Question for the experts

[OldSchool]

Last night a kid who was down at our boat club (trespassing, getting a stinky finger:sifone backed into my trailer. My neighbor caught him down there, scared the chit out of him and the kid went to leave and backed right into the coupler of my trailer smashing his tail light and the trunk of his Mustang and then took off. I had the plate #, but went through other sources to find out who he was. I had someone call him tonight and tell him that he had one hour to call me before I call the Police. He called within 90 seconds.:sifone:

Now for the damage question. The coupler is bent maybe 3/4" up, the wires to my tail lights are sheared in half, my tongue jack is bent and the boat is maybe 1" off of center on the bow stop. He hit it pretty hard. The tongue jack was sitting on top of a 10 x 10 and that moved about 3-4". The foot of the tongue jack moved quite a bit. Any ideas on how phucked up it is and how hard it will be to make it right?

I know nothing about trailers, but I do know that if the frame is bent it will not track well and go through tires. Right??? I don't know what to do, the kid is coming down to face the music on Saturday and give me his insurance info.

Any ideas?


Craig

 

[OldSchool]

Here is a picture from last fall when I parked it.

 

[Perlmudder]

Here is a picture from last fall when I parked it.

lucky it didnt go into the river!!

sorry, im useless otherwise...

one last hi-jack, your boat is one of my favorites, and i had it as a background on my computer for a couple months!

 

[Shallow Minded]

Bummer deal, Craig. The good news is that can be fixed. I had a buddy who's 38 Scarab trailer got messed up pretty bad when he ended up in the ditch with it. He just half-arse fixed it himself and it still pulled fine and tracked well. Hopefully this kid's insurance works with you and you'll be back to new in no time. Good luck! SM

 

[Jbud24]

Not an expert but past experiance with a smaller trailer.
I would have a Trailer repair shop make sure everything is squared up before I signed off on anything.
You are right about the part of it not tracking properly and mine was only a 20 ft trailer.

 

[Chris]

You can do a quick squareness check yourself by taking measurements from the coupler to equidistand points on the frame further back.

If he has insurance, I'd send it to the manufacturer for whatever repair

 

[Wrinkleface]

Damn stink finger kids!!!!:beatdeadhorse5:

 

[BBB725]

How about it your fault for having it parked there:biggrinjester:

Have a trailer place come out and give an estimate

 

[Scarab KV]

You can always get them to track straight again. Really no different then a semi trailer.

 

[stecz20]

i bet you wont do that agiain....:26::26:

lesson over for the day..:26::26:

 

[OldSchool]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to call someone tomorrow morning and have them come out and look at it.

Phucking kids!!!!:cuss::willy_nilly::cuss::willy_nilly::cuss:

 

[Scarab KV]

Craig, you have any shops in the area that work on semi trailers. Trailer alignments are done using king pin to axle point measurements or lasers. Most decent shops are using lasers now.

 

[Ted]

I'm sorry Mr. Hall, I promise I'll wax your boat all year for you. Dad told me I have to pay to fix your trailer so go easy on me. Just don't tell my wife about the stink finger thing

 

[Ted]

Thank God he din't hit that really nice Formula down there

 

[mikey]

Thank God he din't hit that really nice Formula down there

Would not want to damage that nice cover....:sifone:

 

[Sydwayz]

I bet Scott Church can give you a good assessment. I can't imagine that it bent the trailer. I see the friction of the tongue stand on the wood giving up before I see the I-beams bending. I'd take no chances and have the whole coupler replaced. It's too important to leave any what-ifs.

I suggest you take a couple of truck jack stands, and place them under one of those cross members that are about 1/2 way between the front axle and the winch stand. Lower the tongue jack down so the trailer cross member comes to rest solely on the stands. The front of that trailer will flex down away from the boat a bit, and you will be able to see if the winch stand/front of the trailer has been tweaked off center, or if it just got knocked over enough the offset the boat a bit. (This will work on an I-beam trailer. I've done it to adjust and replace bow stops.)

As for the tongue stand... call John Smith, as he had to put a new one on my trailer a few years ago when it got bent while in for service... so I know he is qualified!

 

[Sydwayz]

Also, someone on the other site was looking for a Top Gun trailer in quick fashion for $3000 cash. You might see if you can sell the trailer and take some insurance money and buy a new one.

As for towing it to a shop (to get it checked or fixed)... I think you have a pintle type hitch right? If you don't, I have a Trailer Guardian, and you can borrow it if you like/need. www.trailerguardian.com

 

[Tank]

Did you say he's bringing you his insurance info!? F*ck all the "check it yourself" crap. Drag that focker down to a trailer place and have them fix it. After you call the insurance company of course. I'd be straight up with the trailer place and tell them you want no expense spared when they do a full check of the trailer to insure it's not perminantly damaged. You don't want any suprises a year from now after it's all said and done.

Also, in regards to getting the correct info. Get the kids full name, birthday, drivers lic. number, address, phone number and full insurance info. Sometimes the insurance companies will pitch a b!tch that theres no police report. If they want one you can try to get your local PD to make a report but it may prove to be difficult as it's a late reported, non injury collision on private property. Most agencies wont take a report. You can explain that to the insurance company if that's what happens.

 

[JupiterSunsation]

I'm very suspicious of the whole story........got any recent shots of the back of your truck?

I think someone may have enjoyed too many adult beverages, was down in the boat yard playing motorboat while sitting in his truck when his neighbor scared him while the truck was in reverse and in the comotion the truck jerked backwards causing the accident........

Now as far as the "stinky finger" part you can imagine that part on your own. It was a cold winter up north and Craig was "living the dream" last month in FL with the Serious crew so this scenario could be a result of a very cold winter with a little taste of powerboating thrown in just before spring time..........

 

[OldSchool]

Did you say he's bringing you his insurance info!? F*ck all the "check it yourself" crap. Drag that focker down to a trailer place and have them fix it. After you call the insurance company of course. I'd be straight up with the trailer place and tell them you want no expense spared when they do a full check of the trailer to insure it's not perminantly damaged. You don't want any suprises a year from now after it's all said and done.

Also, in regards to getting the correct info. Get the kids full name, birthday, drivers lic. number, address, phone number and full insurance info. Sometimes the insurance companies will pitch a b!tch that theres no police report. If they want one you can try to get your local PD to make a report but it may prove to be difficult as it's a late reported, non injury collision on private property. Most agencies wont take a report. You can explain that to the insurance company if that's what happens.

I'm with you Tank, I'm not doing one minute of work on the trailer. The kid is cooperating now that I tracked his azz down. :dupe:He backed up and hit the coupler with his car at a 90 degree angle. I have digital pictures of the paint and tail light lens fragments all over the place as well as the bow stop being off center. It's going to be checked out by a mobile trailer expert today and will all be paid for by the kid's insurance and will be fixed by a qualified person. It wasn't messed up before the kid backed into it! It's not my fault that he was too scared to get back out of his car and clean the fogged up windows off before leaving. I hope it was worth it for him!!:biggrinjester: