jdaf31r,

you are saying two different and conflicting things: A) performance should warantee the mast even though it was never designed to have a spinnaker (whether or not most of us have them) and B) the conditions led to the failure of the mast. Certainly you wouldn't hold Performance responsible for the failure considering the conditions that day - right? Who can rule out operator error? We assume a good deal of personal responsibility with how we tune and rig out boats. We also assume a lot of responsibility deciding to sail our boats in heavy weather.

At what modification stage should a manufacturer be responsible for failure? If you attach a nitrous bottle to your car engine and it dies (whether or not the nitrous was on at the time), should the manufacturer warrantee it? There has to be a line somewhere.

For the record, I have no affiliation with Performance other than owning one of their boats. However, I work for a machine manufacturer as a Customer Service Manager and deal graciously with warrantees all the time.