Interesting day at the ramp

eeboater

Commander
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Jul 19, 2004
Messages
2,644
We went out on the water yesterday and I had a group of friends as well as my brother. The ramp was a bit busy, and we collectively decided that it would be best if we just loaded into the boat, let my brother back the boat in then I'd just pull away from the ramp and wait for him to return to pick him up at the courtesy dock.

Well, he came running back to the courtesy dock and said that he needed my help.... he his someones trailer.

Of course at that moment about 300 swear words went through my head. I envisioned him smacking into on of those Ranger Boat trailers which appear to be 90% plastic and 10% steel.

I don't want to use the term luckily here, but what he did was cut the corner too sharp and the left fender of my trailer smashed against the right fender of his trailer. It was an smaller, old trailer (mid-late 70's?). When we walked up to the trailer, there was a guy sitting there on the trailer. I struck up an apologetic conversation, only to find out it wasn't his - it was his friends. He then ran and got his buddy.

All that was really done was it collapsed/mangled his fender a bit and wrecked the reflector on the back of the fender. All you needed to do was give the fender a good tug and it would be back in its original condition.

I apologized up and down and he wasn't really that bad about it. He said that a guy took the back of his trailer off last year and drove off without saying anything - so when he came back and saw this he was already on the phone with his wife to get a hold of the cops and was glad to see I wasn't like that last pr*ck. I know that if someone hit my trailer, I would want someone to stick around and man-up to their mistake.

After about 10 minutes of chewing over what to do, I offered to write him a check for $150 and call it a day. My guess is that he'll just take the $150 and pocket it; I would -- the damage to his fender would cost him $50 at the most. He thought that was a fair deal, we wrote the check, took photos with is camera phone (dammit I didn't have my camera), shook hands and went on our way.

I documented as much as I could. The only other step I could have taken is to call the cops in... and I'm sure there will be a lot of debate over whether that was a stupid move NOT to call them in... but I could tell that these three guys (fisherman) had been out fishing and drinking since 5 AM and the last thing they wanted to deal with was a cop.

In the process he told me he paid $500 for his boat and $500 for his trailer... so I just paid for 30% of his trailer --- or a summer's worth of gas for his fishing boat...

So, call me stupid or whatever for not calling the cops in - but I felt that was overkill for the situation and I'm planning that there are still good people in this world.
 

roscoe

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Oct 30, 2002
Messages
21,781
Re: Interesting day at the ramp

All's well that ends well.
 

vipzach

Lieutenant
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Feb 15, 2005
Messages
1,283
Re: Interesting day at the ramp

I agree with roscoe! I probably wouldn't have called the police either, unless the guy was being a jerk or something. You have proff that you paid the man for his repair and pictures to prove, you did not leave the scene. I think you did just fine! Hopefully the rest of the day went better!
 

Ron G

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Apr 28, 2005
Messages
2,905
Re: Interesting day at the ramp

Its all fine in my eyes you talked to him,agreed on a price and paid him.its over even if he comes back theres nothing that can be done because he didnt get a police report.call it a learning experince for your brother.gota watch them corners.BTW been there myselfd:)
 

POINTER94

Vice Admiral
Joined
Oct 12, 2003
Messages
5,031
Re: Interesting day at the ramp

EE,

What to hit my trailer? For 150 I could probably sandblast, paint and replace the lighting. Please let me know when you are ready to smash it. I like cash.8)

Worst off you are out 150. Life will go on for a rich boat owner like yourself:%, but I think he got you in an emotional state to resolve as opposed to making him whole. All in all it probably made your day far more enjoyable by paying and putting it behind you. I would also caution you against loading up the boat with people while launching/retrieving (perhaps I just misunderstood you). One might be ok, but several isn't the best idea. That many people in a small area can lead to accidents. Just food for thought.
 

eeboater

Commander
Joined
Jul 19, 2004
Messages
2,644
Re: Interesting day at the ramp

vipzach said:
Hopefully the rest of the day went better!


Well, it all depends... I don't know how it happened but I feel like I was strapped to a tube on the back of my boat and got the poop beat out of me... :D that may or may not have been intentionally done.

All in all, I think it was worth the $150; even if it would cost less to replace. If I had to jump through tons of hoops, get the cops involved, meet him somewhere to exchange whatever - eh, i'll pay $100 to not have to do that.

In the end, I saw it like bidding on a house --- I bid over what was 'required' and both parties got what they wanted. I wanted it behind me, and the guy effectively got $150 free bucks -- chances are he'll go buy a reflector, give the fender a tug or two, and be $148 richer than he was on Sunday morning when he woke up.
 
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