BWCA New boat. How would you handle this? Boundary Waters Listening Point - General Discussion
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yogi59weedr
distinguished member(2662)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/17/2018 12:06AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Short version of a long story.

As previously posted, I bought a new boat this past April 25 for my 59th b-day present to myself.. Lund 1600 fury 25 merc 4 stroke..

Drove five hours to north Minneapolis to pick it up. Drove home approx 300 miles.
Only took it down to the river one mile to get a couple hours break-in time for the new motor before my trip up north. Ok!!!!!

Take off and get up almost to Cloquet on I-35, and I look back and boat is kind of crooked on the trailer. Just about that time, a guy pulls along side and motions up and down with his hand. I nod and pull over on the interstate.

I go back and look and see that the bar in back that has the rollers on it that guides the boat on the trailer was hanging there missing a bolt....WTF..... the boat had fallen down on the trailer. I tied the bar up to the frame to keep it from bouncing too much and limped on down the side of the interstate with my flashers on. Maybe 3-5 miles til I hit the Cloquet exit.

Pulled into wally world and dropped the boat and went looking for a bolt. Found Napa and got a tempered bolt. Went back and could not jack up boat to put bolt back in...... so I limped on down the road to the river in Cloquet. I then put the boat in the water so I could pull the trailer back out and put the bolt back in.

Ok, got that done and back on the road...

Fast forward. Contacted the place where I bought the boat and told him what happened. Said I would be coming back thru on my way home and would they look at it? Ok, so I leave on my way home, stop and they pulled the boat off and replaced both side bolts.... per my wishes. Time spent there, maybe an hour, and was on way home.

Ok.... so I get home, go to get ready for a local crappie trip this weekend, and shit... I look down and noticed another bolt gone from where tongue bar and both side bars meet!

I'M NOT HAPPY...

Call my guy at the shop and email a picture, and yep, bolt was supposed to be there. Gonna send me bolt that is supposed to be there. Ok, I'll take it down by the house put it in and pull the trailer out and put the bolt back in. I will also take my sockets and a couple ratchets and personally tighten every f****** bolt on the trailer.

Ok... as I take a deep breath...

I calmly told the salesman this wasn't on him. I know these things are made by humans, but after the 2nd bolt, I wanted some contact numbers at Lund.

Here is what really pisses me off...

That Sunday, on my way up, was Fathers day. For the last 10 years, I've spent it on the way up with my daughter and friends watching the U.S .open. Didn't happen this year as I was fixing a brand new boat and trailer. I have yet to call Lund to relay my displeasure and ask how I should approach this.

Anyone else have two main bolts come out in the first 1200 miles on a new Shoreland’r trailer?

I'm approaching Lund as it's their product they're putting on these trailers.

Ok, maybe that was the long version of short story. Boat and motor were great. Trailer, not so much. Maybe I should look on the bright side... no real property damage. No one got hurt. But now, I think I'm going to be looking in the rear view mirror thinking.... come on baby stay together.

I WANT SOME ASS....
 
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ddietz336
member (35)member
  
07/17/2018 02:33AM  
Had same issues with a bayliner I bought, trailer was bolted together versus welds, unfortunately trailer was made by Escort not bayliner so no help from them. every time I drop the boat now, I have a set of wrenches/ratchets that come out to ensure everything is good to go.

Boat = a hole in the water you throw money into....
Hope you have better luck moving forward...
 
07/17/2018 06:39AM  
Your trailer was obviously assembled on a Tuesday morning after a long holiday weekend.
 
07/17/2018 07:25AM  
I would let Lund know about it. They do care about quality control. Remember what they did about 10 yrs ago with the engines and dealers.
 
mastertangler
distinguished member(4432)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberpower member
  
07/17/2018 07:33AM  
Give me a break Yogi......Mister retired at 50!? (I'm jealous, can you tell ;-)

You don't have anything better to do than work on your trailer so quit whining and get turning that wrench! Stuff happens, just deal with it.

Sounds like you have a beautiful boat.......enjoy it and don't sweat the small stuff. Nothing bad happened.
 
Savage Voyageur
distinguished member(14414)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished membermaster membermaster member
  
07/17/2018 07:55AM  
To bad, you must have got a bummer trailer. Our Shorelander trailer was great to us, we pulled that boat everywhere in Minnesota. The old saying that new is not that good, it’s not proven yet. You are just getting the bugs out of it.
 
07/17/2018 08:43AM  
When you were going over the trailer tightening everything did you apply a little locktite to everything to help prevent them from loosening over time?
 
mjmkjun
distinguished member(2885)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/17/2018 10:58AM  
Very, very frustrating. Yes, look on the brighter side because.......well, you know.
 
07/17/2018 01:16PM  
The two happiest days in a mans life. The day he buys his boat and the day he sells it.
 
07/17/2018 06:16PM  
Yogi, or perhaps you'd like us to call you Skipper now, congrats on the new boat. Once you get past the trailer frustration, it will give you a great deal of joy.

Many years ago just after college, I worked in the boat financing business. I could be dead wrong, but I don't recall trailers and boats shipping or being financed together. I'd still call Lund, as I do recall them being great people and think they would care about any bad experience with their boats, but it may be that the boat was put on the trailer at the dealership. So really your beef is with who ever assembled the trailer - be it the dealer or someone at Shorelander. If it was bolted together, I'm betting it was assembled at the dealer because its just a lot cheaper to ship them in parts and assemble later.
 
yogi59weedr
distinguished member(2662)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/17/2018 07:37PM  
Thank you.
Great info.
I will look into that. Called and left a message at Lund quality control , but no response yet...
 
Jackfish
Moderator
  
07/17/2018 11:07PM  
Quite the story, Yogi. Glad the boat stayed on the trailer after all of that.

After buying the boat, having the trailer troubles and having to make all those phone calls, my question is, does the dealer call you Yogi... or Mr. Weedr?
 
yogi59weedr
distinguished member(2662)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/17/2018 11:38PM  
They call me Mr. Tibbs
 
yogi59weedr
distinguished member(2662)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/17/2018 11:39PM  
Lol
 
07/18/2018 08:03AM  
How frustrating...I get it, you are all excited about getting the boat, then having to deal with this. I am happy the boat is fine, this could of ended way worse.

T
 
yogi59weedr
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07/20/2018 12:34PM  
Well I called Lund four times this week and was directed to Brian in quality control. I left four messages to call me as I explained my problem...no return calls. Hmmmmm. The lady tried to explain to me it was a busy time of the year...... BAD ANSWER.

Today I'm calling to speak to a member of management. That's unacceptable to me.
 
PortageKeeper
distinguished member(2527)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/20/2018 02:06PM  
Please DO follow up, and please keep us posted. Yours may have been the only trailer that day with issues, but that's still no excuse. I would like to hear them ask for a serial number so they could check back to who was responsible. If they don't ask for that then they probably won't do anything about it. I hope they at least offer something for your troubles. Maybe remind them of what the consequences might have been if the whole thing self destructed on a busy interstate.
 
HayRiverDrifter
distinguished member(928)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/23/2018 08:21AM  
I totally understand your frustration. You buy a new boat to avoid having to worry about issues like this.

In situations like this, the first thing I ask is 'can I talk to your manager'. You need to get to someone who has the authority to make a decision. Boat dealers are not that big an operation, and I would talk directly to the owner. Add up the hours that you spent dealing with this situation and ask for compensation for your time. If he is not interested in working with you to resolve this, ask if you can return the boat and go elsewhere.

I hear what you're saying about watching the rear view mirror. Sorry for your issues.
 
mastertangler
distinguished member(4432)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberpower member
  
07/23/2018 08:34AM  
I am just trying to understand what is the end game? Just to rip someone a new one? Let them know and move on. It's not rocket science. Grab a wrench and tighten some bolts. It's just "one of those things". By all accounts Lund is a fine company with an excellent reputation.

If I were in management I would have certainly called Yogi back and pronto as this would get my attention in a big way. Not as much for customer service, but to find out more accurately if my trailer division was performing poorly. The last thing I would want is a boat coming off a poorly made trailer. Can you say lawsuit?

Naturally, as a manager, I would ask if the customer wanted to bring it to a dealer. Sometimes companies get so big and successful that they fail to satisfy, then they get bad publicity as per social media. You go out of business one customer at a time.

 
07/23/2018 10:14AM  
I agree with MT and also wonder what the end game is. What are you going to ask for or hope they will do?

I think you'll have a hard time tracking down who is really at fault and an even harder time finding anyone to admit fault. At some point you'll have to determine how much time and effort this is worth. Its sucks you've had to deal with it but sounds like you've fixed the issue yourself so not sure how much more tree barking its worth.

As far as the dealer is concerned, it seems like an easy problem for them to deal with. If I were them, I'd have taken your call or returned it promptly asking you to bring your trailer back in so that it can be fully inspected. I'd also replace every single bolt on the trailer and tighten them using loctite if for no other reason than to show you that we were doing our best to address the issue. Costs to the dealer would have been a few bucks in bolts and loctite and then time it takes for a tech to do the work. A very small investment protect a customer and your reputation.

 
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