NEW Backrests, half painted, scratched and UGLY!

Problem solved!
I got a check today for my scratched up backrests for $135. Not exactly half of the cost, like some people get, but at least I can get them professionally re-painted for that. Must be nice to get half your money back, how'd You do that anyway?

I did get a chance to look at the instructions for the assembly of my trailer and now I know why it wasn't put together right the first time. It WAS NOT my dealers fault. My trailer is a Carnai and although it's plenty sturdy and does the job well the instructions are nothing less than a HUGE JOKE. I've never seen worse instructions anywhere. There were a few left over parts too. Hobie is an awesome company and I love their products. They just need to step up and find good companies for their trailers and backrests. Companies that care, like Hobie does.

(A suggestion for Hobie: Every part that's not made by Hobie should be double checked BY Hobie BEFORE being shipped out, and please don't take the word of your vendors as truth). And if You haven't seen it for yourself don't assume it's correct!

Not to throw stones but mmiller said, "Wave back rests are bubble wrapped and padded when shipped from here." I wonder where mmiller was when mine were shipped from there? Was he standing right there? If he was he could have seen the 6 inch square of bubble wrap that was used to pad my backrests. That's all the padding I got. Looked like the end of the roll, must have ran out and figured that was enough. Other than that all I got was a thick brown paper and a lot of tape "protecting" my new backrests. No wonder they were scratched up and ugly. Maybe mmiller could unwrap and inspect every backrest that ships from Hobie so he knows for himself? Maybe take a photo or two as proof?

So, the fact that my trailer wasn't put together very well the first time was NOT the fault of my dealer, it was due to very poor instructions from Carnai, and extra parts from Carnai, talk about confusing. And my backrests being scratched and ugly wasn't my dealers fault either. It was a poorly picked company packing them and Hobie taking their word that they were packed correctly. I'm not the only one on this board that received scratched backrests so I think that speaks for itself. Who knows how many others received scratched up backrests that didn't post here.

Plus I have to give my dealer a break on the locktite too. Come to find out my Wave was a store display, an 08, that had been in the dealership for some time. No wonder he didn't remember the locktite. No problem, now they have locktite and I double check everything before hitting the ocean. That was a good lesson in keeping safe for me.

A huge Thank You to everyone that posted replies! Thank You for the great advice. If I ever have another problem I know where to go, right here. I don't expect any more problems though. The Hobie Wave is built to take it all. I Love it! My wife loves it! My kids love it! My 12 year old can sail it all by herself. It's the perfect sailboat for us.

Can we unpack and inspect every item delivered by a vendor? Sorry, but simply impossible. Especially with trailers.

Note: We have discontinued doing business with Carnai for reasons similar to this post.

flyahull - I can't explain for certain how your back rests became separated from the original packaging as delivered by our metal shop. I have never seen one packaged in a way that they would beat each other up during shipping. I can attest to seeing many, many sets properly packaged. This is a VERY odd shaped item to ship and can certainly get damaged in a variety of ways. This is also one of the biggest problems with black anodized products. Scratches do occur during production, shipping and use... and they show more easily than on a clear anodized part. This likely has more to do with some consolidated shipping of the materials to Hawaii. These may have been unpacked by the shipper in an attempt to better fit them in their container.

What ever the reason... sorry for the hassle.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Interesting post. Most important take away for me is to check the rig before each sail now. Had not thought about that. Thanks.

MP

I purchased backrests a couple of years ago and also complained about the amount of protective packaging used. There was way too much! It took me 10 minutes just to get the backrests out from all the bubble wrap, paper and tape. I guess I won't complain so much next time.