Worst Boat Brands You Should Avoid

By Peter13 mins read

Are you looking to buy a boat to catch fish, enjoy it with your kids or your friends? If your answer is yes, then this article is made to help you choose and make your shopping experience easier! Without proper research about the existing brands and models, you’ll mostly lose a bunch of money in a wrong decision. After we made an advanced Comparison of the most popular manufacturers (brands) and their boats, we picked the worst ones. Our list is based on consumers’ experiences, reviews, and boat owners reported problems. Please keep in mind that not all boats made by those brands are bad, but they had many negative reviews and bad customer experiences on some of their worst boats. Otherwise, a good design doesn’t always mean a strong boat; keep reading to learn more.

Here are Some of the Worst Brand you Should Avoid or at least be extra careful with:

Byliner

Byliner is the largest boat manufacturer since 1957. The brand offers more than 25 boat models, and it operates in the United States, Mexico, and Europe. Many materials used in the boats are of lower quality; they are still considered a basic boat.

In 1980, Many complaints were brought to the US coast guard against this manufacture, which caused the recall of more than 3000 boats.

Worst Byliner Models:

1977 Bayliner 2750 Victoria Command: More than 250 complaints received against these boats were about stability problems.
Bayliner 3388: More than 10 people have reported they had issues in the engine room.
Bayliner Capri:
- More than 1200 units of this boat had problems with fuel-filled.
- More than 450 units had problems in the engine room.
- And more than 340 units had problems with stabilization.
Bayliner 160 Bowrider: In 2014, more than 870 units were recalled.

Since 1980, the Bayliner brand has repaired more than 3000 boats due to low-quality being (in most cases).

Bayliner Common Issues:

Stability issues
Insufficient compartments
Incorrect electric switchers
Problems with battery mounting.

Those problems will surely endanger passengers’ lives!

Don’t get me wrong, Bayliner has produced some great boats. I have been on a few myself that were excellent, and their owners swear by them. Unfortunately, though, they have also received many complaints and had many recalls to ignore.

Monterey

Second brand on this list of worst brands to avoid. Since 1990, Monterey has built variants of boats with different styles & designs. Although it has been classified as one of the top brands (from sea ray), some of its boats have various issues such as:

Latches Issues: Some boats have an issue located around latches; they don’t operate smoothly, As well as many boat owners experienced this problem. Also, It has some general hardware issues.
Low Fiberglass Quality: A lot of manual labor needs to exert on the building process. The fiberglass should be placed correctly in the hull, so the whole structure must be strong. It is normal to have some mistakes in boats made by human hands. Boat owners don’t notice those problems for the first time of use. But After a while, Issues appeared and developed. At that time, every issue will be very costly to repair.
Not Easy to Find Replacement Parts: This problem is not famous, but few boat owners faced difficulties to get a replacement part for their boats.

Monterey Summary Issues:

Problems in latches
Low fiberglass quality
Not easy to find replacement parts.

Luhr

Luhr has been building boats since 1970, with more than 400 employees building boats in the USA. Unfortunately, Lurs company closed their shops in 2008 due to the recession. In 2012, their owners tried to revive it, but the operations failed.

Their boats are made with low expenses finishes, so they were much lower price than other brands. Below, you’ll learn more about their boat issues.

Luhr Stopped Building Boats: You can only find used boats because they have no longer built them since 2008. The absence of technique support creates many difficulties for the Consumers who purchased boats years ago and others who buy used ones.
Hard to find replacement parts: If some parts of the boat need to be replaced, It is hard to find the exact replacement parts since the company is no longer available, so they can only buy used parts, and there is no better than the original ones.
Some parts of the boats are not sturdy: There are parts in those boats made with plastic instead of fiberglass, so boat owners need to check them frequently to avoid repairs (expenses).

Luhr Summary Issues:

No longer available.
Hard to find replacement parts.
Some parts are not sturdy.

Cons:

Galley is not very large.
Trouble to get in and out of the engine room.
Repair and maintenance expenses may be more than they would be with another boat.
Their customer service is virtually non-existent, and you won’t be able to reach the company for help.

Luhr User Reviews:

“I bought my Luhrs boat new in 2001 for $200K. I sold it in 2006 for $165K. Of course, I had to pay a broker’s fee and made some upgrades while owning it. But overall, this brand held its value rather well over five years.”

“I love Luhrs boats. I just sold my Luhrs 32 this spring and put a deposit on a Luhrs 36 convertible.”

Kingfisher

An older brand, operating since the 1970s, has produced around 29 boat models. Some of them have the following issues:

Noise: The hull of these boats is constructed using aluminum that causes noise. The noise couldn’t be heard when you are in the ocean, but surely you’ll notice it when navigating your way. This problem may seem normal to some boat owners, but it is a worry for many of them.

The Boats Have Low Sides: The boats can swamp with water on the sides. Luckily, Kingfisher Builth self-bailing decks. So the water will drain on its own! But this solution did not appeal to many boat owners.

Kingfisher summary issues:

Noise
Low sides.