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Boat Resting on Trailer
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As near as I can tell, this is the original trailer that came with the boat in 1989. It's made of painted square steel tubing. The fenders were BADLY rusted and have been cut off. When they were removed, they revealed rusted holes in the trailer.
I'm afraid it'll be very difficult to inspect and work on the trailer with the boat on it, so the first step is to remove it!
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My future father in law lives on a spring fed river about an hour from Tampa, and offered to let me leave my boat in the water at his dock while the trailer work is being done.
I happily accepted and made plans to tow it up there. I also planned to have the welding work done up there too, since it's more rural than Tampa, and therefore has better prices on those types of services.
On the way up there, I learned the hard way that trailers NEED NEED NEED bearing buddies. Flying bearings, a bunch of slinging grease and a LOT of sparks and smoke later, we managed to get it up to the river.
This picture shows the wheel...that's grease all over the hub, and yes, no bearings in there now. :(
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Bearings worse than I thought
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Finally in the river
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After the wheel hub cooled, we put the boat in at a ramp a little down river from the house and motored up to the dock. A nice natural river ride was just what I needed to calm down after the towing fiasco.
This picture shows the boat sitting at the dock in pure Florida springwater...totally clean and 72 degrees year round!!
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As much as I hate to just leave the boat in the water...I think the fresh water will do it a lot of good. I only run her in Saltwater (Tampa Bay), and while I always flush the engine when we get home, I'm sure there's still plenty of buildup in there.
After parking her at the river, I just let the engine idle for an hour or so to really flush it out...how often do you get a limitless supply of springwater to clean your engine with?
These are also good shots of the new interior projects recently finished...upholstery, floor, nautolex, bedliner, gunnels, seats, etc. :)
None of these shots are very clear...It seems that digital cameras DON'T benefit from being flushed out with springwater...this camera had an unplanned bath at the ramp...still worked once it dried, but the images just aren't quite right.
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Much needed flushing
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The trailer
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Here's a shot of the trailer. You can see a little of the rust in this picture.
We have received numerous requests and a good bit of search engine traffic specifically looking for information on trailer preparation and maintenance. As such, we have decided to feature a new Trailer project.
Look for the new trailer project soon!
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