost me roughly 225 installed or just purchase a whole new seat bottom for around 300.  We are leaning toward the whole new seat bottom to take care of the problem.  Thinking about building a small box to store our beach towels/sunscreen and the like in and that would make for a nice top to use as a filler seat or foot rest.

 Can you buy the ivory seat bottom from bennington direct or maybe from the manufacturer of the seats themselves.   I figure there has to be a seat manufacturer that build all the seats for several of the popular brands out there.....maybe I'm completely wrong here.  

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give on this situation

 

[TomS]

Certainly see if they'll replace it first. I wouldn't be surprised if they do. If not, any replacement parts or fabric would have to come through your dealer from Bennington. They do not sell anything direct.

When I was on a factory tour a couple years ago, they said they have their own "captive supplier" for upholstery, as well as proprietary materials made just for them. Due to that, it would probably be hard to get it on the open market.

I'd definitely replace the seat skin, not repair it, since it's in such a visible spot.

 

[bcpnick]

When I was on a factory tour a couple years ago, they said they have their own "captive supplier" for upholstery, as well as proprietary materials made just for them. Due to that, it would probably be hard to get it on the open market.

That's interesting. When we were first shopping around for a boat, we were amazed at how much better the Bennington upholstery felt to the touch compared to every other pontoon at the boat show. Everything else felt like plasticy junk, even the 'high end' ones. And that's not even Benningtons upgraded stuff. 

 

[TomS]

That's interesting. When we were first shopping around for a boat, we were amazed at how much better the Bennington upholstery felt to the touch compared to every other pontoon at the boat show. Everything else felt like plasticy junk, even the 'high end' ones. And that's not even Benningtons upgraded stuff. 

Yes, theirs is the same sort of stuff you'd find in a Cobalt, Formula, etc.

 

[crvtt]

That looks like accidental damage from a passenger, not damage from a defective seat. Just like your car warranty won't fix a cracked windshield from a rock hitting it, your warranty won't cover accidental damage to a seat cushion.

 

[Frankd]

We had a small tear in the cover the first week we owned our boat, dealer had us bring it in and they had a local shop repair it, did an excellent job, 3 years later and it's still good, also had a seat bottom that the foam was about a inch short, was hard to see in fact it wasn't till owing the boat for about a month that we noticed it, dealer had us email him pictures to confirm and he got us a new bottom, instead of taking the boat to him, about 50mi, I took it off and brought it to him, picked up the new one and put it on myself.

 

[Indian_Lake_Bum]

Did they repair the seat with the liquid vinyl stuff or did they replace the damaged part of the seat with new vinyl?  We are going to run the boat by the dealer this saturday and see what they think as far as being able to fix it or replace it either under warranty or on my dime.  Either way we are going to get it fixed as I can't stand to look at the damaged seat on our virtually brand new boat.

 

[BulldogsCadillac]

I would think a new seat for that one. Since you can see the scratch above the tear, it's pretty obvious its a user error. It happens unfortunately. But more so because it is a tear and not a cut (ragged vs clean) I think it would be extremely difficult to repair and be unnoticeable. I guess depending on how good the guy is, but I would just order one up to get the ball rolling.

 

[Link]

Agree with Derrick.  Bennington is a great company but I would have to think that is a user concern so I would also order the new seat