Trailer Saga Continues

Ok so we talked about the trailer some before but it's been consuming a lot of time lately and is getting close to done so I thought I'd share some more.  Here's where we left off last time:

Trailer bought on Craigslist: $350
New Axles to replace rusty ones: $880
New wheels after finding out the old ones didn't work w/ the new axles: $375
Total Cost: $1605

After getting all that put together, Ryan was ready to try to get the boat loaded onto it.  So he drove the boat through the creek to a nearby park with a boat ramp and I drove his truck and the trailer there (I was a little nervous since i'd never driven his truck or the trailer but it was fine).

We weren't sure exactly how far we'd have to back the truck in or how easily the boat would pull up on it.  But we took a guess and Ryan started driving the boat up onto the trailer.  Unfortunately, we couldn't pull the boat all the way onto the trailer - it looked like the bunks were in the right spot but the front of the boat wasn't going to clear the winch and post.  Ryan tried to do some adjusting of the winch location while we were at the dock but it was getting dark pretty quickly.  Eventually we agreed he would have to do some work on it at home and come back the next day.

Friday night after work we tried again but we were still having a hard time and there were a bunch of people trying to come in and out.  The downside of the park we went to is that there's only one spot for boats/trailers to go in or out so we couldn't just sit there and tinker.  When someone pulled up, Ryan would quickly back the boat out of the way and tie to the dock and I would pull the truck up and off the ramp and drive around to let the other people through.  It worked fine Thursday night but Friday night it became clear that there were going to be way too many people coming and going to keep doing that.  So yet again, he drove the boat home and i drove the truck and trailer home and we agreed to try again on Saturday.

In addition, Ryan decided to remove a couple of supports that were on the trailer and replace them with rollers to help the boat glide on a bit better.  He picked up two rollers and some silicone to lube up the bunks and help the trailer slide on better:

Rollers & Spray: $50
New Total: $1655

Then Saturday around lunch time, we tried again.  With the new adjustments, we were able to get the boat up onto the trailer.  It still looked like it needed to come forward a bit and was hanging kind of far of the bunks but it was safe and stable so we decided to drive it home so Ryan could tinker with it some more in the driveway instead.  Here's how it looked when we pulled it out of the water:

The roller at the front looked like it was getting pretty squished which we weren't too happy about.  And it was also pretty far from the anchor point where you hook the chain - normally that point comes right up to the roller nice and snug.

Looking under the boat it looked pretty good, the boat was resting entirely on the bunks and not even touching the back roller and it looks like the weight is distributed evenly.  It also worked out nicely that the bunks didn't interfere with the stiffeners on the bottom of the boat.

Here you can see what i was saying about how far the boat hangs off the back of the bunks.

From the back of the boat, it's nice and centered but it's really hard to see the lights and license plate unless you squat down real low.  And boy-oh-boy is the back of the boat dirty.  The jet dock keeps most of the boat out of the water but there is that small area that still sits in the water where algae and barnacles can grow on it.

After our inspections, we drove it home so Ryan could try and make a few more adjustments.  Since not very much of the weight was on the actual roller and winch, he was able to adjust the position of the winch while the boat was on the trailer.  After he got it adjusted, the roller and anchor point look much better.  See how now the roller isn't smashed and the anchor point is pulled right up against the roller?  Much better.  Good thing he lubed up those bunks with silicone - he was able to just crank the boat those last 6" even though it was on the trailer and not in the water.

After the adjustments, Ryan wanted to see how much the tongue weight was to make sure we weren't overloading his truck's suspension.  It may be a little ghetto but it worked pretty well - we just set a board on an old bathroom scale and then lowered the trailer jack until there was no weight on the truck hitch.  It looked like it was around 300lb so it should be pretty good.

Once he was satisfied with how the boat was sitting on the trailer, it was time to go buy some fenders for the trailer tires.  Otherwise any rocks or anything that got kicked up would hit the boat, yikes!  So off we went to spend some more money at Northern Tool to buy new fenders.

And of course he had to buy some bolts and nuts for mounting them, some extrusion to cut into mounting brackets and some paint to protect the fenders.

New Fenders: $85
Paint, Bolts, Mounting Supplies: $100
New Total: $1840

After all those errands, it was time for some cleaning!  Ryan spent most of the rest of the evening getting the boat cleaned up.  He used some Barkeeper's Friend, a pressure washer and plenty of elbow grease...

Wowzers that's a pretty boat!  He sure did do a good job :)  Now all we need to do is take it to the dealer to get its first oil change along with some minor warranty work done.  Hopefully they'll be able to get all that done in time for our scalloping trip so the boat is all prepped and ready for our week of boating fun!