swimmin' for shore
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2004
- Messages
- 490
Yesterday, I cheated the marina out of a trailer. There was a lady down there, and she said something about boat bumpers, and I made a suggestion. <br />Long story short, she just paid about 4 times too much for a maxum that's in rough shape, and there was some rust on the trailer under her "beautiful" new boat. She'd come down to have them put a 2400 dollar trailer under it, and I asked what she was doing with the old trailer(hadn't looked at the trailer yet). She told me that the marina was charging her 95 bucks to switch the boat from trailer to trailer, and she was trading in the old trailer in exchange for labor. I've seen what trailers for 20' boats cost, and 95 bucks is CHEAP. I asked if I could take a look, and we headed out to the parking lot. Well, she's getting ripped off even more than she did on the boat. She has a single axle trailer, on 14 inch wheels. I prefer double axles, but this is still a really heavy duty trailer, built in 92. There's some surface rust, with just a little bit of flaking in one or two places but that's about the extent of it. I figured that the trailer was worth 600 to 800 bucks or so, and a good bit more than that with a fresh paint job. So she asked if I thought she was getting ripped off, and I told her the truth. Then she asked how I felt about selling it for her, on consignment, and how much I'd want. <br />Anyway, it's settled. I pick up her trailer tomorrow, after she has it switched to the new trailer. I get 50% of whatever I sell it for. <br />The question is this. Do I restore the trailer to new and try to get 1000 to 1200 for it, or do I just change out the old steel bolts to stainless, grease the bearings, and sell it as it is for about 800? I already have some epoxy primer and paint for an aluminum boat I've been putzing with so the cost to me isn't a lot. I just thought I'd get the opinions of some of you who've been through the work of stripping down a trailer and repainting. <br />To be clear, I don't have a sand blaster. I do have a heavy duty 15.0 amp 7 1/2" wire wheel, though. I've stripped with these before, and it's turned out to be fast. Any experience you guys can add will be appreciated, as always.
