Bought a New to me Boat and the Wheel Fell Off

[Bigplumbs]

So I decided to buy another Boat (Her indoors said you can never have enough) It is a Ranieri Revolution 4.55 which is a boat I have been looking at for a long while. It is quite small and compact but can carry a few people in comfort. It only has a 50 hp outboard which most of these seem to have.

We bought is some 200 miles from home and looking at the trailer it looked very good if several years old.

Well the trailer was not good and 190 miles from home the wheel fell off.

Another heads up to people. The AA which is usually excellent has changed its policy on trailers. It would appear that if at the roadside the AA man sends 3 pics to a faceless man in a back office and he says the trailer was not road worthy. You have to pay for the recovery. Which on this occasion for 190 miles cost me £954 ..... Ouch

Pleased with the boat none the less. Now just got to source a new axel which is not quick unfortunatly

 

[Bouba]

Well congrats on the new boat !! Ouch for the grand to get it home!!

 

[DavidJ]

Well done on the boat, looks good. Ouch indeed!
AA were totally unhelpful for me during my recent freak hail storm windscreen and headlight wrecking session in France.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Well done on the boat, looks good. Ouch indeed!
AA were totally unhelpful for me during my recent freak hail storm windscreen and headlight wrecking session in France.

Yes. In the past they have been very good but now not so much. The recovery bloke that turned up did not even have a trolley jack so we had to use the one I brought with me

 

[bedouin]

It is an offence in the UK for anyone to sell a car or trailer that is not in roadworthy condition. It seems that this one wasn't so you could quite reasonably claim the recovery cost and subsequent repair costs from the seller.

 

[Alicatt]

Nice boat, shame about the trailer.

In the 700+ mile tow we did from Bosham to Wick to get our last boat home, one tyre shredded it's self near Macclesfield, glad that was all that happened! We abandoned the boat in a layby with me watching it, and brother went and got a new tyre fitted, we put the spare from the trailer on but it was just about done in going brittle as well, we replaced all the tyres at the same time and got the boat home safely.

 

[Seastoke]

QUOTE="Bigplumbs, post: 8007741, member: 160967"]
So I decided to buy another Boat (Her indoors said you can never have enough) It is a Ranieri Revolution 4.55 which is a boat I have been looking at for a long while. It is quite small and compact but can carry a few people in comfort. It only has a 50 hp outboard which most of these seem to have.

We bought is some 200 miles from home and looking at the trailer it looked very good if several years old.

Well the trailer was not good and 190 miles from home the wheel fell off.

Another heads up to people. The AA which is usually excellent has changed its policy on trailers. It would appear that if at the roadside the AA man sends 3 pics to a faceless man in a back office and he says the trailer was not road worthy. You have to pay for the recovery. Which on this occasion for 190 miles cost me £954 ..... Ouch

Pleased with the boat none the less. Now just got to source a new axel which is not quick unfortunatly

View attachment 139657
[/QUOTE]

With your expertise in trail boating and your advice to carry spare bearings , did you not check the axle in depth.

 

[westernman]

It would have been worse if the front fell off:-

 

[limecc]

It is an offence in the UK for anyone to sell a car or trailer that is not in roadworthy condition. It seems that this one wasn't so you could quite reasonably claim the recovery cost and subsequent repair costs from the seller.

Define roadworthy regarding a trailer please?

 

[Bouba]

Define roadworthy regarding a trailer please?

Definition, ‘the wheel does not fall off’

 

[limecc]

So I decided to buy another Boat (Her indoors said you can never have enough) It is a Ranieri Revolution 4.55 which is a boat I have been looking at for a long while.

BP did you buy Bella? This boat was legitimately for sale a while back on ebay and would-be scammers copied the photos, using them to create fake 3 day listings for months. Ebay took them all down of course, likewise with a Sealine. Looks a nice boat, how much did you pay?

P.S. Autow Ltd (aka Peak Dynamics) have the axle dimensions for your Bramber and can knock a new one up in under two weeks. Reasonably priced.

 

[waynes world]

Bloody nora kida. nice boat but lucky on the trailer, as in not worse happened.

Glad your ok kida. could of been a lot worse.

My boat came on a trailer, as you mite know. Seller said the brakes had been rebuilt. which they ad, i think as i have just checked them after i found the hitch damper had snapped.

I found this out 200 miles from home as some moron cut me up, i slammed on and booom, that was when i had not long after i set off after i bought the boat/trailer. so it was a slow trail home.

 

[Bouba]

Boat trailers are the world’s most neglected piece of hardware....and considering that they get towed till they’re hot then dunked into cold sea water ?

 

[bedouin]

Define roadworthy regarding a trailer please?

Having at least two wheels attached

In this case it is pretty obvious that it wasn't and that is backed up by the "expert" testimony of the AA patrol man.

 

[waynes world]

Boat trailers are the world’s most neglected piece of hardware....and considering that they get towed till they’re hot then dunked into cold sea water ?

I am 100% making sure this is good before i take the boat to play, I am only going 4 miles to get the canopy made in a few weeks but no chance am i risking the trip with a dodgy trailer again. i cant imagine near 3500kg shoving me down the road.

 

[limecc]

Having at least two wheels attached

In this case it is pretty obvious that it wasn't and that is backed up by the "expert" testimony of the AA patrol man.

The AlKo axle fitted to this trailer has hollow swing arms which can look ok on the outside but rust paper thin internally and it's BOOM on the first big pothole.

I changed mine because the rubber suspension cords were knackered and it was giving the boat hull a hard time on our poor roads. Only really noticed how bad it was after I'd got it unbolted.

I regularly take builder's rubble and general crap to the local skips in an old trailer and am covered by the AA this year. It's coil springs could develop a hairline fracture and have metal fatigue any time. It happens in cars often (especially old minis ). Really troubling

 

[Bigplumbs]

It is an offence in the UK for anyone to sell a car or trailer that is not in roadworthy condition. It seems that this one wasn't so you could quite reasonably claim the recovery cost and subsequent repair costs from the seller.

There is no way he could have known and I would not attempt to do this. He was an honest guy and he sold in good faith. I think it is more a case of Buyer beware. It is the the AA that I am miffed with.

Either way I am not sure you are correct in your statement. Anyway perhaps not go there

 

[Bigplumbs]

QUOTE="Bigplumbs, post: 8007741, member: 160967"]
So I decided to buy another Boat (Her indoors said you can never have enough) It is a Ranieri Revolution 4.55 which is a boat I have been looking at for a long while. It is quite small and compact but can carry a few people in comfort. It only has a 50 hp outboard which most of these seem to have.

We bought is some 200 miles from home and looking at the trailer it looked very good if several years old.

Well the trailer was not good and 190 miles from home the wheel fell off.

Another heads up to people. The AA which is usually excellent has changed its policy on trailers. It would appear that if at the roadside the AA man sends 3 pics to a faceless man in a back office and he says the trailer was not road worthy. You have to pay for the recovery. Which on this occasion for 190 miles cost me £954 ..... Ouch

Pleased with the boat none the less. Now just got to source a new axel which is not quick unfortunatly

View attachment 139657

With your expertise in trail boating and your advice to carry spare bearings , did you not check the axle in depth.
[/QUOTE]

I checked it as far as possible and it is actually a very serviceable trailer. The suspension arm was corroded from the inside mainly where it is forced in between the rubbers. When all attached it looked fine.

Further if anyone has ever bought a trailer boat privatly for about £10K you will know that in reality all the checks and other nonsense people spout on here are not at all possible or feasible in most real life circumstances. It took over 1.5 hrs for Barclays to release the money as they seem to flag any transaction over a few K as fraud these days......... And you try to phone Barclays to speak to them. A lot of fun that is

 

[Bigplumbs]

Having at least two wheels attached

In this case it is pretty obvious that it wasn't and that is backed up by the "expert" testimony of the AA patrol man.

The expert testimony is I am afraid a joke. He took 2 pics, emailed them off and in 1 min or so he came out of his van and said it was not road worthy. The fact that I hit somthing in the road on the bend further back did not seem to concern him. Sort of summary judgement in minutes. As for the AA, I think I said the recovery guy did not even have a Jack

 

[Bigplumbs]

The AlKo axle fitted to this trailer has hollow swing arms which can look ok on the outside but rust paper thin internally and it's BOOM on the first big pothole.

I changed mine because the rubber suspension cords were knackered and it was giving the boat hull a hard time on our poor roads. Only really noticed how bad it was after I'd got it unbolted.

I regularly take builder's rubble and general crap to the local skips in an old trailer and am covered by the AA this year. It's coil springs could develop a hairline fracture and have metal fatigue any time. It happens in cars often (especially old minis ). Really troubling

You are spot on about that Axel. No way to see it from the outside and as you say it rotted from the inside