Hey it’s Spring , warm and I’m busy…
A couple years back I bought a “sea slipper” tri- hull boat. And it’s a heavy beast.. It came with us on our move to Drumheller … and now it needs a trailer.
Cool hull design.. Should be very stable.
In very good shape. It was a rental boat at a popular fishing lake near Vernon. It made the trip here on one of my trailers that I picked up also a few years back.
That’s all good …but the boat is upside down.. I need a proper boat trailer not a flat deck. Solution ! build one by modifying the flat deck frame.
When I got the trailer it looked like this.. I took the sides off and below is what it looks like now..
Has new 12 ” wheels , the lights work.. BUT I will be making some changes! And that’s what I got up to today.. First I ripped the deck off and tossed it. then I parked it on stands in front of the garage so I have access to tools.
And this is what we have.. Too much metal ! Nothing a zip cut can’t fix. I only need the middle part.
There ! I believe I removed 100 lbs of steel. don’t need it . Now I’m planning how to extend the tongue an extra 2 ft out front. As well I would like to keep the tilt feature. So I moved the hinge point for the tilt 24 inches forward. this was the way to extend the tongue so that the boat would not be too close to the hitch and keep the tilt.
You can see where it was over the axle.. A good place for tilt balance… But a boat trailer works different. I’m re- using some the the channel steel from the extra pieces to add a vee nose out front.
This brings the saddle for the tilt lock pin closer to where you can reach it. I’m having problems with my welder … It’s not hot enough to really penetrate the thicker steel.. So I’ll be bolting everything. A bit of extra work but I don’t want trouble later. In fact it did not hold at all. So I will have to think of a way to bolt these two parts together.
And here’s something to fix.. The angle pieces must be different lengths.. Cause things are not meeting in the middle. I measure from the hubs to the hitch from both sides. This is how you get a trailer that tracks straight.. I will fix this.
Here’s some more bolts for extra insurance. This is one of two places that take the weight of the pull going down the road. I’m have to say that’s important ! Yup it’s important. So at this point I want to put the boat on the trailer and fit the bunks and the winch stand.
Yup it’s a good fit.. Now I need to do some fitting .. I started with the bunks.. Easy to make. Three foot 2 x 4 covered with boat carpeting.
And large angle brackets too. Getting the right height was tricky. I’ll mount them after painting. Then I need a winch mount .. Lot’s of work getting this right. And finding metal that would work.
But I got it.. ! Sturdy and the winch strap passes through straight to the bow fitting. Now to re work the tilt lock so only bolts are used.