Treeratsniper
Member
Several years ago I picked up a used 1236 for $350.00 from a local small dealer. He had replaced the transom & repainted the hull (poorly). It had been sitting in my backyard for a long time. A day job change this year gained me having Saturdays off (after 8 years of Saturdays on the clock). I was bound & determined to get this rig in the water! The biggest problem was locating a trailer, I had brought it home in the back of my truck. I called every dealer in the tri-county area & no one had a used small trailer for sale. New ones were $1000-1200. 3X what I paid for the boat. I finally found a shop that had a beat up small trailer & I ended up giving him $100.00 for it.
The boat was a bare hull when I picked it up, so I insulated between the ribs & added decks made of .25" HDPE (painted khaki with fusion). I wanted to keep the rig light so no wood for me. I have a 8HP Stump-Jumper long-tail mud motor that will go on it for duck season, so I needed a grab bar. I reinforced the mid-deck with a section of 3/16" treadplate & bolted the oh-$hit bar to it. The decks are attached to the ribs via rivet-nuts & stainless buttonhead screws & washers. I added an old milk-crate to the front of the bar with some heavy duty zip-ties.
The trailer was a bit of a longer project...it was a made for a 10" boat & had pieces of PVC pipe for bunks. It was a tilt bed trailer (not for long). The 8' main beam was pretty rusty so I stopped at the local metal dealer & bought a new 10' piece of 3" square tubing. I stripped the bed of the trailer down & went to work on it with the angle-grinder. I welded the new section in solid so it didn't shudder rolling down the road. Welded on some new guide-ons (PVC covered). A trip to Menards netted some "industrial" enamel in black. I purchased a LED submersible light kit & rewired it (pitched the junk scotch-connectors & soldered & shrink-tubed everything, then sheathed it in flex conduit). The bunks and bow stop are an experiment. They're made from PVC 2x4s. I used two 10 footers cut in half, PVC cemented & stainless screwed together). I used stainless fasteners wherever possible. Added new hub assemblies, wheels, reflectors, tongue, winch, safety-chain etc...finally had a decent trailer.
The wife & I finally got it in the water a couple of weekends ago & everything was perfect, we frequent a couple of electric-only lakes so it has the troller on it for now. The longtail will go on it in another month or so for duck season.
The boat was a bare hull when I picked it up, so I insulated between the ribs & added decks made of .25" HDPE (painted khaki with fusion). I wanted to keep the rig light so no wood for me. I have a 8HP Stump-Jumper long-tail mud motor that will go on it for duck season, so I needed a grab bar. I reinforced the mid-deck with a section of 3/16" treadplate & bolted the oh-$hit bar to it. The decks are attached to the ribs via rivet-nuts & stainless buttonhead screws & washers. I added an old milk-crate to the front of the bar with some heavy duty zip-ties.
The trailer was a bit of a longer project...it was a made for a 10" boat & had pieces of PVC pipe for bunks. It was a tilt bed trailer (not for long). The 8' main beam was pretty rusty so I stopped at the local metal dealer & bought a new 10' piece of 3" square tubing. I stripped the bed of the trailer down & went to work on it with the angle-grinder. I welded the new section in solid so it didn't shudder rolling down the road. Welded on some new guide-ons (PVC covered). A trip to Menards netted some "industrial" enamel in black. I purchased a LED submersible light kit & rewired it (pitched the junk scotch-connectors & soldered & shrink-tubed everything, then sheathed it in flex conduit). The bunks and bow stop are an experiment. They're made from PVC 2x4s. I used two 10 footers cut in half, PVC cemented & stainless screwed together). I used stainless fasteners wherever possible. Added new hub assemblies, wheels, reflectors, tongue, winch, safety-chain etc...finally had a decent trailer.
The wife & I finally got it in the water a couple of weekends ago & everything was perfect, we frequent a couple of electric-only lakes so it has the troller on it for now. The longtail will go on it in another month or so for duck season.
