Bay Sports Air Glide 385 Single Inflatable Kayak

Bay Sports Air Glide 385 Inflatable Kayak Explodes – Recently I was going to buy 2 of these kayaks from Bay Sports, their website claimed these kayaks were top quality and well-constructed and considering the high-end price I assumed that to be the case. I then became aware of someone who had 2 of these kayaks, he had bought them a couple of years ago and had hardly used them and decided to sell. The Kayaks were purchased from Bay Sports by the seller who is the owner of a well-known company and clearly did not need the money and was very genuine and honest. I bought these kayaks obviously cheaper than new cost; they presented as new, were inflated when I inspected them, and it was obvious to me how little they had been used. When I got home, I inflated them again and left them inflated for a couple of days, there were no slow leaks. After the first time we used them, we laid them on the lawn and one of the hulls suddenly exploded with a loud bang, fortunately this did not occur in the water, my wife was paddling this one and it would have been a very frightening experience. Believing they may still be under warranty I contacted Bay Sports to be told under their voluntary warranty the warranty was not transferable, and they advised me: “The reason for this policy is to ensure we are not held responsible for any potential damage caused by the original purchaser that might be passed off as a perfectly functioning product to a new owner.” Exactly how do you pass off damage on a kayak, and in particular one that can be used for an hour prior to a serious and sudden material failure. The hull tube exploded, and considering Bay Sports claims about the quality of their product they may have at least been prepared to stand by the integrity of the brand. In any case regardless of the owner, Bay Sports can still assess a Warranty claim at their discretion, it’s their product they are warrantying and should not be about ownership, if it had been abused or damaged it would not be covered in any event, regardless of ownership. Unfortunately, it appears to me that Bay Sports is another company that uses their Voluntary Warranty policy to avoid doing the morally right and fair thing. It is a Bay Sports product; I would have thought Bay Sports would be concerned about a serious failure of their product which clearly has not performed as they said it would. In my opinion based on my experience with the Bay Sports Airglide 385 it is an inferior product, does not live up the manufacture’s claims, and is not fit for purpose. I am relieved I did not spend more money buying a new one from Bay Sports. As I have no confidence in the Bay Sports Airglide 385, I will not be seeking to repair it, I have no confidence it will not fail again, and I will buy another brand of kayak. I have owned many inflatable boats and kayaks for over 40 years, and I have not had, or been aware of, any inflatable tube exploding and failing as the Bay Sports Airglide 385 did.