Whabamp II - Whaler Resto Pt 2

There are certain projects 

which fight tooth and nail at every step.

Typically these are mine,

expected with cheap deals.

That may be the reasoning to name boats and hot rods,

as they sap part of my soul!

Many things could have brought me to this point,

stuck for a couple minutes on the freeway.

I'll let you figure out where this could have gone wrong.

It's earned the nickname Whabamp now.

This 1970 Whaler obviously had issues,

and that included the trailer.

I was warned of flat tires,

but who would have known the lugs were stripped!

Notice that this is a welded up front axle.

Usually I'll find any excuse to pull out the grinder.

This wasn't that time.

No special lunch with the wife...

just her wondering,

"You enjoy doing this stuff?"

I borrowed a rattly grinder with a well used cutting disc,

and after activating my tinnitis,

realized it was a lost cause.

I'd have to make the 90 mile trip again.

Oh well...

Thanks Hana for scrambling for us!!

Back at home,

the lug nuts were cut off with proper grinding equipment.

No amount of hammering helped.

The studs were cut flush,

and slowly drilled out.

Of course in the process of cleaning,

the bearings disintegrated on the bench.

Holey Chit...

No problem,

At least we weren't stuck on the side of the freeway!

Now who in the heck designs this number font!

I had to ask the kids for their eyesight,

and we resorted to the phone camera enlarging trick,

after getting 3 different numbers.

Salt water and bearings definitely don't mix!

With the help of the internet,

these were a one year only 1968 international carryall or RWD truck.

Sweet.

It took a week to get them shipped,

faster and cheaper online then from the store(s),

although Oreilly's did a slam dunk on the lug measurements.

There's a quick way to ruin the bearing race by hammering with a punch or large socket.

Here's an easy way to make an exact press tool,

and another excuse to get out the grinder.

Make sure to go big side in,

cause it will get stuck,

and it's easier to have a lip to tap on.

Next up were the tires,

the easy part right?

I had newish trailer tires with the wrong lug pattern.

It took a trip to the tire shop to realize the originals were a mismatched 14" and 15".

Holey Chit!!

$20 for a tire swap wasn't gonna turn into $160 for new wheels.

Everyone online says to not redrill your rims,

but who are these keyboard know-it-alls.

One of my specialties is machine-shop tolerances,

using the most primitive tools.

That scribe was probably from the Jolly Roger.

It helped having the actual hubs for measuring.

I really only gambled 33%,

as two rims were drilled,

and an unneeded ford spare was brought as a backup.

I was half expecting the trailer to be convulsing like a kids pull toy.

Nope!

Smooth sailing all the way...

To San Clemente at least.

I've had trailer mishaps before,

and have learned the hard way to keep speed low,

however I've never had the trailer come off the hitch!

Holey Chit!!!

Glad that chain held!

Fortunately I was on a slow part of the freeway,

up a grade with good woop-de-doos.

I had safety tied the boat to the trailer,

but relied on the forward contraption to hold the bow down.

That winch setup was a recipe for failure,

the line angles are all wrong.

The sun bleached secondary strap snapped,

and the old 60's fork and ball trailer hitch was doomed.

All the more fun without a trailer jack!

As you can see the hitch bracketry was quickly discarded,

and I'll be swapping in this cool Bulldog style hitch ASAP.

Safely home,

I couldn't wait to get the grinder out.

Part of me knew it was going to get ugly,

and the quicker I could slog through this step the better.

The first pass was a bit sketchy.

The hack fiberglasser wasn't as skilled in preparation,

and the ugly FG bandaids peeled off of the unground paint.

That's what usually happens.

It's easy and clean to lay the fiberglass up,

but nasty to fair it down smooth,

especially when using laminating resin which stays sticky.

I'm sure you're thinking,

"wow that cleaned up quick!"

Paint and go right?

Yeah right.

During the brief inspection part before buying,

I brought the trusty plastic mallet,

and tapped the hull listening for voids or delaminations.

The bottom sounded ok,

but there was something fishy in the rails.

Holey Chit!!!!

This boat definitely had a history!

A half hour of pointy hammer tapping uncovered the weak spots.

Who knows what could have happened since 1970.

Was it another trailer accident,

or just bad boating?

The previous work was so poor,

with questionable materials,

most of this was obvious to a degree.

Maybe not this degree!

I'm crossing my fingers as the bottom and sides are smooth,

and if the same guy repaired the whole boat

then the important underwater part looks strong!

Hopefully the weekend is sunny,

as I'm ready to fix this stuff!

This is my goal...

TP