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A restoration tale (with pics)

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭quietsailor


    dnme wrote: »
    The trailer is just a metal frame. It has no fittings, no rollers or roller brackets etc. I stripped it of everything before I painted it. All the fittings were broken. To kit it out would cost a few quid and therein lies the latest dilemma. Do I spend 200 quid kitting up this trailer, it's a nasty homemade iron frame, everything welded, hollow beam rusted to hell etc... or do I buy a decent trailer (a lot more money).

    The first involves spending good money on a bad item (good money after bad). The second is financially beyond me right now.



    Hiya dnme, good to see your back at the real job :)

    I don't think you'd be happy buying a new/2nd hand boat 'cause it'd just be too easy so your probably going to refurb a trailer. Would you buy boltable rollers that can be removed from the present trailer and moved to any trailer you buy in the future?

    Getting back to the boat build itself - I remember the frustation you had trying to mould the perspex. A friend of mine who is a metal-work teacher told me complex shapes are moulded using vacumn presses as well as heat, could you put several air channels through that mould you made and attach them to a vacuum source - a farm milking machine would be a good one.

    If my life ever quietens down - hopefully end Oct -I'd be glad to come up and help - board and being allowed to play ball with Honey would have to be included though -- the last would be non-negotiable :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    I dont think some folks may appreciate the situation. The trailer frame is not suitable as is. The keel would just slip on it. I'm not really in the mood for messing about with lumps of timber, rope or whathaveyou. Also, I've never used a welder in my life, wouldn't have a clue, never mind getting my hands on one.

    The boat needs rollers to slide up on, and side rollers with height adjustment to form a secure customised support. So after a day of scouring the web, I have come across these folks in the UK. I managed to get a full set of rollers (keel and side), and a winch all for 90 quid delivered. Amazing value.

    Its 90 quid to turn a frame into a full boat trailer. At worst it allows it to be sold on at a later date if I do decide to buy a purpose built trailer.


  • Registered Users Posts: 109 ✭✭forsaleireland


    Tell ya what DNME if 1 or 2 is going to help out,i'll gladly come along too with a few beers if ya allow us ;)

    they are very cheap indeed


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    Many thanks for all the offers folks. Unfortunately I don't drink and have no space for anyone apart from the "Honmeister". :D I am hoping our good pal and local representative, sir Slig is watching and can spare me an hour to move the boat once these trailer parts arrive and I manage to somehow get them fixed to the trailer.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,550 ✭✭✭Slig


    fine, but you'll have to supply the cake this time:D. As I said prevoiusly I might be able to get my hands on a trailer. There is a fairly hefty galvanised one around that is sitting in the corner of a field slowly being covered with grass. It was built by a boatyard out by the moorings some years ago and has transported a 17ft sea fishing boat all around the country until the drawbar fell off.
    While it was in being repaired a new one was bought in its place so its all fixed up with nowhere to go. Anyway, I'm free until Friday so if you want to give me a call, text or PM when you need a hand I'd be delighted to help (and take a look at the new Lean-to)


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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    Slig wrote: »
    fine, but you'll have to supply the cake this time:D. As I said prevoiusly I might be able to get my hands on a trailer. There is a fairly hefty galvanised one around that is sitting in the corner of a field slowly being covered with grass. It was built by a boatyard out by the moorings some years ago and has transported a 17ft sea fishing boat all around the country until the drawbar fell off.
    While it was in being repaired a new one was bought in its place so its all fixed up with nowhere to go. Anyway, I'm free until Friday so if you want to give me a call, text or PM when you need a hand I'd be delighted to help (and take a look at the new Lean-to)

    Ah sure drop up anyway, you don't need an invite.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,550 ✭✭✭Slig


    I'll have a talk to the owner of the trailer this evening and call around later or tomorrow so.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    Slig wrote: »
    I'll have a talk to the owner of the trailer this evening and call around later or tomorrow so.

    Dont worry so much about the trailer, have you read my recent posts above?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 326 ✭✭whitesands


    Say nothing dnme ;) let slig knock around & you'll have it in your lean-to this time tomorrow hopefully, I wanna see more boat pics :D




  • wow, truely inspiring read. Ive spent the last 4 days reading this after stumbling across your lean-to thread

    all i can say is fair play to you for the amount of effort your are putting in. I have a great deal of respect for you in the way you won't accept doing things half-way.

    Honestly, I had a conversation with my partner this evening saying I wanted to do something like this (on a much smaller scale). I showed her both this and the lean-to thread........ she teased me saying I wont be able to do as good a job, feckin wench hah.

    In the end we agreed my first "project" would be a clothes line shelter similar to this one which was done by another boardie (prospect)

    fcc1383a.jpg

    anyway, all the best and you now have a new fan. I'll be back daily. I probably wont post much, but I'll be thanking all your progress reports


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  • Registered Users Posts: 28,403 ✭✭✭✭vicwatson


    Hey dnme,

    We is all missin' your updates !;)

    Any updates going on ?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,217 ✭✭✭moonshadow


    Sitting under his fanshy smanshy new lean to lookin out at the boat wondering what next.
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    Either that or it wont fit under it and hes hiding ;):p


  • Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,780 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    ...or the lean-to fell in on him.








    I jest, I jest!! :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 90 ✭✭sailordog13


    I'm missing my fix.
    Really look forward to the regular updates.
    Any one close to OP that can check in if his ok ?


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    Forgive my absence lately. I've been a bit under the weather. However there is progress. Myself and Slig spent today outfitting the trailer with rollers, jockey wheel, winch etc. I'll post a day update once it's on the trailer and that particular story is complete. Slig is calling up again tomorrow. If she goes on the trailer relatively trouble free, we might take her down to the local slipway and see what she's like on the water. If that is the case, I'll movie it up for y'all.

    In the meantime, I'll leave you with this recent outtake from one of my lean-to updates. I was going to cut the audio out of sheer embarrassment but the video would look a bit empty without it. Don't gimmie that crap!!! You all talk to your dogs like this and you know it.:D



  • Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭Gerard93


    Nice one dnme, glad to see u back, she's a lovely lab, what age is she, I think you said in a previous post she's a Rescue.

    Looking forward to the boat updates again!icon12.gif


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    Gerard93 wrote: »
    Nice one dnme, glad to see u back, she's a lovely lab, what age is she, I think you said in a previous post she's a Rescue.

    Looking forward to the boat updates again!icon12.gif

    She's about a year and half. Yeah a rescue also. She's a great character, a real sidekick which is exactly what I'm looking for in a dog. Had labs all my life, can't beat em.


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,403 ✭✭✭✭vicwatson


    Myself and Slig spent today outfitting the trailer with rollers, jockey wheel, winch etc.

    As they say on boards.ie - PICS OR GTFO :P:P :D:D:D:D:D:D


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    Slig was here again today as we continued to battle and contravene every engineering best practice there is, all in the name of 'trailerism'. Every fitting, every bolt and nut had to be ground down or shortened in some way in order to make roller brackets and stems fit the old non standard fittings welded to the trailer. That was pretty much all yesterday. Today we set about getting the trailer back in under the boat.

    From the off, it was obvious that no matter what happened, the boat/trailer was going nowhere because my car just slid on the 10 degree slope. Driving on wet grass is like driving on slightly melted ice that has had a layer of warm butter spread on it. Nothing to do with the capabilities of the car really, any car would have failed in just the same way under those conditions. So the best we could hope for was to couple the trailer to the car and limit ourselves to reversing only. We just used the car to hold the trailer and gradually reverse it back in under the boat. Bit by bit, we jacked up here, reversed there, adjusted this and that.

    It was a miserable afternoon, it rained pretty much all the time after 4pm and we resigned to just keep going. We had to make many adjustments with the jack, moving rollers in and out trying to get the best support locations for the highly curved keel profile. Eventually we settled for what we considered was the best of a bad lot of options. No matter what we do, the back of the keel will not sit down on the roller. In fact there's a gap there of about 6 inches. It's to do with a slight bend in the trailer beam and a more than slight bend in the back of the keel.

    Look I won't go into the details. But just know that every single fitting, bracket, nut, bolt etc went wrong. No matter what we tried, there was some bloody problem. Back rollers not fitting, stems to long or short. Brackets too big for new stems. Roller brackets too short. The angle grinder has seldom been this busy not to mention many trips in to town to get longer bolts or washers or god knows what.

    An exhausting exercise. I owe a big thanks to Slig. No way I could have done this alone. So tonight the boat is on the trailer. Rollers and wheels are raised to match its profile and it's a pretty reasonable looking effort. We rounded off the day by going to look at another trailer that belongs to a friend of Slig's. It is redundant to its owner so it may be for sale. I've taken a few shots of it to see what you think. Again it needs a lot of work but it's a really nice proper galvanized frame, single axle and very sturdy.


    As we left it yesterday.
    Img_8068.jpg
    Img_8069.jpg


    We can't leave poor ol' Prince out (next door's dog).
    Img_8064.jpg


    Slowly reversing the trailer back in under the boat.
    Img_8073.jpg
    Img_8075.jpg


    Ta me, ta me. STOP!!!
    Img_8079.jpg


    Trailer and boat reunion
    Img_8081.jpg


    Gap between back roller and keel
    Img_8082.jpg


    Every single bolt, washer, stem, bracket etc had to be adjusted the hard way. Nothing and I mean NOTHING went well.
    Img_8078.jpg


    So what do you think of this puppy? Notice it has a central keel channel so one might have to engineer rollers into that. It needs all hardware such as rollers, brackets, jockey wheel, winch etc.
    Img_8086.jpg

    Img_8085.jpg

    Img_8084.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 125 ✭✭Jack_regan


    Great to see the boat back on the trailer. The trailer looks well now with the rollers in place. I'd be happy enough using the trailer you have for the time being. Are you going to raise the back roller up on your trailer?

    Does Sligs friends trailer have brakes on it?, if it doesn't I don't think that's really what you're looking for. I mean it really depends on the price. If it's going cheap then it would be worth getting it and once you have it done up you can either sell it on to try and make a bit of profit to put back into the boat or sell your own trailer. Is it a factory built trailer with a weight plate? It looks like it's starting to corrode a bit up near the jockey wheel but that's probably nothing too serious. It looks like a good strong trailer anyway.

    Is there something in particular that you're not happy with on your own trailer?, to my mind it looks like you've done a good job restoring it.

    p.s. the lean to looks really well, proper job!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    Jack_regan wrote: »
    Great to see the boat back on the trailer. The trailer looks well now with the rollers in place. I'd be happy enough using the trailer you have for the time being. Are you going to raise the back roller up on your trailer?

    Does Sligs friends trailer have brakes on it?, if it doesn't I don't think that's really what you're looking for. I mean it really depends on the price. If it's going cheap then it would be worth getting it and once you have it done up you can either sell it on to try and make a bit of profit to put back into the boat or sell your own trailer. Is it a factory built trailer with a weight plate? It looks like it's starting to corrode a bit up near the jockey wheel but that's probably nothing too serious. It looks like a good strong trailer anyway.

    Is there something in particular that you're not happy with on your own trailer?, to my mind it looks like you've done a good job restoring it.

    p.s. the lean to looks really well, proper job!

    My own trailer is very homemade. Its steel beam fashioned on its flat rather than side, so the back bows down if you put weight on it. It's not galvanised so lots of rust, and because of the beam dimesnions (100x50mm), no standard bracket, u-bolt or anything will fit it without serious bodging.

    Slig's trailer above, is also homemade, but done extremely well. It has a standard dimension frame so it'll take any brackets you want to throw at it. It's a dedicated single axle trailer which is kinda what I want. The rust at the front is down to a bodged repair by a poor mechanic, no galvanising, easy to deal with (drop of paint). As for breaks, I can't be arsed, I'll only be towing my boat a few miles up and down a back road at 30mph if I'm lucky. The simpler the better.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 6,317 Mod ✭✭✭✭fergal.b


    Good to see your back at it dnme, keep all your rollers level don't raise the back one to meet the keel as it will make it hard to launch and retrieve.
    The other trailer looks good but I would be worried about where it was welded, this is where most of the load will be and where you get a lot of flexing when towing and it seems to be the week spot on the trailer so unless you get it for next to nothing and can spend a few quid strengthening it up I would stay with your own till something else comes along.
    Just my two cents, keep her lit and good luck if you give her a dip.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    Here's a closeup of the repair at the front. As you can see, it's doubled up and is connected to the main trailer in two places (directly and via the winch Y brace. So it may be stronger than it looks.

    Img_8087.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    OK ... how to put this...

    I have made a decision regarding this project. At this stage I am bowing out. I've been struggling with this decision for some time now and once I got the boat on the trailer, my mind was made up. I have no means to carry on this project and even if I did, I have no means nor infrastructure to transport, house or maintain it. However and moreover, there are substantial personal reasons why I have come to this decision at this time.

    My sincere apologies to anyone reading this thread who feels they have any sort of vested emotional interest in the boat. I am putting the entire lot up for sale and I'll post links to the ads here. I wont place any asking price, rather I'll look for reasonable offers. I'm not greedy about this and more importantly, I'd love to see it go to a good home where the project can be completed with a bit of TLC.

    Sorry for springing this on you like this. Had I made my feelings known in the past few weeks, we would have had a long and drawn out to'ing and fro'ing session and that would have added to the sadness.

    I need to get this boat out of here. If any of you know anyone who might be interested in this, would you please point them in my direction.

    This thread has been fun. It was a highlight in my life for a while and I want to thank you all so sincerely for that. There was never a bad word spoken in this entire massive thread which is incredible for any forum. It was just a good will place to hang out. Thanks so much to everyone for the company, encouragement, advice and help.


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 6,317 Mod ✭✭✭✭fergal.b


    Sorry to hear that dnme :confused:I don't know what to say so I'll say nothing and hope that one sunny day it will call you as you look out from the lean to and say please fix me.

    Ps. your not getting a thumbs up for that post :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,408 ✭✭✭dnme


    I have two ads posted. Unfortunately, donedeal limits you to 1000 characters.


    http://www.adverts.ie/1010104
    http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/boats/2596386


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 6,317 Mod ✭✭✭✭fergal.b


    That's serious :eek: I hope someone here picks up on her and carries on the posts.

    They say the happiest days in a boaters life are when they buy a boat and when they sell it.

    Best of luck with the sale.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,182 ✭✭✭alexlyons


    Really sorry to hear that dnme but I respect your decision and see where you're coming from.

    You've done some brilliant work on her, seem to have learnt a huge amount which will stand to you in the future. It's been great fun reading it, you've had ups and downs, but most of all have no regrets.

    Regards


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 303 ✭✭Gingersnaps


    Hi Dnme.
    Sorry to see you've thrown in the towel. I still admire your determination and the work you put into the boat. Not to mention keeping so many of us entertained with all the trials and tribulations you went through. Fair play to you putting so much time and effort into the boat,the lean-to and this thread. I'm going to miss reading the updates. I hope you get a fair price for it and that it goes to a good home.
    Thanks also for giving us a glimpse into your personal life.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,080 ✭✭✭sheesh


    Dnme,
    Thank you for the thread. I am suprised that you did not stop sooner, it has been tough going for you from the very start but you should look at the positive experiences you gained from the process, you became a boards celebrity :D (you should put a plaque outside the house "Dnme boards legend and boat restorer lived here") you learned an amazing amount of stuff about fibreglass your from a boaty family so you know that it be useful to you again someday. You seem like a nice fellow and you write for the web very well. your videos are well done and you seem to have a genuine talent for the medium. good luck for the future.:)


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