This is very long, but I hope CF members read this as it will add to this conversation dealing with variables that either have not been mentioned or discussed.
As most things in life turn to
money, either in cost or availability of it, this
single factor will most likely drive the whole situation for all parties. Both
Lagoon and Owners have much to lose and in the end one or the other will lose the most. That is inevitable.
Public relations for Lagoon, which in the end is a financial matter, will be or is the driving factor behind the scenes for the L450 bulkhead situation.
All the arguing of opinions back and forth about Colin/Parley,
hurricane damage,
water ingress, shody
work during production really makes little difference. Someone will always say their cat is perfect and its other owners are at fault. All the posts show how people in the world and THIER own personal views, knowledge and experiences, dictate how they feel about this situation. In the end it matters not.
Lagoon - the future of the company may or may not hang in the balance due to this issue. Prospective buyers who know about this situation will pay attention to how it is handled and that may or may not affect a
purchase. They will NOT
purchase a used L450 for most likely quite a long time. Also prospective owners need to worry about resale values down the road. Its been mentioned about the abundance of Lagoons in
charter. Well if the
charter companies cannot resell the cats at the end of five years, without taking massive losses or being stuck with the cats, then that is a huge issue. Accounting could help them if the situation is right. If any of the values of any of Lagoon's cats, which it will affect all of them, are affected in any way other than natural depreciation then the companies future sales are in jeopardy.
Possible liability for Lagoon IF they do the
repairs. Even then owners may class action the issue for other expenses/time loss/value loss. A repaired cat will always be a repaired cat and its value will be less. Most likely not much difference than a
hurricane vessel. Bulkheads and its ensuing mess with cosmetics being repaired is MAJOR.
1. IF INS companies put the no
passage clause into policies or any other clauses, to the point of not insuring, this will absolutely put the whole weight on Lagoon which they must respond.
2. Owners/Charter losing time for the cat for use. Each situation would be different but liveaboards would have to be compensated for alternative housing during
repairs vs. charter companies possibly being compensated for non use time.
Arguments can be made for quick repairs. But what if the boatyard cannot start
work, get materials, etc... There will be, in places, those issues so the following is relevant. This is a car manufacturer issue on steroids due to small market, worldwide, and its either someone's home, business, or pleasure craft. Too many people have to skip a holiday due to this issue or pre-planned
passage they will be pissed. Let alone if a
repair keeps them in a hurricane zone and INS wont insure or will increase cost.
3. Depreciation loss due to repairs. No matter what happens these cats WILL BE valued lower due to the issue and potential for more to happen. Damaged goods at this point no matter what.
4.
Repair quality all over the world is an obvious issue, and maybe travel/time expenses if Lagoon only wants the work done in certain places.
L450 Owners - Remember there is around 1k owners of these cats. Now that the issue is fairly well known, or potential of, do any of these owners honestly feel safe on their boats for an
ocean crossing. I know I wouldn't. Its not even an issue of "are the bulkheads are broken or not" its an issue of could they break and if so would I possibly have to abandon the vessel in a storm at sea. (yes I know anything can break, but known potential issues would compound that) Couple that with the now worry, even if their cat is still perfect, of the cat either not being able to be
sold or most likely highly discounted which would or could be a huge financial loss, that no own wants.
So regardless of the actual situation at hand, Lagoon either HAS TOO properly repair all broken cats and reinforce non broken ones, or fix a few and ignore the rest. Doesn't matter the cost of repairs it either must be done or not. If not, then Lagoon risks their whole business model and potentially will cease to exist. Since i believe
Beneteau Groupe owns them it could even tarnish their reputation, so they also have a vested interest in the situation.
For Colin/Parley -- Lagoon actually helped themselves a bit here with helping Colin for what appeared to be good will help by the company. However, if Lagoon (which is a possibility), knew about these issue years ago and gave that good will to tamp down any possibility for this to exponentially grow into a larger issue, that will greatly increase the liability for them and bad bad public relations. Colin is tackling a situation on his boat most likely better than what most yards will do for an official repair. The official repairs will be all over the place for quality and will have issues in and of themselves. We all know not all work is equal, especially in the
boating world (wiring for example). Colin is faced with publicly joining the Civil Lawsuit and that will end any and all help he is currently getting from Lagoon. His best interest is to document the proper repairs, time involved, materials involved, and all other logistical costs/time he has had to endure due to this. Then he will have a repaired,
seaworthy cat and continue on his way. Towards the end of the lawsuit, if there is truly going to be one, then join it for financial compensation. Or he could work with Lagoon for financial help, and provide them with all the information and in the end he wont have a financial windfall, but would be in the good graces of Lagoon and get his investment back out of it. That IMHO would be his best way forward.
Repairs Parley - one of my largest interests for this ordeal is HOW in the world is he going to get all of the
interior back into place. I would trust his repairs behind all the cosmetic portions, but some of the repairs will be too large to properly re-install the cosmetic pieces in the same position as before.
Cosmetic
wood trim -- these are having to be totally cut up and removed to properly repair. I am pretty sure you cannot just put them back and somehow make the cut lines disappear. For Colin's boat, he will make do as best as possible and be happy. For the other 999 owners this WILL NOT be acceptable. It must be returned to factory condition. That i fear will be impossible without manufacturing new pieces and somehow replacing them.
So the crux of the matter is that Lagoon will have to satisfactorily provide the means and compensation to make this situation go away. Obviously not all owners will financially remain the same and will lose
money and time. Other owners will live in stress for the potential issues and sell their cats at a loss. Lagoon likely can and possibly will satisfy the majority of owners in the end and this will not destroy finances for all involved. If Lagoon only fixes a few cats and ignores the rest, a lot of financial woes will ensue on all sides.
I hope this was worth reading, i tried to capture all angles of the issue without going down a rabbit hole and get into any personal opinions. (which some of mine likely are)
Re: Broken Lagoon
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