issue. I have been through two West Marine Avons and both the bottoms cracked. Avon North America is willing to replace the "West Marine" Avon with a real one but are resisting returning my money in total. I have to admit, they have been pretty good about the whole thing. They have over $1000,00 in repairs to them from repair facilities in Mexico. The aluminum bottom was just to thin on that design and cracked in the same location on both boats. I'm still in negotiations with them. We'll see how it all plays out.