First off hello to all fellow boaters here in iboats forum. I am a new user from Canada who just registered, I have some years of boating experience but by no means I can consider myself an expert on boat related issues.
I apologize in advance for the lengthy rant I am about to post, but I don't know how to make it shorter, so please bear with me.
I recently bought a new used boat (a 1993 Cutter 168 with a 65 HP Suzuki outboard). The boat and the motor are in very good condition, however I didn't realize the EZLoader trailer that came with the package is actually 10 years older (1983) until I've checked the registration papers about two weeks after the purchase. The for sale ad did not mention the trailer's age, and the previous owner told me that he was the only owner of the boat since he bought it new in 1993, thus I assumed (perhaps wrongly) that the whole package was 1993. Who would have thought that a guy who buys a brand new boat and motor would match them to a 10 year old trailer!. The trailer was painted and looked in very good shape and the lights worked fine.
Two weeks after the purchase I finally had some time to take the boat for a short fishing trip to Lake Ontario, the ride to the marina is only about 10kms, I fished during the morning and came back home early afternoon, washed the boat and the trailer and parked the boat inside the garage. Up to this point everything seemed ok, just another regular day of fishing for me.
The surprise came the next day when I went to the garage to adjust the fishfinder's transducer which I thought might be out of alignment due to lack of fish markings the previous day. When I kneeled down to check the transducer I noticed that the trailer's frame was bent in two different places, not only bent but also broken from underneath each bent. The back of the trailer was sagging down under the load and had it not been for the winch rope holding the boat from the bow eye the back of the trailer would have been completely collapsed. While I was trying to believe my eyes, I went around the trailer and found another bent section this time in the front around where the front rollers are attached to the frame on the right side of the trailer. A careful examination of the bent sections revealed that the frame was badly rusted from inside out and and the bent and broken sections barely had any metal left prior to failure.
I am lucky in a way that the collapse only happened after I parked the trailer following my trip. Had it happen during the trip the consequences could have been serious. Apparently the trailer was on its last legs and was looking forward for the next stress (i.e. the towing trip) to finally give-up. I am positive that I had not hit any potholes or obstacles during the trip, the only relatively stressful part of which was a km long steep descent to the marina (as it is situated in the bottom of a bluff), and the corresponding ascend on the way back home.
Now I ended up with my boat sitting in my garage on a broken trailer which can not be safely driven to the nearest marina. I called the person who sold the package to me and told him what happened. He puts the blame on me saying that I must have hit something real hard and that I am implying that he deceived me because I asked him when the trailer was last painted. When he sold me the boat he told me that he once hit a pothole so bad that one of the front roller holding hardware was broken and he had to replace it, but he never mentioned any damage to the trailer. He actually gave me the repair bill and photos of that broken roller (trailer frame not visible in the photos). Is it a big coincidence that one of the bents in the frame occurred near where that roller is attached? In any case it is obvious that rust is the cause of the failure. The guy insists that he got the trailer painted 12 years ago, which happens to be before the pothole incident (2007), but somehow I have hard time to believe that the paint is really 12 years old. Anyway, I told him that I am not trying to assign blame and all I am asking is whether he is willing to help me out with this situation as I need to buy a new trailer and somehow get the boat on the new one. He said NO he will not help.
Now given this situation I have several questions to you, the more experienced fellow boaters:
- Am I on my own with this trouble? do I have any legal rights? Can, not mentioning the age of the trailer on the for sale ad and making it look like that it is also 1993 like the rest of the package be considered MISREPRESENTATION? I cannot believe that he wasn't aware of the rust as he said he checked the trailer carefully before he put the for sale ad.
- Since I can no longer tow the trailer, I need to put the boat on blocks and pull the old trailer from under. However the bent frame will make this task more difficult unless I have the proper adjustable stands (which I don't), so I was wondering if a trailer dealer would be able to deliver a new trailer to me and pull the old one out for me.
- if I have to do this myself, how difficult it would be and what is the best way of doing it within my garage, space is a bit tight and I am sure I will need to move the trailer a bit forward before I can put the boat on stands. I don't have a lawn area big or accessible enough to put the boat on lawn, have to do it in the garage, the driveway has a slope and has patio stones so the surface is somehow irregular whereas my garage floor is more level and concrete.
Any and all help is much appreciated. I am also posting some photos showing the condition of the trailer.
I apologize in advance for the lengthy rant I am about to post, but I don't know how to make it shorter, so please bear with me.
I recently bought a new used boat (a 1993 Cutter 168 with a 65 HP Suzuki outboard). The boat and the motor are in very good condition, however I didn't realize the EZLoader trailer that came with the package is actually 10 years older (1983) until I've checked the registration papers about two weeks after the purchase. The for sale ad did not mention the trailer's age, and the previous owner told me that he was the only owner of the boat since he bought it new in 1993, thus I assumed (perhaps wrongly) that the whole package was 1993. Who would have thought that a guy who buys a brand new boat and motor would match them to a 10 year old trailer!. The trailer was painted and looked in very good shape and the lights worked fine.
Two weeks after the purchase I finally had some time to take the boat for a short fishing trip to Lake Ontario, the ride to the marina is only about 10kms, I fished during the morning and came back home early afternoon, washed the boat and the trailer and parked the boat inside the garage. Up to this point everything seemed ok, just another regular day of fishing for me.
The surprise came the next day when I went to the garage to adjust the fishfinder's transducer which I thought might be out of alignment due to lack of fish markings the previous day. When I kneeled down to check the transducer I noticed that the trailer's frame was bent in two different places, not only bent but also broken from underneath each bent. The back of the trailer was sagging down under the load and had it not been for the winch rope holding the boat from the bow eye the back of the trailer would have been completely collapsed. While I was trying to believe my eyes, I went around the trailer and found another bent section this time in the front around where the front rollers are attached to the frame on the right side of the trailer. A careful examination of the bent sections revealed that the frame was badly rusted from inside out and and the bent and broken sections barely had any metal left prior to failure.
I am lucky in a way that the collapse only happened after I parked the trailer following my trip. Had it happen during the trip the consequences could have been serious. Apparently the trailer was on its last legs and was looking forward for the next stress (i.e. the towing trip) to finally give-up. I am positive that I had not hit any potholes or obstacles during the trip, the only relatively stressful part of which was a km long steep descent to the marina (as it is situated in the bottom of a bluff), and the corresponding ascend on the way back home.
Now I ended up with my boat sitting in my garage on a broken trailer which can not be safely driven to the nearest marina. I called the person who sold the package to me and told him what happened. He puts the blame on me saying that I must have hit something real hard and that I am implying that he deceived me because I asked him when the trailer was last painted. When he sold me the boat he told me that he once hit a pothole so bad that one of the front roller holding hardware was broken and he had to replace it, but he never mentioned any damage to the trailer. He actually gave me the repair bill and photos of that broken roller (trailer frame not visible in the photos). Is it a big coincidence that one of the bents in the frame occurred near where that roller is attached? In any case it is obvious that rust is the cause of the failure. The guy insists that he got the trailer painted 12 years ago, which happens to be before the pothole incident (2007), but somehow I have hard time to believe that the paint is really 12 years old. Anyway, I told him that I am not trying to assign blame and all I am asking is whether he is willing to help me out with this situation as I need to buy a new trailer and somehow get the boat on the new one. He said NO he will not help.
Now given this situation I have several questions to you, the more experienced fellow boaters:
- Am I on my own with this trouble? do I have any legal rights? Can, not mentioning the age of the trailer on the for sale ad and making it look like that it is also 1993 like the rest of the package be considered MISREPRESENTATION? I cannot believe that he wasn't aware of the rust as he said he checked the trailer carefully before he put the for sale ad.
- Since I can no longer tow the trailer, I need to put the boat on blocks and pull the old trailer from under. However the bent frame will make this task more difficult unless I have the proper adjustable stands (which I don't), so I was wondering if a trailer dealer would be able to deliver a new trailer to me and pull the old one out for me.
- if I have to do this myself, how difficult it would be and what is the best way of doing it within my garage, space is a bit tight and I am sure I will need to move the trailer a bit forward before I can put the boat on stands. I don't have a lawn area big or accessible enough to put the boat on lawn, have to do it in the garage, the driveway has a slope and has patio stones so the surface is somehow irregular whereas my garage floor is more level and concrete.
Any and all help is much appreciated. I am also posting some photos showing the condition of the trailer.
