Re: Boat that came off the trailer
I would look for other damage as well, if it fell off and impacted on the road, I'd check to make sure there's no broken or cracked stringers or other hidden damage.
I agree with the epoxy repair, but I'd want to see the inside no matter what considering what it's been through.
About 12 years ago I was driving along in a large SUV, (one that was built long before we called them SUV's), and was following a guy with what looked to be about a 16' bowrider, manufacturer unknown which was sort of floating on the trailer at speed. Right about the time I turned to my buddy and made the comment that the darn fool must have forgot to tie his boat down, the boat took flight, turned sideways and landed about 5 foot in front of my push bumper as I was doing about 50 or so. There was a solid thud sound, then a "POP" sound as I drove through it. A state trooper which was behind me and had pulled over right behind me looked like he had just driven through a chicken coop. My truck and his car were both covered in what looked like fiberglass feathers, I had a baseball sized dent in the edge of my hood, but no other damage, and the outboard was still spinning in the street on the oposite shoulder. The drive that lost the boat came back screaming at me that I had ruined his boat, the officer promptly informed him of the tickets that he was about to recieve and that anything he said at that point may be used against him and so on. What got me was that there was no boat left, just a lot of splinters, a few seats and the outboard in the street with the transom mostly still attached, the stringers, hull and rest of the boat just disintingrated. The truck I was driving was my go fishing truck and I didn't much care about another dent, and once I cleared the radiator screen and windshield of bits of boat, and left my info with the officer, I left. I never heard anything more after that other than a call from someone elsed insurance company who also had their car covered in the mess of fiberglass.
My point is, that there's not much to a boat and the hull isn't meant to have any strength out of the water. While nothing would have helped the boat that I hit, (other than the idiot maybe securing it to his trailer), there may be damage that you can't see. I would assume that that boat dropped off the trailer at speed, falling at least as far as the trailer is high, that force amplified by weight and speed, with the damage compounded by it's sliding on the pavement.
