Working Vacation

The week following the visit by my Dad and Brother, I had the week off of work. With a spring in my step, I got a lot of work done. I continued where we left off on the trailer by first attacking that nasty leaf spring. I got it completely taken apart, clip removed, and the eye bushing pressed out. Removing the old spring eye bushing could be a blog all it's own. I wire brushed them down, removing all the rust, and tapered the tops of the lower leafs just a bit to help them slide a little easier. Then primed with Rust-oleum Rust Converter (just in case) and finished with some hammered bronze. Why hammered bronze, Alan? Because I think it looks cool. And it's my trailer. So bugger off.

In between coats of paint, I started back in on the cabin. I got the rest of the bulkhead removed, and gutted the cabin. Everything came out. The sink and toilet cover are in great shape and just need a little plywood underneath for some strength, sanded and painted. The most mold I found was in the seat next to the sink. There must have been a water leak at the window. I left the would strip in for now that holds the wrap around fiberglass shelf. I think I will replace it, as it is really swelled up and I don't think screws will hold in it again. But I want to wait to pull that until I have some plywood (and a scroll saw) to replace it. And I got the port side slider window frame removed. Only broke one screw. I haven't slowed down enough yet to see what that will take to repair. What is apparent, is the damage at the cabin bulkhead area. The bend in the hull is noticeable. I thought, after a brief discussion online, that I could perhaps save the stringers. Maybe cut then away from the hull in the high spots, and glass them back in after getting it all straight. I think now, the best option is to cut them out and start over. Sorry, Skagit lovers. But the hull is too far out. It looks like that bulkhead is a pretty important part of the shape of it. I need to somehow get a straight support under the hull, then push it down from the inside with a new bulkhead. Then install the new stringers. Or something like that. I haven't gotten that far yet.

The cool discovery for the week was finding the fresh water tank key for the fill plug! I could probably find something that would work, but It's really nice to have found the original.

I've made several shopping trips this week. One to West Marine for odds and ends to start playing with the epoxy, and one to a recycler up north that sells scrap steel by the pound. I found enough material to fabricate the spring hangers, install the cross members, and lengthen the tongue. I fabricated the spring hangers from 2-1/2 square tube, 3/16 wall. The holes took a little while to figure out. The old hangers were banged up enough it was hard getting a good measurement. I later decided for strength (and better weld area) to plate the inside of the hanger on each side with some 1/8" plate. This still leaves room for the spring, and gives me the entire width of the cross member to weld to. I have some galvanized u-bolts on order. After they arrive, I will cut out one u-bolt at a time at the cross members. All the steel will get cleaned, primed, and painted. Then replace the u-bolt with the new galvanized one. I'll get as far to the right side as I can, then repeat the entire spring removal and overhaul on that side.

This week promises 50+ hours at work for me, starting at 12:30AM, so I'm not likely to get any work done. Before I can do much, I need to clean up the garage, once again. Building a solar heater for the pool has left a big mess, and the dead Honda in the garage is taking what work space I had. I did get a good lead on a 100HP Johnson outboard, and I need to take advantage of this soon. I better get that car out of the garage. For the outboard, I have to take the boat and trailer that comes with it. Anyone want a boat?

A Little Help Goes A Long Way

So my Dad and my Brother (who is an English teacher and will, I'm sure, take exception to my capitalization and punctuation....) came over this weekend from Spokane. They showed up early Saturday morning. Dad wanted a work shirt right away!

The Old Man did not agree with my condemnation of the trailer. He whacked at it with a hammer. He scraped at it with a screwdriver. He said that, apart from the rotten roller frames, it was a healthy looking trailer. I trust what he thinks, and before I knew it, he and my Brother had the fenders off and were taking apart the left spring! Many of the bolts had to be cut off (no surprise there....) but it all came apart relatively easily. We also got the rest of the bow weight off the trailer and cut the remaining rollers out.

I got a keel guide roller installed on the tongue, as low as possible. This will serve as the starting point for bunk height on the trailer. We also proved we can easily jack the trailer up and move it around under the boat to get the trailer setup perfect. Dad had a really good idea of adding additional cross members under the trailer frame, for installing bunks and keel rollers. We followed this idea to the end and it appears that I can easily install four bunks, and keel rollers, to completely support the boat, by just adding two cross members.

This was a very productive weekend. A few diversions along the way and, as I suspected, ample time sitting in a lawn chair in the garage drinking beer, talking about the boat. I think as valuable as the work they got done, was seeing the trailer is worth saving. Even more valuable than that, was sharing some of this with my Dad and Brother. Their excitement for the boat has peaked my determination again for getting some serious work done. For too long, I go out, look at it, and decide it's just too much work to start right now. I guess they see the same potential in her as I do. Whatever the reason, my new spirit has kept me going for several weeks now. I now find myself looking forlornly at bodies of water as I drive past; I have to get out there!

I doubt I could express, in words to make it clear, just how much I enjoyed the company of my Dad and my Brother. If this blog is never read, at least it serves me to recall my fond memories of boyhood, working on the car or truck with my Dad, or any of many misadventures with my Brother; tinkering, camping, fishing, and the like. They are welcome anytime to stare at the boat with a cold beer or Mike's lemonade. And wouldn't my Dad be surprised to learn, that I still hold on to the memory of helping to change the oil in that old Volvo station wagon. Thanks, guys.

The Trailer

No new pictures. I don't want anyone to see how messy I've let the garage get.

It's been a while since I've been able to work on the boat. I realized I couldn't do much else until I got it sitting flat on the trailer. My work schedule through the holidays gave way to Michelle's recovery after surgery. No time, no money. But life slowly gets back to normal, and I have the itch to see this boat in the water.

The stringers at the cabin bulkhead are clearly damaged. I built some small sawhorses and have the boat sitting on them. The aft rollers have been removed from the trailer. The forward rollers will be removed soon.

I now have real doubts that this trailer is safe to tow, much less put in the water again. I had planned on removing the rollers and converting it to a bunk trailer. It sits a little high for that, and I would have to lengthen the tongue. After looking at the rotten frame, and the roller assembly I took out folding in half when I loaded it in the truck to take to the dump (pretty heavy pipe, about 1-3/4", thick wall - was very concerned when it folded and broke with no effort), I am now convinced this trailer is done. I may take the axle and make a utility trailer from it. The rest will be cut up and sold for scrap.

With the boat sitting solid on stands, I started poking at the cabin bulkhead. I took half of it out. It was never tied to the stringers (closing off the cabin compartment) which I'm guessing weakened the structure. Now there is nothing to do but move ahead and start removing the cabin.

The cabin is in really pretty nice shape. Just needs paint. I need to remove everything so I can get under the deck and sniff around for moisture. It looks dry at first glance, but it sat in the weather for a really long time.

My Dad and Brother are coming over next weekend to work on the trailer. I think I'm going to write off the trailer as a loss, so maybe we can get some real work done on the boat? I suspect we may not get a lot done besides "talking" about doing something to it.....

I will get my piles of junk cleaned up from around the trailer and take some pictures soon.