I think the answer that that question is simple maybe? They use the hell out of their boats out there. Year around boating in real offshore conditions. They are running hard trying to keep up with Cigs, Fountains, OL and so on.

As Plexus says and testing has demonstrated......if applied properly, the Plexus will pull apart the fiberglass. That is not what is happening.

Z5.......my assumption is that others have had this problem too (two folks have PMd me about their boats having the same problem......one being a 382 and the other is a 353) but people (till now) haven't brought this problem out in public. I can't exactly say why people don't want this out in public, but my guess is probably similar to yours.......they don't want to hurt the value of the boat or the brand. I see this as a safety issue and to me THAT is more important.

Every brand will have it's issues, some worse then others. Most of the newer Formula's in the lake I boat on stay at the docks and rarely go out. When they do they are in a lake and hardly subjected to what the ocean or great lakes can dish out. For Formula to say this is owner abuse or what ever the phrase I think is a cop out. How are we to run an "offshore" boat. If the Glass did not rip apart around the plexus bond then they have a lamination schedualling issue. Knowing Nort for the time that I have I am sure he would be extatic if Formula would send out a bulliten to dealers and owners just to check and keep an eye on that area of the boat. Maybe they can offer to have that looked at by dealers? Clearly this is not a one time issue, and I am willing to bet that the guys that run their boats hard are the ones that are having it show up.

I agree with this 100%. As loyal as Formula has usualy been to its owners, I would not have expected this answer from them. Not on a Fastech, nor any other boat in their line. If you stuff it, sure, but running it "normally" in the ocean, absolutly not. They have never marketed their boats as "lake" boats, but as the best.

Yes, I've never heard anything bad about Plexus, except that it had to be put on perfectly.

If others are saying it, in private, to protect value, or whatever, I guess I can understand that. But thats not helping the issue. The big problem may be, that the only way to correctly fix the problems that may be out there, is to remove the deck and do it over. I'm sure I don't want to know what that costs. and I'm sure that at this point in time, Formula can't afford to do it, even if they wanted to.

Even in a "stuff" the fiberglass around the plexus should fail first.If the fiberglass is fine and the Plexus separated then it was done improperly.

I was calling a stuff "operator error", not even talking about plexus.

I personally have walked up to 3 382's on launch ramps. One at Havasu and two in Florida and talked to the owners personally. After carefully remarking about the issues asked if I could check their boat. 2 out of 3 were loose. I think most owners look at the issue as a rub rail screws loose-minor. They do not realize the seam may be breaking the screws. I will be very surprised if now that this is public that when the rest of the country thaws out we will hear from more owners.

BTW formulas comments about operator error is really BS. 4 of the five owners are SCOPE board members and past presidents of the club. I am the least qualified with 35 years of OCEAN powerboat exp. Although it did not take long to learn NOT to run at speed with one tab at 2 and the other at
8 !!

I was VERY VERY VERY disappointed that a leader in the industry would stoop that low to pass the buck.

One of the boats was leaking when running into weather. This is how the owner found the issue. The water was entering the cabin through the seam......How many 382 owners have mysterious water leaks??????

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.............(not my boat)

Your test showed that the rub rail was loose???