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 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

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'.....
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!