William H. Rodd of Ft. Myers, Fl - Beware Of This Professional Scam Artist!

This is response to complaint from William H. Rodd of Ft. Myers, Florida. William H. Rodd is the owner of a Harris aluminum pontoon boat .

Mr. Rodd called Marine Dynamics Inc in February 2001 and told me (Michael Blaney) that the paint came off of the bottom of his pontoons and 100’s of holes the size of a pencil lead are burned through his aluminum pontoons. He said this occurred within year of having paint applied to the pontoons. I told Mr. Rodd that holes burned through the pontoons was caused by electrolysis not paint job itself.

To understand what happened to Mr. Rodd’s pontoon boat, a few items need to be covered.

1) Electrolysis
In a marine environment, electrolysis occurs when stray electricity from a poorly grounded or shorted electrical system on a boat, dock or boat lift bleeds electricity off into the water. Any metal that is in the water near the bleed off whether it is a bronze thru-hull fittings, propellers, shafts, rudders, outboard motors, bottom paint and even aluminum pontoons with bottom paint will actually start to dissolve.

When I explained to Mr. Rodd what electrolysis is and where it comes from he told me that where the boat is kept in the water there was a new boat lift built next to his boat. I told him that is a real possibility the electrolysis is bleeding from there.

I called the Harris Pontoon Company about the holes in the pontoons. I was able to speak to Rod Pranger in engineering. I explained that William H. Rodd’s is claming that the lack primer under his bottom paint caused the burning of 100’s of holes in his pontoons in less than a year. Mr. Pranger in engineering told me that the described burn off of paint and pencil lead size holes are cause by electrolysis. He said the pontoons are made of aluminum with a thickness of .080. That is thicker than a nickel. Mr. Pranger told me that he could take a brand new Harris pontoon boat, put it in saltwater unpainted and it would take a minimum of 4 years to rote though if it would even happen at all. Mr. Pranger told me to have the customer call him if he needed further explanation.

2)Bottom Painting
When painting an aluminum pontoon boat, the portion of the pontoon that is under the water will be prepped by heavily sanding the aluminum with 40 grit sanding disks on a D.A. sander. After the aluminum is fully sanded or fully “etched" it is completely washed off and then wiped down with acetone. 2 coats of bottom paint are applied to the bottom and a third coat on the water line.

We have great success with painting aluminum boats this way. We did use primer at one time, but there were some problems with the bottom paint releasing from the primer. The primer would stay on the roughed up aluminum, but on occasion the bottom paint would come off of the primer. The primer wasn’t always chemically bonding with the bottom paint. By applying the bottom paint directly to the etched aluminum eliminated the problem of the paint releasing from the pontoons.

I called Pettit Marine the manufacture of the bottom paint. I explained that William H. Rodd’s is claming that the lack primer under his bottom paint caused the burning of 100’s of pencil lead size holes in his pontoons in less than a year. They told me that if what Mr. Rodd is describing is true that he has electrolysis eating at the pontoons.

I told them that we don’t use primer under the bottom paint. They said they recommend a primer under their paint but also told me that their bottom paint will permanently adhere to a heavily etched and clean aluminum pontoon. I was also told that none of their paints and primers can guard against electrolysis burning holes in aluminum pontoons. In fact they said electrolysis will burn the paint off. They said that their products can only guard against marine growth for a period of time.

3) Common Sense
When William Rodd called to complain about the holes in his pontoons he had already had them repaired months earlier at another marina. He never notified us of any problem, he just called one day demanding a $1000 for repairs.

When an adult has a problem with a product or service they contact the company the product or service was obtained from. The customer will explain what the problem is, bring the product back or a reprehensive will go out to see what is wrong. William Rodd did not do any of these things. He didn’t even take pictures of the pontoons.

The first thing William Rodd did is demand $1000 for the repairs on his pontoons or he will get his attorney. Generally when a person has a problem and they mention “their attorney" right off the bat they are trying to pull a SCAM. After I contacted Harris Pontoon Company, Pettit Paint Company and had William Rodd do the same he started changing his attitude and demands. He sent me a fax April 25, 2001 at 2:54pm that said “I feel it is reasonable to expect a refund for the bottom paint job you did, rather than arguing as to how the holes were caused on the pontoons".

Now William Rodd is saying, Ok, the $1000 demand, never mind that. I’ll settle for, say a refund for the original bottom job and the lets not worry about how the paint was burned off and how all of those holes ended up in the pontoons. Let’s make believe that part didn’t happen. I reviewed what the pontoon and paint manufacture said with William Rodd, I told him that what he is trying to do is wrong, unethical and I wasn’t going to reimburse him for anything. William Rodd was trying to pull a scam and was caught lying and he knew it.

Marine Dynamics is one of biggest marinas in southwest Florida. We have become one of the biggest by outstanding customer service. We investigate any problems or concerns our customer have so that we can feel confident that there will be a fair out come for both parties. In William H. Rodd’s case, it was thoroughly investigated and the out come was crystal clear.

William H.Rodd wrote his complaint to “The Rip-Off Report" in the same way he went about trying to scam money out of Marine Dynamics. Tell only part of the story and leaving out the facts. It is unfortunate that people like William H. Rodd use an informative website like “The Rip-Off Report" to broadcast slanderous and unsubstantiated views. It hurts sites like this one to produce an accurate and reliable forum for real customer complaints.

Thank You For The Equal Time,

Michael Blaney
President