About 18 months ago I bought a 10-foot Walker Bay Genesis inflatable dinghy. It has a rigid plastic hull and it performed well in the small coves and inlets of British Columbia and Alaska. Early last winter I visited the Yakima production center and wrote an article about the high pressure injection molding system used to make the hulls of all Walker Bay boats. (See PassageMaker Magazine for June 2007.)
A few months ago I took a long look at the stern of my 42-foot Grand Banks Europa from the shoreline and saw that the dinghy on the upper deck was sagging to the left on its Weaver dinghy chocks. Close inspection of the bottom of the inflatable revealed the problem – the boat had settled down and around the pad on the port dinghy chock. What had been a slight V bottom became a concave bottom over an area about the size of a dinner plate just to the left of the centerline of the boat.
I called on my hometown West Marine store, where I had bought the boat. I was told to call WM headquarters and was assured that someone there would help. The only help rendered was to give me the phone number of Walker Bay. (West Marine stopped carrying Walker Bay products sometime after I bought the boat and well before it failed. Some stores may still have WB boats in inventory.)
Like many companies, Walker Bay answers its telephones with a recorded message that offers a multitude of choices. I finally punched a number for customer service, only to hear another recording. Following instructions, I left a message explaining I had a problem with the boat and I thought it was a warranty issue. I added my name and home telephone number, without mentioning my connection to PMM.
Nothing happened for weeks. No one called back.
Natalie Friton, managing editor of PMM, and I began searching for responsive management people at Walker Bay. After one promising connection proved to be a frustrating dead end, we found Chris Carroll, business development manager for Walker Bay. He knew what needed to be done and had the authority to make it happen. They would give me a new boat. After all, WB offers a 10-year warranty on its plastic hulls.
Alki Beach Boats, a Walker Bay dealer in Seattle, Washington, would provide the new Genesis. I agreed to haul my wounded craft to that dealer. (No small chore: while a rigid inflatable may be as nimble as a trout in the water, it’s a cumbersome, hard-to-handle chunk on land.)
Chris Cowman, owner of the dealership, answered a lot of questions:
First, the plastic hulls cannot be supported on dinghy chocks near the transom and close to the centerline of the boat. They must be at the reinforced outer corners of the boat. That meant I would need to move the chocks that had supported a Zodiac inflatable (with a fiberglass hull) for 15 years without problem. Second, the mounting pads on the chock (3.5 inches square) were too small and should be replaced with larger ones (4 inches by 7 inches). That would cost $130, plus a fair amount of labor.
I told Chris the literature WB provides with new boats does not provide any information about how the Genesis should be supported on chocks. He agreed.
While I was in a dumping mood, I said the transom lifting eyes were too close together for stable lifting to the upper deck on my boat. Chris said the cure was to not install stiffeners that convert the basic folding transom to a rigid unit; doing this exposed additional, wider-spaced lifting eyes normally hidden behind the stiffeners. I could use them because I hang a light 8hp outboard on the transom; larger OBs recommended by Walker Bay probably weigh too much.
WB provided a clever way of concealing the fuel line under the deck boards, to keep me and others from tripping over it, but neglected to check measurements – the fuel line attached to most tanks is too short to run from the bow to the motor. Worse, perhaps, the three-gallon fuel tank, if stowed in the intended place, interferes with the lifting bridle. Thus, the fuel tank must go beneath the seat. Hold there it with bungee cords, Chris said.
One of the best parts of this misadventure was dealing with Weaver Industries. I wanted to be sure the larger chock pads shown on its website would fit my old dinghy chocks, so I called the company in Idaho. I was surprised and overjoyed when a live person answered the phone. Not only was the woman who answered not a recording, but she answered my questions quickly and gave me the correct part number for my order. Pleased and satisfied, I quickly completed my online order with Weaver.
I now have a new Odyssey inflatable and will learn to live with its design flaws. It soon will be on board and ready for use. The customer service office at Walker Bay still has not returned my call and I always will wonder if I would have a new boat if I were simply John Q. Boater and not a writer for PassageMaker Magazine.