Paint on Trailer cracking

[mmandley]

I noticed this the other day and sent some Pics to AWS to see if Boatmate will warrenty it. I have notices on the steps on the back of the trailer where the guide poles go in.

The welds that hold these steps to the trailer frame, the pain is cracked all the way down and also where my fenders bolt up. The paint has air under it at the welds and is cracking soon to chip away and be bare metal.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I hope Boatmate warrenty's my paint and fixes it since i just got it 6 months ago.

Id post pics but im at work.

[gus 08 mobius lsv]

so far boatmate has been great to deal with but i noticed it too the paint job on my trailer is terrible i coulda done just as good with a spray can! i got my boat in july and its an 08 model and the the paint is already pitted in some places on the square tubing. it is under a one year warranty so i'd think that include the surface not being preped right as well

[mmandley]

I hope so man. I sent the pictures off and havnt herd anything. Going to call Monday see what the word is. I told i wasnt in a rush they could keep it as long as they liked when i winterize it hee hee.

[gus 08 mobius lsv]

who is aws that u sent the pics to?

[newty]

Oh yea aws will fix it no question.
If its a factory defect they will take care of it. My buddy had a small area of paint flake off the axle and they fixed it a year and a half after the fact.

[mmandley]

who is aws that u sent the pics to?

Sent the Pics to Matt V the service manager at AWS. I figure hes pretty busy comming to the end of the season. I not so worried about getting it fixed right now, as much as knowing it will be fixed lol.

Newty

I agree i have no doubt AWS will set me up, they havnt let me down at all.

[gus 08 mobius lsv]

hey mike can i have the number or email of them? i need to discuss my problem with them as well
thanks

[jester]

Mike, I have had an issue with some rust and chipping at the tung of the trailer. AWS gave me some touch up paint but around the safety chain connection is is really starting to flake off. I have not talked to AWS yet but will once they are not as busy in a month or so.

[mmandley]

hey mike can i have the number or email of them? i need to discuss my problem with them as well
thanks

Yes when i get home ill get you all the details you need man.

Jester, they didnt offer me any touch up opaint as of yet.

Bad news so fare is Boatmate doesnt want to cover the cracking. AWS is working it out with them right now. I guess the 1 year warrenty on the trailer is a case by case basis or more towards mechanical now cosmetic. I'll keep yall posted.

[mmandley]

I'm soo very disappointed in AWS and Boat Mate at the moment.

First of all Boat Mate isn't going to warranty my trailer pain cracks at all. They said unless it start to peal in large sections there's nothing they will do.

The one year warranty isn't for Paint.

Second AWS offered to help me get some touch up paint. Not that Boat Mate or AWS will supply it. Only help locate it. Basically they will desifer the sticker and tell me what color code it is and then i can go to a paint store and buy it myself.

I was asked if i was winterizing it or if they were and basically told its better off and cheaper if they winterize it. That way when the 100hr service is due they will give me a discount on that service by not charging me a De Winterization.

As for winterizing they did say they dont Fog the engines anymore. They use a different coating spray now because foging has led to fuel injector issues.

And there's a new type of fuel Stabilizer they use and its supposed to be some kick ass stuff and they are recommending it be used after 10 to 15 fill ups.

I think what im most disappointed about is the Paint on my trailer. I posted a few pics here. At least i thought Boat Mate or AWS would supply the touch up paint. Hell even the car dealer gives me free touch up paint for my truck.

[moombadaze]

just went out and checked my trailer in the same spots as your photos, i can feel bubbles along that rail:mad:

[KT Mobius]

I just checked my trailer also, same bubbles but no cracking yet. This is a problem!!!

[mmandley]

This stinks - Having done a fair bit of body and paint work I would suspect the cause is poor prep work prior to the initial coating on the trailer - this is typical with production lines - no attention to detail, couple that with the environment that your trailers get exposed to and any flaws will get revealed PDQ. shouldn't happen to an 08. have any of you recieved a quote from a body and paint place? that would help frame the issue for boatmate - I e-mailed boatmate on a couple of minor issues, they were pretty silent with me unless it was safety related then they responded very quickly. I would get a quote and mail to boatmate. far as AWS goes - my dealings have been pretty square - no gripes, my vote is that they should take the lead and leverage thier position with both SC and Boatmate. I bet Warren would advocate on your behalf - I would recommend you guys call him - he hangs with all those folks and its his reputation, if you guys aren't happy then he's got an issue. my 2 cents

I have been thinking of talking to Matt Radich the sales manager and Warren next time I see him. Me and Warren have chatted several times, realy cool meeting the owner. I seriously doubt Mat V has the time to fight for this, he was in contact with them fir me and that's the out come. I'm not done with this deal yet I was just off the phone with AWS and very upset at the outcome. I am still very loyal to AWS and my dealings have been excellent thus fare. I won't let this incident change that because this is Boat Mate causing the problem more then AWS.

I would like to get Boat Mates email or number and have them send me some documentation on exactly what the 1 year warrenty really covers.

[cab13367]

Mike,

I have all the paperwork that came with my boat so below is the one page warranty that came with mine. Yours is probably similar if not identical. I don't see anything in there about cosmetics or paint not being covered, but it does say that rust is not covered. It also says that you have to send the trailer to them at your expense. Nice.

I told you this when we met but I'll repeat it for the benefit of the forum. Immediately after buying my boat (as in a few days after), I towed it from Colorado to Oregon in the middle of winter. The trailer paint took a beating especially thru some of the mountain passes where they had put gravel on the road to help with winter traction. Well, when I finally arrived in Oregon, the trailer looked like it had been sandblasted. It had literally thousands of rock chips on the cross members and anything that was facing forward.

I called the dealer immediately who referred me to boatmate. I found out that our trailer is not clearcoated and that of all the trailers that boatmate provides to boat manufacturers, only one of them specs clearcoating on the trailer (a smaller bass boat company).

Anyway, the guy at boatmate I talked to was Owen Shelton:

Owen E Shelton
BoatMate Trailers, Inc.
1713 Henry G Lane Street
Maryville, TN 37801
(T) 865-273-1100
(F) 865-273-1101
www.boatmatetrailers.com
[email protected]

He was very sympathetic but told me that there is no warranty for road rash on any trailers which is pretty much what i expected to hear. He did offer to have Dupont ship to me a gallon of epoxy primer and a gallon of Centauri 5000 urethane Navy paint, enough to completely repaint my trailer. He had these sent to me free of charge but did tell me that the retail on the two items was about $400-$500. I of course would have to pay for the labor to have it repainted. The paint and primer are still on a shelf in my garage.

I think they were more generous in my case because I had literally just bought the boat and had not even put it in the water yet. But I can't believe that they are not willing to send you some touch up paint to make a customer happy.

This was in early 2007 so I don't know if Owen is still there but it's worth a shot.

Good luck.

Al

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg276/cab13367/Boat%20Pics/TrailerWarranty.jpg

[Razzman]

Ok so let me say this to everyone, this is not Boatmates nor SC's problem. This is physics, plain and simple. You take steel, paint it up nice and pretty and then go and dunk it in water dozens of times and let it sit wet until it dries. What does everyone expect? That is why they won't do anything because it starts the minute you put it in the water the first time.

Every painted trailer i've had or seen does this and it doesn't matter who makes it. If the mfgrs wanted to avoid this then every trailer would be a galvanized I-beam but it'll never happen because consumers want nice and pretty painted box trailers. Can't have your cake and eat it too. Anywhere something moves like guide poles, chains, swing tongue is going to wear through twice as fast if not more.

I try and wax the trailer a couple times a year and touch up when necessary, it's all you can do.

[mmandley]

Thanks Al. Ill give them a call. I mean if they would at least supply a bottle of touch paint id be a bit happier. I really would, i understand the pain issue and as Razz stated the environment we put it threw.

One thing im not happy about is i got a custom trailer to match my boat. I opted for a tandem trailer and its a 1200 upgrade. Is it realy that much for 1 more axle and a longer fender? Its an upgrade, id think they would offer more to help in this situation.

I was impressed to see my pin stripes are hand painted on. So i guess i assumed they would care more about the quality of paint job done.

Anyhow i don't want to beat a dead horse so ill drop it here. I will contact Boat Mate myself and see if they will help directly at all.


Razz. What you say makes perfect since, and i have to agree to your points. Doesn't make me happy though.

[cab13367]

With all due respect, I don't completely agree with razz. If they really wanted to, they could finish the trailer so that it would stand up to to the elements better. For example, my car sees a lot more water in the form of rain up here in the northwest than my boat trailer does over the course of a year. Yet the paint on my car is not bubbling.

It boils down to economics. Sure they can prep and paint a trailer to the same level as a car's paint job and it would stand up to the elements just as well (of course, I am excluding any salt water use here) but it would cost a lot more and most people wouldn't want to pay for it so the boat manufacturers don't order them that way because consumers are more focused on the boat and not so much the trailer.

The fact that only one boat manufacturer orders their trailers with clearcoat on the paint shows that the boat manufacturers are not willing to invest a whole lot in the trailer paint job.

Mike,

I think the double axle trailer upgrade also includes the disc brakes, doesn't it? It does still seem pretty steep though.

[Razzman]

You hit it right on the head there Al, economics. For them to prep and paint a trailer to auto standards would add a lot to the bottom line and the boat mfgrs won't pay that.

But also remember that until recently a trailer wasn't considered something you blinged out as an object of desire. It took the wakeboat crowd and their obsession with everything matching to achieve that over the last five years or so.

Here in California you won't see a single axle trailer on boats of these caliber. The only single axles i've seen for years is on aluminum boats and small I/O's. In fact trailers are all disc now that i've seen.

[KT Mobius]

What is interesting is my trailer is bubbling in the exact same place as Mikes trailer. Its just a matter of time before it starts to crack. Seems to me it could be from the flex of the trailer, becouse the buuble is directly over the weld.