Dink is too heavy, dealer gave wrong weight.

[CSY Man]

Bought a Mercury Hypalon 310 Airdeck a few months ago as the dealer promised the weight was 80 lbs, not the 103 listed on Mercury's web page.

The boats boxed weight is 87lbs. We have informed Mercury of the weights being wrong on their website and they are working on changing it. The boat does weigh 80lbs.

Thanks

Based on that I ordered the dink.
Guess what, it is really heavy and too much to lift on and off the foredeck.
Called the factory today and they confirmed 103 lbs.
Called the dealer and he says no, he got the weight from the factory so it must be right.

Now what?
Small claims court? Trash the dealer all over the internet?
(Asked him for a refund of all money, shipping both ways plus sales tax and registration fees, etc, etc., but have not heard back.)

What would you do...?

(Besides towing the darn thing all the time.)

[Microship]

Can you use a spinnaker halyard with 2-part purchase to do the hoisting? Even 87 would be hard on the back if you had to haul it over the lines...

Cheers,
Steve

[Vasco]

Why would 20pounds make that much difference to you. When I used to haul my dink on the foredeck I used a halyard to haul it aboard. No problem

[SkiprJohn]

Seek satisfaction through written correspondence with a copy to a local well known attorney (of your choice) first.

[CSY Man]

Why would 20pounds make that much difference to you. When I used to haul my dink on the foredeck I used a halyard to haul it aboard. No problem

Well, 23 lbs over is too much, as the max weight I decided I could handle before I bought the dink was 80 lbs.

That again was based on the weight of the old dink, 63 lbs. It was fairly easy to haul onboard and I figured I could go another 20 lbs or so, not 40 lbs.

Yes, I could get it aboard with a halyard, but I still need to wrestle the dink on the foredeck to turn it around. That is a bit tougher for a husband/wife team if it is blowing a bit and the dink is 100+ lbs..
(It has to be up-side down due to the deck layout with the inner forestay etc.)


The other side problem is being lied to...Sort of ticks me off...

[Vasco]

CSY Man,

I used to haul it up using the bow rings only. Haul it right up vertically, swing it around on to the foredeck and lower gently. It'll fall down, upside down right against the mast and clear the inner forestay. No wrestling. I understand the problem of being lied to, tell the story to all your friends so that they don't buy from that vendor but it's not really worth the hassle. Life's too short and litigating a dispute like this is just not worth it.

[svHyLyte]

Twenty pounds doesn't sound like much by it's 25% of the projected weight of the boat and it would make handling it much more difficult from the foredeck. If the dealer represented that the boat weighed 80 lbs and it weighs substantially more, you should be able to return it.

Frankly, I'd take calibrated bathroom scale out to the boat and simply weigh the dinghy in both its deflated and inflated condition, to compare. (Take a snapshot of the scale!) Having wrestled a Zodiac 310 aboard, I can attest that its a chore that an extra 20 lbs would really complicate.

Cheers,

s/v HyLyte

[hellosailor]

CSY-
May one assume you verified the actual weight with something like a handy Fedex or UPS baggage counter scale? (I weighed my dog that way once, the agent said "How much does that weigh?" And I said, gee, my scale doesn't go that high but it looks like yours would.<G>)

The dealer has expressly represented and warranteed the dink not to weight more then 80 pounds. It's his problem if it does. If you want a lighter dink, remind him, there are state and federal laws covering these things, and he can either take it in stock, or pay for both of your lawyers AND THEN take it back into stock.

And if you like the dink anyway but it won't work without lifting tackle...be a nice guy and tell him, if he'll supply the lifting tackle to your spec--you might accept that too.

No reason to blow your back out because someone else can't read a scale.

[slomotion]

Hmmmm

Looks like this is explained by the difference between the hypalon and the PVC version.
Per the Defender web site:

Air Floor 10' 2" Hypalon Item # : 453906 Mercury 310-Airdeck White 2006 Length 10' 2", Hypalon, 103 Lbs Manufacturer: MERCURY Model Number: 310 Airdeck Reg. Price: $1549.00 Sale Price: $1399.00

AND

Air Floor 10' 2" PVC Item # : 454284 Mercury 310 Airdeck White 2007 Length 10' 2", PVC, 87 Lbs Manufacturer: MERCURY Model Number: 310 Airdeck PVC Reg. Price: $1453.00 Sale Price: $1221.00

Probably, this was an honest mistake and there should be some face saving way to work things out. Ask for free dinghy davits.

[CSY Man]

Okay guys, all good advice.

I am still pondering the next step: Legal action is certainly an option if nothing gets resolved the "face saving" way.

Also thought of the "money for davits" angle, but my boat is not really ready for davits on the stern, it is already quite busy back there.



I have a few pics of the dink on the foredeck as we took it for a Bahamas cruise a few weeks ago.
2 of my gorilla friends helped to load it and turn it around. but even for us it was heavy and a clumsy dance up there on the foreddeck.
We never lowered the dink to try it out, it just stayed on the boat...

Before we left I had cut a gate in the life lines on the foredeck to make it easier to load and un-load, (Stanchions are 5'6" apart, the beam of the dink is 5', perfect), the next step is to install some kind of a roller on the teak coaming so it would slide even easier.

As for the pics of the dink on the deck, I am not smart enough to post them here as one of my crew e-mailed me the pictures and I don't have a clue how to store to file, then upload to the Cruiser Forum Photo Gallery, then post of this here page as we speak.

If one you clever guys have a few minuttes, could I e-mail a picture or two, then have you post it on the next page on this thread...?

[CSY Man]

Boat with old 63 lbs Avon dink on the foredeck..The new dink is 1 foot longer and 40 lbs heavier.

[Vasco]

If you just clip the spinnaker halyard on the bridle you can haul the dink right over the lifelines very easily. Just push it off the side of the boat, doesn't take much effort, when it's over the lifelines it'll swing to the center of the boat, then just lower it. No need for a gate or rollers. I did this for years until I broke down and got davits. Just saw the pic, the dink'll sit very nicely transom up against the mast.

[CSY Man]

If you just clip the spinnaker halyard on the bridle you can haul the dink right over the lifelines very easily. Just push it off the side of the boat, doesn't take much effort, when it's over the lifelines it'll swing to the center of the boat, then just lower it. No need for a gate or rollers. I did this for years until I broke down and got davits. Just saw the pic, the dink'll sit very nicely transom up against the mast.

Yes, the halyard is an option, but I would be able to avoid all that with a dink that weighs in at the advertised weight.
I have been spoiled in the past with a light weight dink: We just flipp it over the side and one person could pull it back onboard.
Unfortunately it got one leak too many and it was tired enough to deserve a proper burial..I thought of getting the same kind and weight, but it was rather slow and not very stable...With anchors and dinks one should get the biggest one can possible fit, but this porky-pig was not asked for...

That being aid, it is a beatiful dink, big and stable and I would enjoy buzzing around with it...If it was 23 lbs lighter.
(The same could be said for ones wife or girlfriend too, but I ain't...If my wife read this I would be dead as a door-nail right now...)

[slomotion]

Sweet looking boat. Don’t know how strong that arch is, but it looks like a pretty good start for davit supports. I know that doesn’t really address your problem, but wait ........ sure it does. All you have to do is spend more money!

Before I went cruising I lived with the dink-on-the-deck for years. No problem, but it was a pretty crappy dink. For cruising we wanted a good hard bottom dinghy (Avon - and yeah, it was heavy), big enough for two+ people and some stuff - like a week's shopping, and a motor capable of planing the whole rig. We lasted about two weeks with the "unload the dinghy, disconnect the motor, hoist the motor, haul the dinghy, maneuver the dinghy, lash the dinghy - and do it fast because there are squalls coming" thing. We got davits - and I won’t leave home again without them. All the alternatives inevitably result in the dinghy being left in the water when it shouldn’t be - usually upside down with the motor under water or gone altogether.

Of course if you get davits, you really ought to get a cover for the dinghy and ........ well, all you have to do is spend some more money!

[hellosailor]

Instead of a roller on the coaming--maybe capping it off with a piece of 1/2-round Delrin or similar "slippery dense plastic" would be good enough to make the dink slide right on in, with no moving parts needed?