zodiac life raft problem

[rubplast]

i have a 6 per zodiac liferaft 6 years old and it been disqualify by the service station reson cannot hold air presure there been leakage from all the welding part . it look to me like a manufactor problem ,and zodiac donot want to give warranty for that problem , did any one had this before? i thout it was the best product when i bought it!

[JoeDiver]

The boat is 6 years old....you think they should warranty it forever?

I do agree with you though that if it is a manufacturing defect, I would be disappointed....you'd expect a quality product to last a little longer than that.

[Flybyknight]

It's the adhesive failure.
In my other life I worked as an adhesive chemist for the company that made the stuff for Avon etc.
Well; if you want the adhesive to stick like grim death, you use a Neoprene resin with functionality; sold by DuPont for top dollar.
Additionally you use a phenolic tackifier which is the most expensive type.

Guess what: European neoprene with no functionality, and a petroleum tackifier gives satisfactory adhesion for a short while, and it is significantly less expensive, but age it, and it turns to crap.
I hope the powers to be are reading this.

Dick

[hellosailor]

"you think they should warranty it forever?"
Actually, Joe, if he bought it in the US, it might still be under statutory warranty against manufacturing defects. Some of the state and federal code (including Magnusson-Moss Act and UCC) can provide strong protections if the manufacturer hasn't precluded them, and when something material fails because of a HIDDEN manufacturing defect, i.e. the glued seams in a sealed life raft package, the buyer often has recourse long after the sale.
Zodiac was aware of glue problems for many years, as confirmed by an official French government policy to condemn Zod rafts at 10 years because of repeated and predictable failures. Zod's own repack centers, even at Zod-US, were forbidden to service the rafts at 10 years because of this.

So...a glued raft? A Zodiac raft? It was not really told to the consumer market, not really publicized, but they were inherently disposable products, rather different form the ones made with welded seams.

Whether there's a statutory warranty, or what the seller's warranty is, would depend on where and when it was bought, and other specifics such as whether it was sold with an express warranty.

[killarney_sailor]

I had Zodiac not honor a 10 year warranty (one reason I bought it) on a liferaft because it was not serviced at exactly the intervals specified - we were on the Great Lakes and the boat is out of service for half the year so I took it in in the spring rather than the fall so the recertification would last longer. In this case there was a failure of the actual material - the service center in Toronto said they had never seen the problem before - slow leaking from almost every surface. I got the runaround from Zodiac in Canada, the US (North American office) and France but they would not cover the product. Will never buy from them again.
My current boat came with a 26 year old Avon 8 person that I decided to replace (it was 26 years old!). Before throwing it out we decided to pull the cord to see what would happen. It filled properly and held air.

[hellosailor]

killarney, I don't know where you bought that Zod but have you checked with your "consumer affairs" or other agency about the warranty laws there?

I'd expect that if the warranty that came with the raft called for specific performance, that would bind both parties. But as the failure was from a material defect, and following a different inspection schedule would not have altered the failure, changed the outcome, and possibly could have endangered you if the defect hadn't appeared yet (i.e. was repacked and failed later) it would seem that there SHOULD be no cause for not honoring the warranty anyway.

One might almost ask, does Zod-NA really want someone to contact a consumer safety agency and ask for a recall on the basis that defective fabric may be causing a latent danger for hundreds of other customers as well?

Life's too short. But sometimes...you just have to help pass the karma around.

[killarney_sailor]

Perhaps I should have followed up with consumer agencies and making a stink on the internet but I did not at the time.