I think the situation is vastly different in the rest of the world to what we experience here in the UK.

To a great extent we are spoiled by having several high quality cat, boat and yacht manufacturers based here. In addition we have good dealerships for those boats not built or fitted out here.

On each occasion that I have bought a new boat, whether UK built or imported via a Dealer, the boat has either been as perfect as I would expect or has been rectified to my satisfaction by the Dealer or the builder. UK bought boats don't tend to be shipped huge distances and we still tend to collect them ourselves from the builder/dealer.

In Will's case it's highly unlikely that VWM would have shipped the boat with a defect. When you're fitting out it's almost impossible to miss something like that.

I would have thought that Will has a case against the shipper in UK law but I don't know the specifics in his situation in the USA.