Boat Trailer Woes

[flatstrap]

This is a story of what can happen at any time anywhere when trailering a boat. The timespan of the story is 20 months. For legal reasons, I cannot be specific on the fine details of this story but will endeavour to pass on the valuable experience I have gathered over this time. I will post pictures of each section as the story unfolds so as not hog the forum. If there is enough interest inthis thread, I will continue with the story.

The setting:
I have designed a new centre guide for my Cat trailer and have built it separately. I positioned the fabrication and tack welded it into position. The idea then was to launch the boat at the nearby boat ramp, bring the trailer back and weld it properly. Turning right into the main road, the road turns our really rough. The council had dug down to roadbase to reseal the road and then had a Christmas break. No signage, warnings, road directions. Zip, nada!

The culprits:
The access points to the sewer systems (6 in line) have been left exposed and protruding between 100mm and 145mm of concrete collar and steel lid. A token effort of building a 'ramp' of bitumen around the hazard was noted later.

The main characer:
Driving along with the wife on the way to the ramp then all hell breaks loose. Imagine the sound of a warddrobe being rolled down a flight of stairs. When the noise stops, we get out of the vehicle and the 2.5t cat is resting its bowsprit on the roof of the car. The impact had sheared off axle 1 and axles 2 & 3 rode over wheel no.1 and bucked the cat forward, smashing through the winch post and to rest on the car.

To be continued.... stay tuned

[Cruiser]

Holy crap :-/

Please continue. #There will definitely be enough interest.

Chris.

[Chimo]

Hi Flatstrap

Not nice!

Friends of mine shared a story with me last week about what happened to them that may be of interest and value to you.

The local council resheeted (not a sealed road) a the road with substandard materials / workmanship and the short version is that this resulted in the friends car rolling (low speed) and ending up on its roof with two people left suspended in their seatbelts upside down and the car written off.

After serious face to face negotiation the Council officers didn't want lawyers and a court case so they agreed to seal (bitumen) the entire length of road many kms, to settle the matter. Insurance covered the car.

Direct negotiation worked out, with no legal costs. Lucky they and you were not seriously hurt.

Hope your issue works out for you.

Chimo

[blaze]

interesting

[finga64]

sad #:'(
glad to hear no-one was hurt.

[Argle]

I reckon that would have gotten your attention :o :o Bring on the rest of the story

Cheers and beers
Scott

[fez]

Flat strap,

Don't leave us hanging!!!!!!!!

So far doesn't look too good. Waiting for the next segment.

Cheers,
Fez

[maxwellson]

and !!!!!!

[Blackened]

G'day
Bloody hell!!!!!! keep us informed
Dave

[GAD]

Very sorry about your boat flatstrap , yeah wouldn't like it to happen to me , hope it works out
but you will have a lot of attention by now, so keep us all informed

[Spaniard_King]

yep.. ya got my attention :o

Garry

[Rogues]

"Ahhhhhhhh Flatstrap.................Helloooooooooo. :-?
C'mon mate, ya threw the burley in at 10.30am and its now 8.59pm.....
I think ya'have got our attenshun son.... ;)

[Rogues]

"well I'll be buggar'ed.........I jus'went 'Bronze'..... ;D ::)
it wasnt easy bein' green...."

[Deiter]

Mr Flatstrap Sir, please, turn the page and continue with the next chapter...PLEASE. you have my attention alright.

Damo

[flatstrap]

The story continues:
Here is where you have to keep your wits about you and document everything. I accepted help from 3 good samaritans that stopped to help myself and a hysterical wife that suddenly decided to take up smoking cigs. I rang the relevant authority to report the accident and requested some signage to stop the local traffic from smashing us from the rear. The dude turned up (took his name and voice recorded his comments from a mobile). Took down names and contact numbers of the good samaritans. Took a lot of photos of the scene and the culprits from all angles, placing a set of keys to scale the photos.

The dude departs and gives instructions to chuck the road signs into the bush when we clear the wreck from the scene. Still no warning for others to come. The hazard stayaed on for about 7 days until finally some signage turned up.

Armed with overwhelming evidence, I inform the local authority of the damage.

Their Response:
It must be your fault. You were probably speeding and/or driving recklessly. We deny any liability. We will send over Dude No.2 (Mr Nasty). No.2 is an Insurance loss adjuster and armed with camera takes shots of the wreck and mumbles phrases like "latent defects", speeding etc. He later inspects the scene and concludes that I must have crashed into the median strip when turning right as there are tyre marks there.

Question? If I crashed into the median strip, why is it the left hand side of the trailer that's smashed?
Answer: I'll send a Forensic Engineer from Brisbane to investigate this ridiculous claim.

Lesson to be learned here. Keep your cool and don't react to irritating suggestions.

Keep reading for the next installment for the meeting with the FORENSIC ENGINEER!

[darkside]

iv'e given up watching the Emmys to see this unfurl , well maybe not the Emmys but i'm keen to see where it goes and how it pans out >:(

[7dan7]

No good >:( >:( >:(

got any more pics :o :o :o :o

hope things sort themselves out for ya ;)

[flatstrap]

PLENTY OF PICS.
I'm at work (night shift) and when I get home, I'll post some twisted metal pics. be home at 12:15 am.

[flatstrap]

The following pics:\a) at rest

[flatstrap]

The winch post

[flatstrap]

The bump

[flatstrap]

Start of recovery

[flatstrap]

At this point it was time to gather all the bits of wreckage and clean up the scene; Two tip trailers were called, the smaller one too short. Then a Franna crane to lift the rig off the table top and put to rest.

I'd like to acknowledge the help and support of the good samaritans who stayed for a total time of 6.5 hours till we could relax. The conflict was just beginning but I didn't know it at the time.

A few days later, I get a call from the FORENSIC ENGINEER commisioned by the authorities to pin down the cause and liability of this accident..Mr FE turns up at home and I set the scene for him. Was he a man of integrity who would report what he saw and observed or will he write a report that his employers want to hear?

Stay tuned folks... The ending is pretty good so something good came of it.

[Grand_Marlin]

Scary Stuff ....

What sort of cat is that?? #What length?

Where did this all happen?

What were you towing with? Did it do much damage to the car?

Cheers

Pete

[flatstrap]

GM:
The cat was built for the NSW Police in '96 for security work during the Sydney Olympics. The craft was stationed at Campbell Cove (Circular Quay) and built to survey by Edencraft. Length is 7m and the bottom of the hull and transom is built to stay built. In the accident, the hull was relatively unscathed. I will post pics in due course.
My towmobile is a Land Rover Discovery and towing capacity is 3.5T as specified in the manufacturer's manual.
Damage to the car was mainly to the roof as that took the brunt of the bowsprit landing on it. In the interim I had to jack up the roof with a 4x2 and a jack to lift the roof to line up with the Disco's side windows; just to make it weatherproof.
This happened in the state of QLD.
In the meantime, I'll reformat more pictures to further illustrate the story.

There's a saying that "If it doesn't kill you, it can only do you good." The experience has made me more observant of all mechanical things and I feel I can deal with situations in a calm and logical manner.

flatstrap

[GBC]

Who's the engineer?

P.M. me

C.J.

[boatboy50]

Hey Strap,

Excuse my ignorance, but was the fact that the centre skids were only tacked in place a contributing factor to the accident, or was there only forward movement, no side ways?

P.S. Looks like the Gold Coast!!!

P.P.S. VERY nice boat. What power?

Regards

Darren

[flatstrap]

Darren;
The centre guide only stopped sideways movement on the way to the winch post and the rubber stops holding the stem in position.

Power; 2x 200 HP Yamahas

It might be the Gold Coast, I can't say due to confidentiality clauses un the terms of settlement.

flatstrap

[StevenM]

AHH Yep

Got my attention and want no need to see more pics, explanation as I am still lost what went wrong

Steven

[flatstrap]

In a nutshell, what went wrong?
Road builders created a dangerous road hazard, went on holidays, and contravened their own set of performance guidelines on signage, traffic control devices and advisory signs.
To make things worse, they attacked the claimant and put up ridiculous scenarios as to cause and denied liability.

I approached my Council representative: His reply" Can't help you. It's a council matter!"
Isn't that his JOB? To represent his constituents and not defend his phoney baloney job?

If anyone else experiences what I did, mate I'll walk you through it.

[flatstrap]

To continue:
The Forensic Engineer reports the facts and finds against his own client. Then client then disregards his own expert and does his own forensic examination. Sends me a copy of his findings only for us to discover he has documented a different part of the road. Mr. Nasty then accuses his own expert for collusion with the complainer.

(I don't know if interest is waning on this thread but assuming it IS)
In the end the authority buckled under dogged persistence and stamina.

Lessons of the story:
a) Government will LIE and cheat to further its own interests
b) There are honest experts around that can't be bought.
c) There is no justice in the system only a legal system.

So, Flatstrap (the boat) is home and I'll see you local guys around...

[flatstrap]

pic.a

[flatstrap]

pic b

[flatstrap]

pic c

[7dan7]

thanks for ya story strap good read ;)

good on ya for stickin up for ya self ;)

sooner or later we will all stick up for ourselves and get rid
of all the theiving bar$t@rd$ they call government :o :o :o

[bonka]

Wow, I can imagine the noise and the tension about the place when this happened. Not to steal your thunder flatstrap but in the early 1970's I drove 2 year old Monaro to work. Turning off seal onto roadworks there was a god almighty crash, the car lept into the air, my lunch and bottle of milk hit the roof and milk sprayed everywhere. The car came back down with a much lowered suspension having taken out the front cross member and axle and skidded across the road into the ditch. Not funny...then.

Council denied all responsibility of course but insurance coughed up eventually. The cause? The exact same thing as took out your trailer. An 8" cast iron water main sticking up about 6-8 inches after turning cars removed most of the lose surface metal.

Good luck with your drama flatstrap, hope you too can get this sorted or insurance pays up?

Cheers

[murf]

Good read flatstrap
i know how you feel dealing with government. i believe they can sometimes think they are law unto themselves ( Mr Nasty)
i bet you feel at a loss even after a settlement
Cheers Murf