Whaler Resto - pt xvii - trailer okey doke

After reading this post,

you're gonna think my iphone

Is glued to my hand,

and I'm constantly sifting through craigslist,

day and night.

Well it may seem like that,

but really it's all about timing,

as well as extremely coincidental luck.

More importantly it's fun to write about.

If I wrote every time I used the toilet,

you'd think I sat on the pot all day!

A couple weeks ago this ad popped up.

See how it was posted for 2 hrs already?

That means I didn't have time to scour yet!

The first thing to catch my eye,

besides the cheap price,

was a 70 HP johnson outboard,

and a galvanized trailer with a folding hitch.

Hmmm...

I diverted my morning to check out this gem,

and drove up to a typical hack tweaker boat,

ditched by an ex-boyfriend.

The seized engine helped to lower the price,

after which I realized the trailer jack was busted.

Super fun levering the waterlogged hull

onto the hitch.

The whole boat reeked of misplaced money.

A stainless prop on a sadly dead outboard,

mounted on a trick CMC trim/tilt unit...

...bolted to the craziest transom repair

I've ever seen.

The 200lb engine was bobbling 

the whole drive home.

They probably spent $100 on aluminum,

3M 5200, bolts and beer.

This made it easy to strip the carcass 

of anything of value.

Tight steering, smooth controls...

...gauges, a good battery, 9 gallon tank!

We call this plunder obtanium.

A few parts will upgrade the whaler,

a few parts will make it more than free!

The big score was the galvanized trailer,

even with galvanized rims.

We had fixed up our original trailer 

with a new hitch, fenders, winch, tires, bearings...

But it was never set up correctly.

The whaler wouldn't float off without a heave,

cause the bunks were triple stacked 2x4's,

needed to avoid the flat crossbars,

that have been scratching the keel.

The other issue was the hubs

would not fit bearing buddies,

and I knew the new bearings weren't going to last.

I was prepared to cave in and buy new channel,

and build angled crosspieces to weld in.

Instead Jaxon learned how to back up a trailer,

and we did an intricate trailer dance,

which I had sketched out the night before.

I think this made the kids more confused!

We did go for a very short cruise...

Over the Thanksgiving break,

the poor bass boat graced the neighborhood,

lowering the property values for a few days.

Nobody wanted a free metal flake 1977 Elite hull,

with a $200 trailer.

Darn.

One evening I matched up the adjustable bunks

to the whaler bottom.

Typically I'd cut and weld brackets.

This was just moving rusty u-bolts,

of course to the 34 watt bulb...

A few hours later,

the new trailer was a bitchin fit.

Hard to tell from the first top pic,

but now the hull is below the tire,

which is also a 14' not a 15'.

This should make it much easier to launch.

The folding hitch is probably made 

for garage storage,

while also making it more difficult to steal.

Over the weekend the Johnson 70 left,

and so did the bass boat.

My idea of making a brick hauling trailer dashed,

in trade much needed space around the yard.

Hopefully George will send pics 

of the finished boat.

All in all we scored big time!

TP