TOPIC: 1965 Ajax tilt trailer

Waterwings wrote:

It's getting closer but still taking a lot longer than I thought.

And what project doesn't? I always estimate how long it's going to take and double it... I'm still usually off

Looking great, though. That trailer will be around a lot longer than any of us!!

-Andrew

John,
Thanks, great stuff, not cheap but hard as a rock when dry Put one the hi build primer today so i can top coat it. That was pretty reasonable and I don't have to do anything the POR 15, just brush it on and i can sand it smooth for a nice surface to paint the Rustoleum on.

Andrew,
Yeah one of these days I'll estimate correctly...............yeah right!!!!!! Thanks I'm hoping it will last to go to my future grand kids!!!! LOL

Bob

OK, so it's been a little while since I posted and gotten any work done actually. Two weeks of 12 hour days and throught the weekend didn't help any! Too stinkin' tired to get out to the garage. So I had to play catch up.

Here's the trailer and all the parts with the primer over the POR 15.




I was also busy cleaning up the rollers. Here's what they look like after soaking in Dawn and water for an hour while I did other stuff.

Scrubbed them and then hit them with a rag and Acetone. Came out pretty good, almost like new.

I needed new roller axles too so I got some steel from Lowe's and put the lathe to work.


Presto new roller axles.

Now some POR 15 so they don't rust.

Along with the cap nuts of course.

Now for some inserts for the rollers to replace the rusted metal inserts. these were all I could come up with in the area. No one had any nylon round stock I could use. The schedule 40 pipe was going to be too big inside, the rollers probably wouldn't roll on the shafts.

For got one very important thing though...Acrylic has a low melting point!!!! It didn't like being drilled out to over 1/2".

You can kind of tell from the picture. I did get one made but it took about an hour and a half! Well back to the laptop and google. Found some 3/4" nylon that will work so that's coming this week I hope.
I also managed to get the wheel jack taken apart, cleaned painted and put back together.

Still need to hit that rust on the bottom of the shaft though.

I also managed to start sanding the brush marks out of the primer. It goes on thick but doesn't flow very much so I have to sand it to get the marks out. Here's a shot of the axle.


It did sand down to the POR 15 but I think I'm just going to leave it and spray it. Don't know if I really want to put another coat on just to sand again then paint. I guess it depends on how anal I want to get with this thing! It's keeping me from being on the water!!!!!!

Well I guess that's all for now. I'm hoping to have it ready for painting next weekend, wish me luck

Bob

Looks like you're getting "caught up" in good order there Bob, great attention to detail. Hang in there bud, you'll be bolting her back together before you know it!

PS - Sorry they didn't work out, but those are cool toilet plungers!

wow bob,you sure are moving along,are there any cool tools you dont have,lol,i sure like them.
fantastic work buddy!!,john

Here's a bright side Bob, if anyone gives you any crap about the work you will never have a stopped up toilet.
Cal

Thanks Mark, slow and steady wins the race, so they say. Slow and steady just means longer till I'm back n the water!!!!

John, thank you, the lathe is just one of the many toys I inherited from my dad when he passed. Finally have the full woodworking shop I was slowly try to build. The lathe was a bonus. It belonged to my grandfather also, just like the boat.

Cal, thanks too funny. They're going back by the way. I've got some High Density Polyethylene HDP on order,should be here in plenty of time to put back together.

I got more of the main frame wet sanded after work. Still have about 2/3 of it t go. Then the fenders and other parts.

Bob

Well spent all day yesterday wet sanding the primer. Finally got to spray the first coat today.




Put my longest pipe clamp (36") between two ladders for these paint job




While all that was drying I started working on the leaf spring ublt brakets. Seems I didn't pay close enough attention to the original u bolts. The new ones I ordered were for a 2 3/8" axle but were 1/2". Seems the old ones were 7/16" DOH!!!!!!!!! Didn't figure it our until after i POR 15'd them. Looked on the internet again to see if 7/16" were available, no real luck so I decided to make the holes a little bigger/extended for 1/2".


Now for some POR 15 inside the holes I just made and some primer on the ubolts and they'll be ready for paint. Still have to sand the first coat to prep for the second coat. Might be able to shoot before next weekend, we'll see.

Bob

Thanks a lot Bob!! I just came in from sanding down and spray painting my trailer with Krylon flat black. I'm feeling pretty good about taking a little extra time to touch it up before flipping the boat back on to it. I sat an admired it for awhile, even had the neighbor come take a look (to make sure it pasted inspection).

Then I read this thread on you'r trailer. My,--- I am really feeling a little.........how do you say it.........

Oh yeah!

---

LAZY & CHEAP!!!!

I spent two hours sanding and ten buck on spray paint thinking I'm doing a good job. After seeing your's I am about ready to take the torch out and cut it up before anyone else see's it.

Man, you are doing one fine job. Keep up the great work. We need some one on here to show us how we should be doing it.

Lord knows that's not my lazy butt.

Geeeeesh Bob, Are you sure you want to put a boat on it when your done much less back it in the water. Make the rest of look like rank amatures with our rattle cans of Krylon.

Something about garage door tracks just make us want to hang painty things on them, they are the best drying racks available.
Super job!
Cal

Nice job on the trailer. I don't think your gonna want to get it wet after all the work you have done. I have learned one thing about useing the door tracks for hanging painted
stuff from. Allways hang on the outside of track and unplug door opener so that the wife can not open door when she gets home from work with her remote door opener.Ohyea, also remember to wipe the dust off of the tops of the tracks. Skip.

Gee thanks guys. Not sure I deserve all that praise. right now I'm thinking it's going to look great from 10 feet! LOL We'll see once I get a few more coats on. Still learning to work with this gun.

Yep the garage door rails sure do come in handy for drying and it isn't always the wife who hooks you up when opening the door. I'm embarrassed to say I did it to myself!!!!!!!!!! Made sure everything was hooked from the outside of the rails but they hung over a little too far. Caught it before it did any damage though, thank god it was already dry!

Got everything wet sanded for the next coat. Maybe tomorrow after work, we'll have to see how much time I have once i get home.

Bob

Bob, Littlefin sorta nailed it on the other thread, all trailers are equal when the're under water. It's sitting in the parking lot next to one of those bass boat fiberglass sparkly paint thingies that will make it stand out. Don't fail us now and let the paint drip. We're countin' on you.
Cal

Thanks Cal. I'm tryin'. LOL Got a second coat on most everything today. No new pics, look at the last batch and think whiter! Well I guess I really do need some reading glasses now. Looking at the quart of paint I noticed I got the semi-gloss vice the gloss, DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I ran out of paint anyway so I'm thinking I'm just going to get the Rustoleum Professional in gloss white and that should finish it out. I'm thinking three coats should be enough since I have the two coats of POR 15 and primer on it.

The reason I went to this extent was two fold. 1) I'm having to launch this boat in brackish water in the Potomac and Patuxent rivers and I wanted to make sure it doesn't rust again. 2) I wanted to make sure this level of restoration doesn't have to happen again, at least until maybe the grand kids own it!

Bob

Bob,

Please don't put that trailer in any ole-dirty water until you get some pictures of it all shiny and new looking first. Even then I still couldn't bring my self to do it.

I would put together an old beater trailer to use most of the time, and save that beauty for the shows. No shame in protecting a classic trailer from more harm.

Just a thought.

Yeah I wish I could get away with that but moeny spent on another trailer is moeny that could be spent on restoring the '53 Century woodie so..... Besides I wasn't really looking to make this a show/museum piece, just didn't want it to rust anymore and still look good.

These coats were with the regular Rustoleum Professional Gloss White. Ran out fot he MArine and figureed aw screw it, the regular should be just fine for a trailer and it's cheaper! I'm all about cheap also!

Put the second and third coat on stuff today. Second/third on the trailer main.

Third on the rest of the hardware and suspension parts.



The nylon rod came in also but I'm going to wait and work on it this weekend when the other coat on the main is drying.


The main section has two coats on the horizontal parts and three on the vertical. I have to flip it and get it's secong coat on the underside horizontals. Well I think it's the second, heck I can't remember anymore now!!

Bob

Pretty easy to start losing track of the coats. Who counts after the 7th or 8th? The nylon should work out a lot better on your lathe. That stuff turns easy and true.
Cal

Lookin' great Bob. With all the excellent prep work, POR 15, Rustoleum (even the regular) that thing wouldn't dare rust! Just about time to see if you can remember how to put the jig saw puzzle back together.

Cal,
Thanks, turned two of them today after putting another coat on the main section and main beam. Turned real nice!

Mark,
Thanks, yeah I've been thinking about that. I took pics, I just hope it was enough! LOL

Bob

Ok, so I've been remiss in keeping you up to date. It's not that I haven;t been working on the trailer it's just i've been working long hours at work AND working on the trailer. Painting is complete and the assembly has begun.

Here are some pics of the roller inserts being fabricated and
installed.


Complete ready for insertion

Complete


Now time to put them with there mounts. Completed.

Now time to get the axle/leaf spring etc mounted.

Oh yeah new Monroe Sensa-trac shocks too. Had to fine a 5/8" to 1/2" bushing to go in the lower eyelet. The originals were 5/8" and 1/2" eyelets and Monroe didn't have any like that. Lowes' had bronze sleeves that worked perfect.

Time to put the font and back keel rollers on and determine how hight they really need to be. Since this is technically a tilt trailer the keel kept hitting the tilt mechanism and chipping the gelcoat. Adjusted it up some this time. Used the new treated 2"x4"x8' and my trusty plywood cutting fence and improvised a keel to make sure it didn't hit the mechanism anymore. Installed the first and last one then made the rest fit against the new "jig".

Keel rollers complete.



Would liked to have gotten more done today but had to do the daughters brakes and the lawn. Also hot a blazes here todat. 95ish without the heat index. Heat index was around 105 I think. I think I lost a good couple of pounds sweating!!!!!!! Lots of breaks too, just too darn hot. Was nicer when I lived in Pensacola, could go fall into the pool and then keep going. Boy I miss that.......oh well back to the grind tomorrow hopefuly. Suppose to be just as hot as today.

Bob

Bob, you're a man of many talents. Those inserts are probably better than factory. Great job! Taking the time to snap pictures during the process can be a pain sometime but it sure is nice reference for the rest of us.
Cal

Thanks Cal. I'm trying. Probably could have taken more on assembly but I got so excited to finally get her together, I just cranked away!

Bob

Well was back at it and got a few more things on but forgot to take pics. Here's what I got accomplished today after work.

New 22 guage upholstery stapler with 3 packs of stainless steel staples. Not really impressed with this stapler. Have to double shoot some times to get a staple out and that's at about 65 psi. I think the spring in the slide is too weak. It was $89 for the staples and the gun. Gun came with oil and hose nipple. Suppose to be industrial type. I may have to find a heavier spring to put in it and see what happens.



Here are the new bunks with paint and with carpet.

Bow short bunks painted.

Bow short bunks carpeted.


Just have to poke new holes in the carpet where the long bolts go through.

Here's the hub bearings getting greased.


Used that $6 dollar bearing greaser that you see everywhere. Works ok I guess. Ithink it got more grease around the outsdei than it did down through the inside but I made sure I spun and packed a little by hand once out. Here it is installed.


Hope to install the hubs tomorrow. Have to take a little 320 around where the back seal is going to ride to smooth it out and get all the old gunk of that's caked on. Used Acetone but some wouldn't come off and I want to make sure it's perfectly clean so there's no excuse for any grease to come out and fly all over the place like the old ones. I know a little anal but just want to make sure. Also hope to put the bunks on and wheels. Once the wheels are on I can adjust the fenders so they look more appropriate instead of an after thought. The old fit was kind of high. I want to bring them down some, which measn I'll have to drill a new hone in the front mount and a new hole through the trailer side. Then some POR 15 for good measure. If I'm lucky I may just have the boat back on her tomorrow so I can tweak the bunk and roller settings.

Still need to clean up the winch and figure out how to attach the new strap since I don't want to use 3/8" nylon rope like what was on it. Brakes down after time and stretches. I figured I could use the new 2' wide strap but have to figure out how to put a bolt through it and the sides of the winch without hitting any gears and crank mechanism. The original is set up to use a rope put through the side spool and locked down with a pinch block. Looks like there's a 3/8" hole through one side of the spool, maybe I can drill straight through the other end of the spool and use a carriage bolt with the square ground/cut round on the lathe so it will sit flat against the side and not interfere with anything. We'll see.

I'll be back at tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

Bob

It will all be worth it when your done.

Its coming along just fine.

littlefin wrote:

It will all be worth it when your done.Its coming along just fine.

X2!

Coming down to the details now, go Bob go!

I've got one of those bearing packers too, they do make a mess. (I just use the extra grease inside the hubs before placing the bearings in there.)

Hope everyone is having or had a good fourth. I spent the whole day working on the trailer, wife had to work half the day anyway. I did get quite a bit more done. I got the winch mast on the other day but forgot pics. Also got the guide rollers on too.
One bolt was too short and had to get another one. Finished that today. That's why it's missing in the pic.


Hubs got installed today.

The bunks went on today also. Before:

After:



Also checked the new placement of the fenders.


Fenders are off now getting POR 15 put in the new holes in the fenders and the trailer. The enw lights are put togther and the enw hles are drilled and por 15'd also. Hopefully tomorrow I'll install the lights and wiring and install the winch. I think I need to paint the winch sicne it's actually Bronze in color and won't go well with the tan and white I don't think. I may wait and do that later so I can get the boat back on and in the water quickly. I can always remover the winch and paint it later. Still have to make that hole and carriage bolt to attach the winch strap.

It's getting much closer there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I still have to drain the lower unit and replace the lube on the Fat Fifty, as well as prep the tanks for new gas. I think there still some old stuff in there that needs to be pumped out and stored for the stump burning!

Bob

holy wow,batman,you sure do a fantastic job,great attention to detail buddy,i wish i had that kind of patience,john

Bob, I suppose by now you have the boat on the trailer. Looks like she wrapping up quick. Waiting for the final photo of the combo.
Looking good.

Cal

Thanks guys. Well here's what I got done Thursday and Saturday.

Decided the winch color wasn't going to work and looked terrible with Tan sooooo.... Took it apart and came up with an idea for the bolt and new strap.



Now time to paint the parts.




Time for re-assembly






Mounted the new lights too.



Also being the anal engineer that I am, not only did I repaint the winch after tearing it apart, I also wanted to make sure the trailer wiring clips didn't sut so I POR 15'd them and painted them. Had to blast some of the old ones since there wasn't enough new ones for my taste.


Drum roll please.................................



The baby back on her cradle so to speak.


I do still have a couple of things to tweak, like repainting the hardware in spotts now that it's tightened down, new bearing buddies for the hubs vice dust covers with grease fittings. I also have to put on two new eyes to attach the transom clips that Rick Love hooked me up with. Other than that, it's de-winterize the Fat Fifty and get this baby back in the water!!!!!!!!!!! I'll repaint the Jubilee cover later. I guess I'll have to get the paint from Canada sicne I can't seem t find the right color codes to have it mixed.

Bob

Well you have done a great job on the trailer and it looks great sitting under that fine looking boat. Just one little question, is that a scratch on the side back by the guide? Any ways have fun with it and get the boat in the water now. Skip.

Well done Bob. Great inspiring thread for everyone also.

X3 Great job Bob, and thanks for sharing the process with us.

That looks real nice. And the best part is now you get to use it.

Thanks guys! Got the stainless steel eyes to hook the transom brackets too, today. It was my 30th wedding anniversary today so I'll put them on tomorrow and takes some more pics. I have to show Rick how good they look.

Bob

Well she's done and I have to give a shout out to BhamRick for helping me out with the transom brackets.



They work GREAT!! Thanks again buddy!!!!!!!

Now to get her back in the water. Yeah I know the antifouling paint doesn't look to good but when she's in the water you don't see it and I'm not in the mood to try ans strip it off at the time. I just want to BOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At some point I may see what it looks like after wet sanding it. If I decide to strip it, not sure what I'm going to use since I dont' want to affect the fiberglass and the Acetone and cellophane trick isn't any cheaper than stripper here, maybe $2-$3 per gallon only. Not really worth the difference in wait time for a few bucks. I guess I'll have to do some research and see. Anyone know of q fairly cheap stripper that won't hurt the glass underneath?

I guess that's a good winter project. I think the next project is probably redo the garage so it can really function as a woodworking shop and get started on the Century. Wifes been bugging me as to when we're getting back on the water and when am I starting on the Century. Sheesh, what a slave driver!!!!!!!!!! Of course that's on top of all the yard work I have to get caught up on. Still haven't finished pulling that stump from the hurrucane from last year!

Bob

Anyone know of a fairly cheap stripper that won't hurt the glass underneath?

It's called "CitriStrip" at HD, orange jug, about $14 a gallon around here. Enjoy the boat for now Bob, you've earned it!

Thanks Mark,I'll check it out. Definitely want to enjoy the boat for a while first!

Bob

boy bob what a great thread,very,very cool,great job,john

Thanks John. Try to keep yourself busy, it does help in the healing a bit.

Bob

The final touches berfore her first dip today.
First the new prop for the Fatty.

Next the bearing protectors.

Then the piece de resistance!


She's official now

Oh yeah and two new Moeller Scepter 6.6 gal gas tanks. No pics of those though, forgot in all the excietment to get the boat christened for the first time this year! How the excursion went is posted in the main forum.

Bob