26X trailer swap

[hart]

Don’t tempt me. This will be my second boat swap. Might be worth it.

[hart]

4 more inches to go...




Yes, my choice of blocking material is questionable at best.

Ended up not using the see saw method as I can look through the cross members. Very Swiss cheese like. Taking a lunch break then back at it.

Edit: random lunch thought. If I deflate the tires on the new trailer a bit I wonder if that gains me anything? The boat itself is actually high enough to clear. It’s the 4x4 posts that aren’t. May have to mess with it.

[hart]

The original trailer was definitely toast. I quartered it using a hack saw.



Time to introduce Wind Song to her new wheels:

[Russ]

Nice work.

[hart]

Nice work.

Thank you sir.

10:15 pm local and the swap was done:




My girlfriend got a better picture:



Lessons learned? I dunno. Too damn late. I have more pictures of the process.maybe I’ll revisit and recap in a day or two.

[Jimmyt]

Well Done! Man, that old trailer was done!! Glad it didn't drop the boat before you decided to make the swap. Looks like you got it hust in time.

[hart]

You aren’t kidding. I knew it was bad. I didn’t know it was THAT bad.

Thanks.

[hart]

Recap.

So my process was to use a floor jack placed on a plywood base to lift the boat. I supported the stern with a 12x8 placed on concrete pavers first. Used angled blocks as wedges to provide more hull support. As it got too high for the jack I’d build a “tower” out of pavers and place plywood on it for the jack.

As I lifted the boat I used another 12x8 where the original trailer had the mid crossbeam along with a mix of 4x4’s and 2x4’s on pavers to support the bow. At one point I had five beams under the boat. Used a mix of scrap bunk carpet and the bunks off the old trailer to create angled wedges for hull support. Probably overkill, but my number one concern was my safety and second was the safety of the boat. And given the fact I was using pavers (not ideal) overkill seemed like a good idea but it did make the process much much longer. I also had 4 jack stands I used to hold the beams in various places as I shifted stuff around.

To me patience was the key. I’d lift about one inch at a time, look and listen to the changes, and then proceed.

Honestly it wasn’t difficult but it was stressful.

End result my geometry is off. The boat is resting comfortably but not using the full bunk boards:




Short term I’m not overly concerned as the boat is sitting on more square footage than it did on the original trailer. But I don’t like it. I worry about warping issues long term.

I’m thinking raising the forward brackets on the stern bunk boards a little should fix that issue.

The bow is also riding a little higher than I thought it would:



And the boat isn’t quite centered on the trailer. It’s almost touching a fender on one side and 6 inches away from the fender on the other. Lesson: check alignment frequently. I got impatient towards the end.



The boat seems a little stern heavy (bouncy on the bow) but I haven’t checked tongue weight yet. Might have to move the winch post forward some and slide the boat up - which combined with adjusting the bunks will probably drop the bow a little more. Easy adjustments. Just need another off day.


There are very few parts on the old trailer worth saving. Might repurpose the safety chains. They got replaced a couple years ago and aren’t even rusty. The old spare tire carrier looks great. Just needs new u bolts and I’ll put it on the new trailer. And the rest is scrap. The rims are shot but the tires look pretty good. Not sure what I could do with them though. Maybe find someone to swap for something.

Cleaned up the yard yesterday after work. But I have all these damn pavers everywhere. Anyone want to come over and stack them up for me?

PS: I bought a new bow stop yesterday because UV ate the old one. And that probably ends my boat restoration for a little while. I’ve got to focus on some house repairs before I can spend anymore boat bucks. So I’ll focus on the stuff I can do for cheap/free next. Like cleaning her. But I’ll move to the repairs/mods section for all of that. I hope maybe someone found this post helpful. I appreciate the comments and advice you guys gave.

[Russ]

Awesome.

The tweaks you mention should work well.

Now you can pull it out on the street and hose it off. I bet some bleach will do wonders. Marykate On & Off cleaner will remove stubborn stuff. Just be careful with that stuff as it's very toxic.

[kurz]

@ Hart:

Could you tell me the dimensions of the wooden bar? It seems to be stron enough even it looks that it could take even more load.

If ever I had to jack up my

5 years ago I used for bottom pain coppercoat. The say it hodls 20 years. So far I am happy and hope it will hold another 15 years... But you never know...

[Starscream]

Looks like the arm holding the bow roller should be moved forward. Looks to be held on by a couple of U-clamps, so should be easy. Then a simple Mac-Bump to bring the boat forward?

[hart]

@ Hart:

Could you tell me the dimensions of the wooden bar? It seems to be stron enough even it looks that it could take even more load.

If ever I had to jack up my

5 years ago I used for bottom pain coppercoat. The say it hodls 20 years. So far I am happy and hope it will hold another 15 years... But you never know...

These? They are the original bunks off the new trailer.



They are roughly 12x6 inches (carpeted so it’s hard to tell for sure). I’m not at home but I think they are 12 feet long. They were plenty strong. I don’t think there was any bend at all from the boat resting on them.

[kurz]

sorry, no not the bunks.

But the wodden bar where the boat sits on when the trailer is away. See here:

[hart]

Oh! That’s a 8 foot long 4x4 post.

[USMSea Hootch]

What model it your Venture trailer?