Holy Contamination Batman!

[neb]

How would you feel if you bought a used RIB from a dealership that was selling the boat on behalf of a customer.

A fitted cover was provided in the cost.

You spent 2 weeks cleaning up the rib and then fitted the cover only to find the cover was contaminated with a chemical that turned your tubes from white into patchy orange that won't come off?

Your thoughts please.

[Lostboy]

Not happy. Regardless of who they were selling it for the transaction was with them and I would be looking to them (the dealer) to sort it out!

[neb]

Latest responses from the dealer:

Talked to the previous owner at length last week, he said he has no idea what it could be, the cover was on all winter, he took it off when he towed it to our yard ,we didn't fit the cover, it stayed rolled up in the aft of the rib where you found it. we were just the agent for the previous owner, we charged him £150 commission to cover the advertising cost . he isn't prepared to offer any compensation. so not much I can do. I can forward a bottle of ribshine which is a strong rib cleaner, it normally works very well.

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I refused this offer of free Ribshine and got this response from the dealer:
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I guess you had better get some advice then and start proceedings.
Look forward to hearing from you.

[Nos4r2]

That makes them brokers for a private sale not dealers regarding the sale of your rib and makes the transation a private sale. It's a bit naughty not telling you that though-I wonder if you've got some form of redress because they didn't say?
Does it say anywhere on your paperwork from them that it was a brokered private sale?

[neb]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Does it say anywhere on your paperwork from them that it was a brokered private sale?

Nope, just gave me a reciept for the debit card transaction.

[Tim M]

Have u got any idea what the orange stuff is? Are you able to post a photo of the affected area....

[neb]

Originally Posted by Tim M

Have u got any idea what the orange stuff is? Are you able to post a photo of the affected area....

This is the inside of the cover after cleaning.

I'll post a pic of the tubes as soon as I get my boat back from having the outboard serviced.

[jwalker]

Could it be that your cleaning product left a solvent which reacted with the cover's pigment?

[neb]

Originally Posted by jwalker

Could it be that your cleaning product left a solvent which reacted with the cover's pigment?

No, the stuff on the cover has marks from trainers/boots where it has been trodden over , looks like a body filler or similar. I guess someone has used the cover as a dust sheet. Its tacky like bluetac, but cream in colour as shown.

[wavecrosschris]

Have you left the boat to air in direct sunlight? - the UV from the sun may bleach it out?

When I got mine I was convinced (like you after 2 weeks cleaning) that after I had put the cover on and then removed it a day or so later that something had made the dark blue wear patches on the tubes go white in stain shapes - I left the cover off for a day and the sun dried it out and it has now gone - turns out when the cover collects water in a certain point it impregnates through into the rubber wear pads and turns them an odd colour

Maybe you could try Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber care (I use it on my rib and it does remove quite tough stains and adds a UV protective layer that prevents faid to the tubes) - it has cleaning agents in it - not sure what to do if it is a chemical reaction mark though...Maybe try ringing Autoglym - They have an in-house Lab which tests reactions on a whole range of materials and what effect their products have on them. They would be able to tell you what the contamination is if you could supply them with a sample...their number is 01462 677766. (my dad had a odd pink stain all over his boat covers once, and it even got on our rib on the back of the boat - Autoglym told us what it was and what to remove it with - turns out it was a fungus - nothing we tried would remove it!

If it is permanantley marked though and they (the dealer) won't even offer a partial refund (they should have valeted the rib and covers if they are a half reputable dealer) then I would proceed in trying to recover some of your loss - and then name and shame the dealer on here.