shipping tragedy

[daviid]

after waiting weeks I finally got my fuse kit in today. I noticed that there was some damage on the crate but nothing major until i pulled out the brown paper and found that the wind screen and cabin cover are both cracked i did notate the bol that there was some damage to the crate but it didn't look bad. what has the general consensus on this sort of damage been?

[rapid_ascent]

Take a pic of the outside of the crate too if you haven't already. Then contact Vans. I've been lucky on my Wing and Fuselage kits both had some minor crate damage but none of the contents were hurt.

[Auburntsts]

Ouch. I had my wing kit crate damaged in shipment. I noted the crate damage on the driver's paperwork. After I opened the crate I discovered a couple of skins had been creased. I took photos and submitted a claim in the amount for new skins to the carrier (ABF). They paid up quickly and without fuss.

[NYTOM]

When ABF delivered the wing kit to my work place the driver came in and was upset. I went out to inspect the crate and there were two holes completely through the box from a fork truck. I completely unloaded the crate while the driver waited. Unbelievabley the forks had gone between the sheets, and even between the paper so that other than a lot of splinters in the box, I was good to go. You know it's really almost impossible to get that stuff back in the crate. Those packers at Vans are magician's.

[Kyle Boatright]

The good news is that you've got a ton of work to do before you're gonna need those parts. Might take the check from the insurance company and sit on the $$ until you really need the cabin top and windscreen. You'd need a little less storage space that way.

[CharlieWaffles]

The good news is that most of the broken area on the canopy is stuff you would cut off anyway. But hard to tell what other damage there is. Mothership could provide authoritative answer to repair/replace/options.

[rocketman1988]

I didn't have much luck with shipping, either.

On three separate occasions there was damage to the crate/box and damaged parts inside. It started with the empennage kit. Forktruck speared the crate and bent the main spar...

Good news is that every situation was taken care of, either through vans or the shipping company...

[flion]

Fiberglass damage tends to travel. While the area that is visibly broken may get trimmed back, there may be cracking or 'crazing' of the resin around the damage. And, since that is part of the roll-over structure, I would not take chances with it. The nice thing about working with fiberglass is that it is often easy to make minor cosmetic repairs but the downside is that structural repairs are more difficult and painstaking.

[rocketman1988]

I would have them replace it...

[daviid]

Looks like Road Runner will be sending someone to inspect it. Fortunately for me I have cameras on the loading dock and in the warehouse if they want to dispute it.