Trailer refurbish

[jake]

Dan: what solution did you come up with for storing the boat off the trailer?

[Dan K]

Jake,
This wasn't a problem for me, I will keep the boat at my dock for the week or so I need to.

[Dan K]

I finished sandblasting and painting this weekend.
A couple things I have learned;
1 - Sandblasting takes longer than I thought, about 7 hours includind reclaiming and sifting the 200 lbs of sand I purchased.
2- Sand gets everywhere, wear a hood, ear plugs, and good quality respirator.

Painting went fairly well, I painted a coat of chassis saver paint followed by the final coat of white paint. Putting the trailer on its' side was the easiest way to get the bottom done.

Now I need to put new bunks on and install the fenders and lights.

[east tx skier]

You may need to employ a little mechanical advantage if you're replacing the bunk wood to get it to line up on the front angle irons. Once you get it lined up right, bolting it down should give you the twist you need. I also recommend two layers of carpet on the top and inside of the bunk as extra insurance. The boat can score and fuse the carpet causing it to weaken in these locations. I'd suggest carpeting only the top and inside first, then wrapping the entire bunk with the second layer. Also, don't forget the stainless staples. Just a little heads up/FYI

[captkidd]

This has nothing to do with trailer refurb, but is related to sandblasting. I used to work with a guy who insisted on doing everything the hard way. When he got ready to repaint his house he rented a sandblaster to remove the old paint. Apparently the sandblaster sent a pretty good cloud of sand into the air around the house, because so much sand wound up in his neighbor's gutters that the next time it rained the gutters were torn off the house. He repaired the gutters for them, but I think about that story every time I hear someone mention a sandblaster.

[Dan K]

CaptKidd,
I saw them blast a log home near my cottage. They used corn instead of sand. The noise form this operation could be heard for a long ways.
I couldn't help but wonder if they had a huge bird/mouse problem after spraying that much corn around.

[east tx skier]

Just happened to notice that the lock nut on the lag bolt securing my v-block was about 1/3 of the way down the bolt. After tightening it up, I checked the rest, and every lock nut was a little loose (but not as bad as the first). When I secured my bunks, the boat wasn't on the trailer. I'm guessing, the weight of the boat pushed the bunks down a tad and left some more space to be closed on the nut. All tight now. Check your nuts.

[Dan K]

I put nylon lock nuts on all the bunk bolts, hopefully this helps.

[east tx skier]

Mine were all nylon lock nuts new as of April or so. I really think I just never tightened once the boat was in place after replacing the bunks.

[MasterCrafting]

We are getting into the process of grinding the rust off our trailer. We dont really want to do the whole thing now because its not that bad. I've been under the boat with a dremel tool grinding off the rust from the stone chips. Its slow going but i think it will be worth it in the long run.