Have had horrible
I have had horrible luck with both PVC and Zodiac the company. In 1998 I bought a Cadet Fastroller within one year my floor was becoming sticky and within two years my tubes got sticky. After well over a year and a half of documented emails, phone calls, dealer visits and even a letter from my lawyer, all beginning in September of 1998, I finally sent the president of Zodiac America a personal email. (If anyone ever needs his email address I still have it
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In the email I told him I would take my dates, times, name of whom I spoke with, and all the broken & documented promises, the lies and deceit to the internet forums. I listed 20 boating forums where I would post the horror story and enclosed to him what I would write and post.
In 24 hours I had an email directly from the president that a complete new boat was being shipped directly to my door. When I did finally receive my new boat I promptly sold it and bought an AB Hypalon boat.
I will never, ever buy any product that is made by Zodiac again and this includes Avon, Bombard, Zoom, Zodiac or the West Marine brand boats made by Zodiac. The companies warranties are not worth the paper they are written on and it takes an act of god to get them to actually honor their warranties. They DO NOT or DID NOT stand behind the product so buyer beware. Perhaps today they have changed but they burned my bridge and lost a customer on ALL their brands for life over it...
My Hypalon AB is now almost 9 years old and looks and performs as good as new. I top her up with air, maybe two to three pumps, about once a year that's it. Achiles, AB and Caribe are great Hypalon brands and I also believe Mercury makes a few Hypalon models too.
I am in the NE and still had a PVC failure in very short order so the only inflatable fabric I will own is now Hypalon.
P.S. My next door neighbor also had the same exact issue I had but with a West Marine / Zodiac. He had the same sticky tubes and floor and never did get a replacement boat from West Marine or Zodiac. They claimed the diesel soot from his sail boats engine caused the sticky tubes and that this was not a "covered" item for warranty replacement... My AB has 40 times the NM's of towing that my Zodiac had when it got sticky and still has zero issues.. Buyer beware!
P.S.S. When buying an air floor Hypalon Avon just be aware that the air floor is NOT Hypalon and is the same PVC material used in the Bombard, Zodiac and Zoom lines is used as the air floor in the EXPENSIVE "Hypalon" Avon's. It could eventually become sticky and could eventually fail! Only the tubes of Avon's are Hypalon NOT the floor. Make sure you get what you pay for..