Tracker 2018 Heritage/2019 Classic edition boat

[jaimeastin]

5 hours ago, Fly guy said:

Well I just pulled the plug and canceled the heritage I ordered. I was already a little leary about buying a boat with a Mercury motor, since they don't exactly have the best reputation but after reading about some quality control issues with the boat and speaking to a friend of mine who is a boat mechanic on the west coast, who told me That without a doubt mercury has the highest rate of warranty problems, and just because they have a 5 year warranty does not mean I want to use it, I decided to cancel. 

BPS in Raleigh NC, had no problem returning my deposit and told me they were up to a 16 week wait for this boat and it will probably be even longer.

I truly hope this boat works out for all of you that are so excited about it but after having quite a few boats in my past I just choose to not take a chance on another one that sits at the shop more than it sits on the water.

I can understand that.  Are you still going to get a boat?  What brand?  You do get what you pay for. 

 

I try to take in the good and bad, then use my wisdom.  I know this, the more I am involved and maintaining what I own, the better it is.  I hear a lot of crap from people about many things to come to find out it was a user error.  I am a programmer and in the it industry, it is almost a joke but usually true.  User error.  They will complain all day long about something but never say they are at fault.  A mechanic who has to work behind to these people would say that the failur rate is high

 

Think about it like this, if tracker is a high selling boat to noobs with Mercury motors... While they are learning (not), they mess it up.  Now it is in the shop.  The customer and mechanic both complain, but it was the user.  Maybe the motor is touchy, but in the hands of a bad owner, it is going to fail.

 

I know Ratman had an issue on day one (NOT HIS FAULT).  I will do my best to check mine over to see if there is anything not hooked up or leaking thanks to his reporting to us..  With them rushing the boats, I am sure we will see other issues.  

 

Still, I cannot wait to get my boat. I think if we keep sharing information, we can get all the kinks worked out. (Thanks Ratman)

 

[12poundbass]

39 minutes ago, Fly guy said:

Well I just pulled the plug and canceled the heritage I ordered. I was already a little leary about buying a boat with a Mercury motor, since they don't exactly have the best reputation but after reading about some quality control issues with the boat and speaking to a friend of mine who is a boat mechanic on the west coast, who told me That without a doubt mercury has the highest rate of warranty problems, and just because they have a 5 year warranty does not mean I want to use it, I decided to cancel. 

BPS in Raleigh NC, had no problem returning my deposit and told me they were up to a 16 week wait for this boat and it will probably be even longer.

I truly hope this boat works out for all of you that are so excited about it but after having quite a few boats in my past I just choose to not take a chance on another one that sits at the shop more than it sits on the water.

FWIW I don't doubt mercury probably has the highest number of warranty claims. I wonder how they would match up if you compared it to units sold? A lot of people shy away from Tracker because of all the negative reviews, but you're not necessarily comparing apples to apples because Tracker is the number one selling boat. So naturally they're probably going to have more complaints and issues the same can probably be said for Mercury because I'm guessing they sell more outboard than anyone else in the U.S. 

 

Good luck on the search for your new rig. 

[Bolar]

Ok, the taillights.  Well there is good news and bad news(maybe).  The lights are sealed or encased, but the housing is not.  The light assembly is in three pieces.  The black rear housing that is attached to the trailer.  A small reflector on the side that is on the street side of the light.  Lastly the rear lens that has the lights, which are LED.  The whole assembly is plastic, that hard brittle stuff I'm sure everyone is familiar with.  The rear lens with the lights is sealed and the back looks like it maybe encased in epoxy or some other clear plastic.  As you can see from the pictures the rear black housing has a bunch of holes in it.  The rest of the assembly is loosely assembled, you can move it a little with your hand before disassembly.  The whole thing is certainly not water proof, and the wires are tight, no slack.

 

So what to do?  You could do nothing, the lights and wire connections are sealed.  It will probably take longer for the water to drain than it will take to fill.  Maybe put a couple of gold fish in there !  You could try to seal it up with silicon to try and keep all water out.  Lastly, you could drill some drain hole in the bottom so the water can drain out proper and not worry about feeding the gold fish inside  .  I'm not sure, I'm leaning on drilling some holes in the bottom right now. 

 

 

 

[J Francho]

I would not drill holes.  That's how LEDs are, unless I'm missing something in the pics.

[ratman]

I have been a commercial fisherman for 23 years on a 58 foot boat so I don't consider myself a noob.Boat safety, maintenence,etc..,is my life.I have an experienced ear for listening to my engine.Have broke in cummins marine diesel's amongst others,most of my life has been spent on a boat.guess what Iam trying to say is this was not any user error.New outboards should not leak oil, period.

[Bolar]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

I would not drill holes.  That's how LEDs are, unless I'm missing something in the pics.

I'm not sure what you mean "That's how LEDs are".

 

 

[J Francho]

I guess I mean, are you sure water is going to get in?  I put new LEDs on my kid's trailer, and while the housing wasn't entirely waterproof, the bulb chamber was.  Seems odd to outfit a trailer with lights that would fill up with water.

[Bolar]

6 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I guess I mean, are you sure water is going to get in?  I put new LEDs on my kid's trailer, and while the housing wasn't entirely waterproof, the bulb chamber was.  Seems odd to outfit a trailer with lights that would fill up with water.

The LED's are water-proof.  The rest of the housing is not water-proof and will fill with water.

 

 

Well here is my solution for stowage of the stern light.  I had some EPP foam from a shipping box and I laminated three pieces together, it comes to about 2" thick.  I cut the foam to an approximate shape of the inside hull.  Measured for the hole that the light will fit in, and pushed the foam in between the counsel and the hull.  Now the light is off the floor, hopefully enough to stay away from my feet.

 

 

 

[J Francho]

Nice, and simple.  I put clips for the retractable emergency paddle and bow/stern lights on the underside of the rod box lid.  Too bad there isn't a hatch cover long enough, or is the rear one large enough?

[Bolar]

The little paddle comes clipped in the stern storage(it's a bad day if you have to break that out).  There really is no other place that the stern light fits other than the rod holders or along side the captains seat.

[jaimeastin]

3 hours ago, ratman said:

I have been a commercial fisherman for 23 years on a 58 foot boat so I don't consider myself a noob.Boat safety, maintenence,etc..,is my life.I have an experienced ear for listening to my engine.Have broke in cummins marine diesel's amongst others,most of my life has been spent on a boat.guess what Iam trying to say is this was not any user error.New outboards should not leak oil, period.

Just to clarify, I did not mean your situation was "user error".  I just mean in general with reviews and such.  Your situation was an out of box bad thing.  

3 hours ago, Bolar said:

Ok, the taillights.  Well there is good news and bad news(maybe).  The lights are sealed or encased, but the housing is not.  The light assembly is in three pieces.  The black rear housing that is attached to the trailer.  A small reflector on the side that is on the street side of the light.  Lastly the rear lens that has the lights, which are LED.  The whole assembly is plastic, that hard brittle stuff I'm sure everyone is familiar with.  The rear lens with the lights is sealed and the back looks like it maybe encased in epoxy or some other clear plastic.  As you can see from the pictures the rear black housing has a bunch of holes in it.  The rest of the assembly is loosely assembled, you can move it a little with your hand before disassembly.  The whole thing is certainly not water proof, and the wires are tight, no slack.

 

So what to do?  You could do nothing, the lights and wire connections are sealed.  It will probably take longer for the water to drain than it will take to fill.  Maybe put a couple of gold fish in there !  You could try to seal it up with silicon to try and keep all water out.  Lastly, you could drill some drain hole in the bottom so the water can drain out proper and not worry about feeding the gold fish inside  .  I'm not sure, I'm leaning on drilling some holes in the bottom right now. 

 

 

 

Thanks for the pics... Something is not right then.  I know from a friend who has a tracker trailer and from the dealer, the lights will fail.  You can pay to have them replaced over and over.  This dealer sealed my frields after they had to replace them.  Bass pro sells a whole waterproof kit for $30 on their website.

2 hours ago, Bolar said:

The LED's are water-proof.  The rest of the housing is not water-proof and will fill with water.

 

 

Well here is my solution for stowage of the stern light.  I had some EPP foam from a shipping box and I laminated three pieces together, it comes to about 2" thick.  I cut the foam to an approximate shape of the inside hull.  Measured for the hole that the light will fit in, and pushed the foam in between the counsel and the hull.  Now the light is off the floor, hopefully enough to stay away from my feet.

 

 

 

Great I deal... looks like that is where I will keep mind.  Add a bracket for it. I was thinking somewhere along front or back of the seats too

[SeriousBlack]

My dealer called today. They made a mistake on the paper work. They offered me a $50.00 gift card to come back in and resign a form. AWESOME! This boats keeps on giving!

[Tech507]

Also, beware on the Tracker trailers... I took a close look at one today at our local BPS. A guy from the service department informed me the wood on the runners is not treated, and instead of drilling holes, and using bolts, they’re just using a cheap wood screws. He claims they’ve already had two brought back in, needing attention. Both very simple fixes, and neither are deal breakers, just wanted to give us all, a heads up and one  more thing to keep in mind.

[Bolar]

15 minutes ago, jaimeastin said:

Just to clarify, I did not mean your situation was "user error".  I just mean in general with reviews and such.  Your situation was an out of box bad thing.  

Thanks for the pics... Something is not right then.  I know from a friend who has a tracker trailer and from the dealer, the lights will fail.  You can pay to have them replaced over and over.  This dealer sealed my frields after they had to replace them.  Bass pro sells a whole waterproof kit for $30 on their website.

Great I deal... looks like that is where I will keep mind.  Add a bracket for it. I was thinking somewhere along front or back of the seats too

If the lights fail I'm defiantly not going back to BPS to replace.  I might have to paint the foam.   It's awfully white under there. 

[slonezp]

5 hours ago, Fly guy said:

Well I just pulled the plug and canceled the heritage I ordered. I was already a little leary about buying a boat with a Mercury motor, since they don't exactly have the best reputation but after reading about some quality control issues with the boat and speaking to a friend of mine who is a boat mechanic on the west coast, who told me That without a doubt mercury has the highest rate of warranty problems, and just because they have a 5 year warranty does not mean I want to use it, I decided to cancel. 

BPS in Raleigh NC, had no problem returning my deposit and told me they were up to a 16 week wait for this boat and it will probably be even longer.

I truly hope this boat works out for all of you that are so excited about it but after having quite a few boats in my past I just choose to not take a chance on another one that sits at the shop more than it sits on the water.

You ordered a Tracker but are cancelling because Mercury doesn't have the best reputation? I don't want to start any arguments here nor am I bashing a brand but had you done your research prior to ordering the boat, you would have seen that history shows Tracker doesn't have the best track record as far as quality. Guess what? There are more Trackers sold than any other boat brand and there are more Mercury's sold than any other motor brand. I'm no mathematician but, odds are, the more of an item you have in the marketplace means the more reports of issues with said items Let me guess, you heard about the Mercury issues from your buddy who is a Evinrude or Yammie mechanic? My mechanic is an Evinrude dealer and he swears by them. He has also done annual maintenance on my current and previous Mercury's for 15 years and they haven't broke yet (knock on wood). 

[12poundbass]

10 hours ago, slonezp said:

There are more Trackers sold than any other boat brand and there are more Mercury's sold than any other motor brand. I'm no mathematician but, odds are, the more of an item you have in the marketplace means the more reports of issues with said items 

That's exactly what I said, but you made it sound smarter so naturally you'll get more likes. Or is it because you're not as disliked as we previously thought? ?

[slonezp]

There, there...I gave you 2 likes

10 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

That's exactly what I said, but you made it sound smarter so naturally you'll get more likes. Or is it because you're not as disliked as we previously thought? ?

I didn't see your post prior to making mine because the post we both quoted was on the previous page

[SeriousBlack]

great minds think and want likes

[12poundbass]

52 minutes ago, slonezp said:

There, there...I gave you 2 likes

I didn't see your post prior to making mine because the post we both quoted was on the previous page

Thanks buddy. Words can't express how grateful I am you gave me two likes! ?

[RPreeb]

I was in Cabela's yesterday and just walked past some boats that they have out in front of the store.  They had a Tracker with tiller steer and TM (I didn't look at the size of either motor and I didn't see a fish finder), just an open aluminum boat that didn't look like anything special, and they had a price on that $3500 (it was $13,499 I think) higher than the Special in this thread.  I was pretty amazed.  If I was boat shopping, there is absolutely no doubt which one I'd choose. 

[Russ E]

the Local Cabelas and Bass Pro, both have a heritage boat in the entrance. they draw a lot of attention. this boat always attracts a crowd. At the price it does not have any competition. Hopefully for everyone that is purchasing one they are durable and reliable.

[ratman]

Going to pick my boat up.One of the bolts for the fuel pump was backed almost all the way out causing bad oil leak.Just a freak thing I guess.hope you all have better luck.

[jaimeastin]

1 hour ago, ratman said:

Going to pick my boat up.One of the bolts for the fuel pump was backed almost all the way out causing bad oil leak.Just a freak thing I guess.hope you all have better luck.

Thanks for the update.  Will be sure to look at mine ☺️

[Pappy3]

34 minutes ago, ratman said:

One of the bolts for the fuel pump was backed almost all the way out causing bad oil leak.Just a freak thing

Is this bolt easily visible if you know where to look? My boat isn't scheduled to be delivered until June so I'm making a checkoff list before taking delivery. I'm including all of the items identified here in this thread. So far it's the mounting bolts for the fuel pump, sharp edge on aft storage locker lid, and metal shavings in the bilge. The tail lights I'll take a look at once home.

[Bolar]

1 hour ago, Pappy3 said:

Is this bolt easily visible if you know where to look? My boat isn't scheduled to be delivered until June so I'm making a checkoff list before taking delivery. I'm including all of the items identified here in this thread. So far it's the mounting bolts for the fuel pump, sharp edge on aft storage locker lid, and metal shavings in the bilge. The tail lights I'll take a look at once home.

When I went to pick mine up they offered to run the motor for me.  If your concerned about the motor, make sure they do that for you.