Heads up: Manning Marine Trailers; closing doors for now...
05-01-2024, 05:49 AM
#11
Registered
Same customer service here. Tried sending them an email to purchase a couple custom items...no response. Called a week ago to get information and part numbers on something. Nice lady answering the phone said someone would call me back in a few minutes...Nope.
05-01-2024, 09:53 AM
#12
They built 3 Aluminum’s for me. Beefy, massive frames, torsion axles, smooth city going down the highway.
Mom and Pop, getting older, Son Matt, running the show, trying to do job of 3 people. Facility not the best, used to be in the stix, now surrounded by brew pubs, more upscale stuff.
One of you hot-shots should buy them out. Find a good building, acquire their knowledge, data base, suppliers, etc. Try to find some quality fabricators, welders.
The orders will come!
Mom and Pop, getting older, Son Matt, running the show, trying to do job of 3 people. Facility not the best, used to be in the stix, now surrounded by brew pubs, more upscale stuff.
One of you hot-shots should buy them out. Find a good building, acquire their knowledge, data base, suppliers, etc. Try to find some quality fabricators, welders.
The orders will come!
There are many reasons a business won't run for 3 generations. If their warehouse area got "hot" and there were better uses for the land that can easily force a sale, retirement is a whole other scenario and contemplating moving to a new location to start over might not be worth the aggravation. A friend was in the autobody business for 40+ years. He marked his calendar June 2023 as his retirement. He had plans to sell the business (auto body license in town is hard to get now), had some offers but no cash backing them up. Sold the building for 1mm (it was tiny, like 2400 sq ft) and retired. The margins were shrinking, the insurance companies were harder to deal with and he was ready to retire. Chip nailed his retirement date and never looked back!
Trailers are essentially a single point sale, maybe a small parts business or repair work if the trailer stays local to the factory. It also seems to either be slow or slammed, based on boat sales. Even if you could make $5,000 net per trailer and build 50 trailers a year consistently (net profit $250,000) I wouldn't want the hassle.
05-01-2024, 10:32 AM
#13
Registered
Have a buddy with a newer Manning trailer, looked good but the amount of flex and bounce was shocking. Tied down the boat was a stressed member of the frame going down the road. Not good. He took one trip with it and was livid, ordered a CTS.
05-01-2024, 01:46 PM
#14
VIP Member
VIP Member
That was probably "Mom" and she put down her grinder to answer the phone; they were the definition of "small family biz" and I believe at one time their trailers were as good as anything available. And they're nice people.
However, the comments Re not returning calls or emails, flexing, questionable quality, etc I can tell you are NOT isolated incidents.
I had them build a large hydraulic lift and a trailer for our 43. The lift was trouble free. The trailer ? Not so much, and after the first attempt to correct the issues failed, they quit trying and also quit returning my calls and emails. They're local - which is why I purchased from them - and I even tried visiting their shop. Somehow, every time I stopped neither Ron nor Matt were available and I was promised a phone call, which never happened. The last time I stopped, "mom" wouldn't even look me in the eye - I'm assuming because she knew I wasn't going to get a call. I remember feeling sorry for her when I left.
I've spoken up for them in the truck and trailer section of OSO in the past, and in their defense in my case I think they got in over their heads on what they were trying to build for me. Our 43 is large, and it's unique - there's only 2 - so it's not like they were building the same trailer they've built 100 times for others. But...I walked in thinking I knew what they wanted and Ron said "No, this is what we should do, etc etc" and since he was the pro, I let him do his thing....flexing is the main (but certainly not the only) issue, and they did try - unsuccessfully - to fix it. I'd say what bothers me the most is I never even got the courtesy of being told "The trailer is commercially acceptable, go away, we're done chasing issues". They just ran away and hid.
I'm not one to air dirty laundry, my problems are my problems, but if they're going away I guess there's no harm in the story being told.
It's never a good thing when a biz goes out, but in this case i can't say the news is a surprise.
d
__________________
There are 2 types of people in this world:
1. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are 2 types of people in this world:
1. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
05-01-2024, 02:26 PM
#15
Registered
I’m sure their like everyone else these days trying to maintain good reliable help that you can depend on to do the work as instructed and maintain the quality reached a breaking point.
My buddy has had the leading metal fabrication shop down here in Naples Florida for 30 years
that does nothing but Perfect work. It doesn’t go out the door if it isn’t because he is a perfectionist and he charges for it .
Every good worker and welder he has had has been a Mexican, and every white boy he has hired would hide from work and whine all the time how much money my buddy was making .
I have always been able to use his shop like it’s my own so got to hear them cry like I was going to agree with them. He is the most easy going and flexible boss you could have long as you did the job you were expected to do. And he always paid over going rate as he was charging over going rate.
So in the last 2 years he got in with a residential engineer that is working with contractors doing these huge additions on these 20-50 million dollar house . The engineers don’t know how to solve problems but my buddy has an eye for all of it and he is valuable because his work is top notch and on time.
So the beginning of the year the rent on his 6000 sq ft building went up again and he lost 2 of his best Mexicans to getting picked up on drivers license violations and deported.
Also as a business owner down here in Florida you now have to send in all your employees information so that they are verified to work in the US. Huge fines if not.
So he packed up the 12’ shear and 40 ton brake and shop and built a shop behind his house and dialed his work down to just the monthly engineer jobs he can have one welder complete.
He will be money ahead not dealing with the stress of too much work and never enough quality help.
My buddy has had the leading metal fabrication shop down here in Naples Florida for 30 years
that does nothing but Perfect work. It doesn’t go out the door if it isn’t because he is a perfectionist and he charges for it .
Every good worker and welder he has had has been a Mexican, and every white boy he has hired would hide from work and whine all the time how much money my buddy was making .
I have always been able to use his shop like it’s my own so got to hear them cry like I was going to agree with them. He is the most easy going and flexible boss you could have long as you did the job you were expected to do. And he always paid over going rate as he was charging over going rate.
So in the last 2 years he got in with a residential engineer that is working with contractors doing these huge additions on these 20-50 million dollar house . The engineers don’t know how to solve problems but my buddy has an eye for all of it and he is valuable because his work is top notch and on time.
So the beginning of the year the rent on his 6000 sq ft building went up again and he lost 2 of his best Mexicans to getting picked up on drivers license violations and deported.
Also as a business owner down here in Florida you now have to send in all your employees information so that they are verified to work in the US. Huge fines if not.
So he packed up the 12’ shear and 40 ton brake and shop and built a shop behind his house and dialed his work down to just the monthly engineer jobs he can have one welder complete.
He will be money ahead not dealing with the stress of too much work and never enough quality help.
Last edited by tommymonza; 05-01-2024 at 02:33 PM.
The following users liked this post:
Indy (05-01-2024)
05-01-2024, 06:14 PM
#16
Registered
If anybody on here has the owners contact info, or could even pass this on for me, I have a friend who may be interested in purchasing the equipment/knowledge.
I will try and reach out to the listed number on Google, but based on replys here i dont have high hopes of getting through to them that way..
I will try and reach out to the listed number on Google, but based on replys here i dont have high hopes of getting through to them that way..
Last edited by Ryanw10; 05-01-2024 at 08:24 PM.
05-02-2024, 06:04 AM
#18
Registered
try FB, they were on there replying to messages yesterday
If anybody on here has the owners contact info, or could even pass this on for me, I have a friend who may be interested in purchasing the equipment/knowledge.
I will try and reach out to the listed number on Google, but based on replys here i dont have high hopes of getting through to them that way..
I will try and reach out to the listed number on Google, but based on replys here i dont have high hopes of getting through to them that way..
05-02-2024, 07:05 AM
#19
Registered
I left a message on Facebook and a voicemail. I would like to know if purchasing is even an option, or that someone will actually be at the location before I make the drive out.
05-02-2024, 08:50 AM
#20
Registered
Just got a vantage trailer for 35' boat good price good trailer diamond marine
