rmzachar
Well-known member
Well, got the boat last July and have slowly been accumulating things for it over the past 9 months or so and am just now getting ready to start working on it. Finally!
Anyways, with the weather warming up for at least a couple days up here in Michigan, I got started on some work that needed to be done with the trailer. I had to remove the old bunks, rollers, and various other things to get it to where I wanted it to be. I still need to get a cross bunk and bow stop done up, but the bunks are at least now in place. Once I get the bow stop and cross bunk done I'll be carpeting it all.
(All images are clickable thumbnails) Album is here. Every picture I took is in there if you want to look at it.
The motor:
Photos of the trailer when I got it:
Boat sat on that setup horribly, so off came the old bunks and various hardware and in goes the new bunks. Took two 2x4's sealed up with Thompson's Waterseal and then screwed together. These were then countersunk with lag bolts to the trailer frame itself to test the fit and to make sure all my measurements worked out for the boat to sit in between strakes. It does just that and worked like a charm. Now just need to carpet them.
Measuring up:
Attached to frame with boat on:
Where the 2x4 sits in between the strakes:
Forgot to take a picture of the winch arm up front, but plan on doing something similar to what Russ did on his 1236 build like this:
So hopefully the bow stop and cross bunk will get done tomorrow followed by the carpeting. Anyone have any comments on anything else I should do for the trailer? I'm all ears on that one as this is my first go at this.
Once that gets done, I'll actually be getting to move on to working on the boat! It's a Lowe 1436 that I got from Cabela's last year after a tornado came in and scuffed it up a little bit. $300 for it brand new, so I bought it. Along with the boat and trailer, I also have bought a 20hp Mercury from I believe 1975 that runs great. Also bought a 70lb thrust (I know overkill for my boat but got a great deal on it) with iPilot from work (Cabela's, where I've gotten most of this stuff and a discount ). It's a 24V trolling motor, so I plan on putting the two batteries somewhere up front to help with weight distribution. Also got a Lowrance fish finder/gps to put on here too. If possible, I have an old head unit from my car and some speakers that I may or may not put in too. Anyways, still trying to get an idea on what to do with the boat.
The boat overhead view:
Pretty much the only damage from the tornado, what would be the best way to fix this? Just smooth it out then put some duck boat paint over it??
Most likely, I will be doing a combination of aluminum angle with plywood decking. Having a hard time though deciding on if I should cut out the bench seat and do a mod similar to dixie_boysles here :
Or if I should go the route bassboy did with this mod here :
Either way, I still have a little bit of time to decide as the lakes are still iced over for the most part and the weather is going to turn cold again in the next few days. Any input on what route to take with the boat would be appreciated. Thanks a lot!
Anyways, with the weather warming up for at least a couple days up here in Michigan, I got started on some work that needed to be done with the trailer. I had to remove the old bunks, rollers, and various other things to get it to where I wanted it to be. I still need to get a cross bunk and bow stop done up, but the bunks are at least now in place. Once I get the bow stop and cross bunk done I'll be carpeting it all.
(All images are clickable thumbnails) Album is here. Every picture I took is in there if you want to look at it.
The motor:
Photos of the trailer when I got it:
Boat sat on that setup horribly, so off came the old bunks and various hardware and in goes the new bunks. Took two 2x4's sealed up with Thompson's Waterseal and then screwed together. These were then countersunk with lag bolts to the trailer frame itself to test the fit and to make sure all my measurements worked out for the boat to sit in between strakes. It does just that and worked like a charm. Now just need to carpet them.
Measuring up:
Attached to frame with boat on:
Where the 2x4 sits in between the strakes:
Forgot to take a picture of the winch arm up front, but plan on doing something similar to what Russ did on his 1236 build like this:
So hopefully the bow stop and cross bunk will get done tomorrow followed by the carpeting. Anyone have any comments on anything else I should do for the trailer? I'm all ears on that one as this is my first go at this.
Once that gets done, I'll actually be getting to move on to working on the boat! It's a Lowe 1436 that I got from Cabela's last year after a tornado came in and scuffed it up a little bit. $300 for it brand new, so I bought it. Along with the boat and trailer, I also have bought a 20hp Mercury from I believe 1975 that runs great. Also bought a 70lb thrust (I know overkill for my boat but got a great deal on it) with iPilot from work (Cabela's, where I've gotten most of this stuff and a discount ). It's a 24V trolling motor, so I plan on putting the two batteries somewhere up front to help with weight distribution. Also got a Lowrance fish finder/gps to put on here too. If possible, I have an old head unit from my car and some speakers that I may or may not put in too. Anyways, still trying to get an idea on what to do with the boat.
The boat overhead view:
Pretty much the only damage from the tornado, what would be the best way to fix this? Just smooth it out then put some duck boat paint over it??
Most likely, I will be doing a combination of aluminum angle with plywood decking. Having a hard time though deciding on if I should cut out the bench seat and do a mod similar to dixie_boysles here :
Or if I should go the route bassboy did with this mod here :
Either way, I still have a little bit of time to decide as the lakes are still iced over for the most part and the weather is going to turn cold again in the next few days. Any input on what route to take with the boat would be appreciated. Thanks a lot!