Boat called Hard Knox lives up to its name in four-car crash

Shon Letford's boat and trailer went hurtling down the road after a car crashed into him and his towbar snapped in half. Photo / Waikato Police

Shon Letford had just emerged from a 45-minute crawl in traffic, when he found himself in the centre of a four-car crash causing his boat and trailer to break free and crash into a bank.

The Te Awamutu man was heading west along SH25a towards Kopu on Saturday about 2.30pm when a white Toyota Altezza suddenly crossed the centre line, crashing into him.

His wife Lauren woke to hear him shout "F***en hold on" as she saw a white car heading at speed towards his Toyota Hilux.

The Altezza slammed into a car in front of it, which in turn hit another car, before skidding out of control and into Letford's ute and boat on the other side of the road.

The Letfords were on their way home to Te Awamutu after holidaying in Whitianga and had been heading up the hill past the turn-off for Whangamata.

"I just saw a car with a boat on indicate to come out of the slow vehicle lane and then a couple of cars stopped. Then this white car hit the back of that and then just shot across the road," Letford said.

"He hit the front of my ute and I just turned really sharp which didn't do any damage to the front of my ute, and then hit me in the driver's door, and then crunched the back of the ute and then the boat pretty much went straight over the top of it.

"His car went underneath the trailer and it ripped my towbar in half. Half the towbar was on the boat trailer and half the towbar was still on my ute."

Letford stopped and checked in his rear-view mirror to check on his two-and-a-half-year-old son Knox who was still sound asleep and spotted his 6.1m Scorpion aluminium boat about 30m down the road.

He then jumped out of the car to thinking he had really hurt the other young driver whose car had landed in the middle of the road, but said he was already being helped by other motorists and had only sustained a few cuts and scratches.

"He was pretty shaken up. But he was alright, he wasn't hurt."

Letford said a car towing a boat indicated out of the slow lane and then suddenly three cars stopped in a hurry and at least two of them - a Subaru and Altezza - slammed into each other.

Letford was told by another motorist who had been following him that his boat had left the trailer and landed back on the trailer before hitting the bank.

The building company owner went to survey the damage of his boat called Hard Knox, named after his son Knox, yesterday in Thames where it was towed to and said it was most likely a write-off.

Both sides of the boat caved in from being hit by the bank or the car and there was a large hole at the front from hitting the trailer.

"The trailer is just a mangled mess. Both the wheels have folded down to the back of the boat."

Waikato Police posted on its Facebook page that the car hit another vehicle which in turn slammed into the one in front of it before losing control and skidding across the centre line hitting the ute towing a boat.

"The sheer force of the impact ripped the towbar off the 4WD and the boat on the trailer came free and rolled down the road before stopping in a ditch."

Police said there were no serious injuries and all the people involved were lucky to be alive. Police are still investigating.

"Don't be distracted while driving, pay attention to your surroundings and other road users and check your speed," the post said.