Re: Contender Lawsuit in Florida
tashasdaddy, I have read every Deposition and Trial transcript of this case, and TBS has definitely been mistreated by contender, and they are a THIRD time buyer of contenders. I have also talked directly with Bill Cordes at contender and he told me that they only have stress cracks in their boat, so I sent him 9 pictures showing him this is not true. The stringers HAVE to be attached to the liner, or you lose about 25 to 35% of the structural strength of the vessel.
Liner to Stringer Structural Damage
These are the words and testimony of James Laffew in his official capacity as contenders expert witness, and his exact statements in the trial as such. How he could look at these pictures and LIE on the stand and say that he sees NO structural damage in this boat I will NEVER know. If I was TBS I would file criminal charges against Mr. Laffew for PERJURY in his testimony and have the justice system teach him that you can't LIE on the stand, EVEN if it is NOT a criminal trial.
Just to let everybody know the liner also includes the deck that you walk on, and that is what you are seeing at the top of the stringers in these pictures that is SUPPOSEDLY attached to the stringers. These are only pictures of the inboard stringers, as nobody can see the outboard stringers as they are hidden by the inboard stringers, but I have to assume that they have the same problems.
Court Testimony of James Laffew
00868
1 MR. CARY: I'm sorry. That's one thing I
2 did not see.
3 MR. SHINKLE: Okay. Let me see.
4 A Now, this is where the structure -- in
5 addition to the laminate of the boat and how important
6 that is, this is extremely important, the stringers,
7 because this is what's going to tie everything
8 together, and it's going to give you really a lot of
9 structure to make sure that you don't get motion in
10 the hull itself. So, in this -- and this is exactly
11 for this boat, this model boat.
00948
1 A If you're talking about a catastrophic
2 failure of one of those pieces, it certainly wouldn't
3 be good. I can agree with that.
4 Q So, it's important then that you've got a
5 good bond with the liner to the stringers and also the
6 cap on top of it, right?
7 A Correct. Uh-huh.
8 Q If, in fact, you don't have that good bond
9 there, you do have a structural problem. I know you
10 called it a secondary bond, but you do have a
11 structural problem, don't you?
12 A The structural problem -- if I may --
13 Q Sure.
14 A -- if I may expand, the structural problem
15 I'd like to -- what I call a structural problem is in
16 the connections between the major components. Yes.
17 That is a structural connection.
If you look at the above pictures it is very easy to see that the bond between the stringers and the liner for the floor deck above are NOT connected in almost any place, much less are they connected ANYWHERE that you can see.
If that is NOT a STRUCTURAL problem, then I have NEVER seen one.
This is how TBS has been cheated by contender since their first ATTEMPT to SUPPOSEDLY take care of a THIRD time customer, and EVERY time TBS gets it back from contender they have the same thing happening over and over.
And this is a major part of the reason why, there is NO connection.
I will personally advise all persons owning contenders and having any problems to look underneath the liner for the connection between the liner and the stringers as this is a STRUCTURAL problem.
H
