Resurrecting a 1652 MonArk

[lbursell]

Here At Last! Its painting day for the trailer frame. I had every thing laid out in the garage, then decided I didn't want to go to the trouble of turning the entire garage into a big paint booth.

So, I loaded every thing into the back of the truck for a trip to the carwash to get rid of any last bits of dirt or oil residue.

Back from the carwash and ready for primer. I had a low volume spray gun that I borrowed from my Dad to do the spraying with, but my little pancake compessor just didn't have enough "oomph" to do the job.

So, a quick trip to Wal-mart and I bought a Wagner Power Painter. More about that thing in a minute. This is the primer I used for the galvanized metal.

Every thing all primed and looking pretty good.

These are the saw-horses I used while spraying with the Wagner Painter. Notice the amount of overspray. There's also a huge spot of much lighter concrete on my driveway.

Sorry, but I've got to rant here. :evil: I will never, ever recommend the Wagner Power so-called Painter to anyone. If you don't hold it exactly level, it loses suction. Despite have everything set at the lowest possible volume, it still spewed out clumps of paint. No matter which nozzle setting I used, there was no way to avoid enormous overspray. With the amount of area I needed to paint, I should have been able to prime at least two trailers with the one can of primer. Instead, I had to use a full second and part of a third can to finish the job. When I was done, I completely cleaned the worthless piece of junk exactly according to the instructions and took it back to Wal-mart. Told them that they should be ashamed to sell that kind of stuff to the public. I figure they must have been used to hearing that, 'cause they refunded my money with no questions asked. As I posted on another thread, If you offered me a T-bone steak with the name "Wagner" on it, I'd rather go to McDonalds. And, I am no fan of that clown, either. I will never buy another Wagner product again.
OK, its out of my system; Rant over. 8)

While the primer was drying, I decided to paint the trailer guide-ons.

The guide-ons got Krylon Fusion paint for plastic and PVC.

Redneck paint booth in action.

All the frame parts back in the garage, ready for top coat. After my adventures with the sprayers, I decided that low tech rollers were my best route.

Valspar Tractor/Farm Implement Paint from Tractor Supply. The little trigger attachment for the spray cans is great. Makes using the cans so very easy. I used the spray cans for the little nooks and crannies that the rollers couldn't get into.

And the pay-off.

A little re-assembley and tires, wheels, fenders and frame all coming together. This is why we do it.

I like this blue. The boat and the trailer are going to be the same color. This is a sample of the HydroTurf mat that the decking will be covered with. I'm gonna try the HydroTurf instead of carpet. I think the blues match each other pretty good.

Next up, bunks and bunk carpetting.

 

[fender66]

Simply amazing job. =D> =D>

And I too will never recommend the Wagner sprayer. [-X

 

[bm3dufner]

looks awsome way to take your time.

 

[alanbird_87]

Trailer looks very god! =D> Already u have came a long ways.

 

[Oldgeek]

Nice job on the trailer. Disassembling it was the right way to go. I just wire wheeled mine, primed it with rust restorer and painted it. Mine "looks" okay but I know I should have taken it apart. I am running out of time to get the rig ready to fish this year so I cut some corners. I can't wait to see what you do with the boat. =D>

 

[lbursell]

Thanks to all for the compliments. If anybody sees me doing something wrong, please feel free to let me know. This is not my first boat, but it is my first boat modification project. And, I don't come from a boating family, so I didn't grow up with this stuff.

Oldgeek, you are right - taking it all the way apart was definitely the way to do it right. I'm making myself try to make it right every step of the way and still stay within a reasonable budget. Without winning the lottery, this is my last boat. The hope is that, once its done, its completely done - with no do-overs required - and she'll do everything I want her to do. My mind-set on this is to make every effort to build it so that it will last me until my last fishing trip (hopefully a couple of decades away) and, then, if one of the kids wants her, and I haven't sunk her, she'll be their project boat.

 

[Brine]

Looks great man.

Curious, did the Toyota happen to catch any of the overspray? [-o<

 

[lbursell]

Looks great man.

Curious, did the Toyota happen to catch any of the overspray? [-o<

Thank you. Actually, yes. But, it was far enough away that it was just a very few tiny little micro-beads of paint. It was like they were already dry on the outside so there was no adhesion to the truck paint. Rub your hand over them and they just came away.

 

[ohiolunker]

Nice color choice on the trailer. Looks good.

 

[Ouachita]

Love the blue. Can't wait to see what you do to the boat!

 

[lbursell]

Progress is being made and it feels good. Time to get some bunks on. This is one of the areas where I'm wanting to stretch the envelope a little bit. Instead of using wood for the bunks, I gonna try out the composite decking material. A lot of people have said that the composite decking is too flexible. I think that I've thought this through pretty well and I don't see the problem. I'll keep an eye on the bunks and report back on how they're doing in a year or so. With my slow rate of progress, I just hope the boat is in the water within a year.
One thing I want to point out is that during this phase of the project I was working on multiple things concurrently. Bunks, lights, winch post and trailer jack were all being worked on at the same time. While paint or glue was drying on one thing, I would be working on something else. To keep the thread readable, though, I've separated each sub-project into its own category. So, you may see guide-ons with lights already mounted in the bunks section and then later on you may be reading the section about lights, but the pictures don't show that the bunks have been mounted yet. I'm doing it this way to try to keep the thread from being confusing.

OK, before I started this project, the bunks were four foot long 2x4's that only extended a little past the axle on two bunk brackets. And the front 18 inches or so of the bunks were unsupported.

So, I went with two 6 foot long sections of the composite material in a 2x6 configuration. I later decided that the 6 foot length was a little too long, so I cut off 4 inches, to make them 5 feet 8 inches. I'm a little concerned right now that this was a mistake, but I'm committed now. We'll just have to see how it comes out. The new bunks will be supported from all three of the trailer crossbars. In other words, three bunk brackets supporting the bunks in front, middle and back. My thinking is that this will defeat the flexibility issue.

First thing is to establish the height of the bunk brackets. I used this template I had put together when I built a wheelchair ramp for the mom-in-law. I'm not even sure what the actual height is; It just happens to be the right height so that all the bunks will sit clear of the fenders.

Bracket heights are set. The first thing you will notice about the composite material is the grooves that run the length of the board. To be sure of stability, I decided I didn't want that side to be mounted directly on the bunk brackets, so that automatically became the top side.

To locate the position of the mounting holes, establish the middle of the board.

Draw the center-line down the length of the board.

Lay the board, with the center-line down, on the bunk brackets. Then, from underneath, mark the location of your mounting holes.

Drill out your mounting holes.

Use a hole saw to carve out the grooved section so that a washer will fit in that space.

Only use the hole saw to cut out just to the bottom of the groove's trough.

Then, use the wood chisel to remove the little arced sections to flatten out the bottom part of the hole.

One of the little arcs removed.

Use the wood chisel to smooth out the bottom of the mounting hole. This composite material is very easy to work with.

Bolt and washer ready to go into the mounting hole.

The bolt head is below the top of grooved surface.

Bunks laid out on top of the brackets. So far, so good.

 

[imgonnamissher]

Great job so far. I to am hoping to make my trailer and boat the same color, but haven't decided whether to spent he money to match or just paint it black. Can't wait to see progresss on the boat. You're doing great. =D>

 

[lbursell]

I got to thinking about the bolt head being covered with carpet and realized that it would probably just turn when I tried to tighten the nut. I didn't want to cut out the carpet to gain access for a wrench, so I decided to give this stuff a try. Its one of those two-part epoxies that you slice off a chunk, then knead it like bread for a minute or so to mix and activate the chemical reaction.

Applied the epoxy to both sides of the washer, then squeezed down on the bolt head.

This is the first result and I decided it was crap-ugly. (Even though its gonna be invisible.)

Then, I thought some more. Eventually, water is gonna get into those grooves. I don't want the water to be stuck there and stagnate. That will in turn cause the bunk carpet to start rotting. I'm gonna have to make some drains for the water to get out. I don't want anything inside the grooves to impede the flow of the water to the drains, so I want everything around the bolt-head to be as smooth as possible.


So, then I developed myself a little system. First, apply the epoxy only to one side of the washer.

Then, squeeze the washer down over the hole with your thumbs. See that little dollop of epoxy that squishes through the washer hole?

From underneath, push the bolt through the washer to clear the epoxy dollop from the center of the washer.

Remove the dollop and pull the bolt back out. Use the dollop to form a collar around the bolt, just beneath the bolt head.

Re-insert the bolt through the washer. This time from the topside.

Squeeze down with you thumbs again, squishing out the excess epoxy from beneath the bolt head.

Remove the excess epoxy from around the bolt head and use it on the next bolt/washer combination.

So, those aren't grooves in my bunks anymore. They are now channels to facilitate draining water from my bunk boards. Three holes drilled through the channels at the lower end of the bunk boards creates my drains.

Notch out the bottom holes in each channel so that every drop of water can get out.

If you have drains at the lower end of the channels, you need air holes at the upper end to insure that the flow of water is unimpeded.

 

[lbursell]

Time for a little carpet work on the bunks. I wanted to find a matching blue for the bunk carpet. Checked out the local carpet stores and nobody had what I wanted. The Lowes and Home Depot carpet didn't leave me impressed. Ordering online, I could have gotten the color I wanted, but I couldn't see forty bucks for bits of carpet that will be under a boat 99% of the time. Got this remnant outdoor carpet several years ago, thinking I might use it on the front deck of the boat. Ten bucks for 6 x 7 feet. That was before I found TinBoats and learned what could really be done to a boat. The roll is hooked from laying over a rafter for at least five years. Even though its not blue, the maroon is close enough to red that I can say my trailer is red, white and blue.

This is the adhesive I used. If they ever need a product endorsement, I'm the guy. Works great. Note the test sample in the background.

Carpet laid out nice and flat. Place the boards for measuring your cuts.

I masked off the area I wanted to put glue on during this step. Apply the adhesive to the carpet, then apply to that side of the bunk board. Apply the adhesive on the board only on the top of the board that will be in contact with the carpet. Keep the glue out of your water channels.

After applying the adhesive to both surfaces, wait five minutes, then place the board on the carpet. Remove the masking.

Appy suitable weight, then give it a couple of hours to cure. Or, in my case, overnight. That Weldwood Contact Cement works good enough that I probably could have finished the job without waiting. But, it was the end of the day and I was tired.

 

[lbursell]

The next day I uncovered the combined bunk board / carpet assembly and started making preps for the final application of glue. Cut slits in the carpet for the drain holes using a piece of scrap composite to get things lined up.

As you can see, I didn't allow quite enough space for the fold-over.

So, on the next piece, I used the scrap composite plus two layers of scrap carpet as spacers. That made it near perfect.

The most mentally challenging part of this phase is getting the cuts right to allow for folding the carpet around the ends of the bunk boards. Really take your time here, visualizing how each layer will fold around, because once you lay the glued pieces together, they'll be very difficult to pull back apart.

Applied clear tape to cover the drain holes. I didn't want any glue inside the drain holes. Then painted the adhesive all over the bunk board and covered the carpet.

Wait five minutes or so, then remove the masking tape.

Then, start folding the carpet into the adhesive.

I wanted to get multiple layers of carpet at the lower end of the bunks to provide some cushion for those "just in case" moments.

Folded over - Almost ready. Note the little gap where I mis-measured in the lower left corner. I just cut another small piece of carpet to plug in to the gap. We'll see how long it holds.

Reinforced the tag ends with screws and washers.

I think the results came out pretty good.

I'm pretty pleased. The red, white and blue goes pretty good together.

 

[lbursell]

Now to back up a little and show the lights assembly and how I put a little more blood into the project. Starting out with the guide-ons.

Wiring ran through the guide-ons and out the top.

Guide-ons mounted.

Lights are also mounted low down at the trailer frame.

The next problem is that the guide-on pipe wasn't wide enough to accept both of the mounting posts on the trailer lights. So I figured to fabricate a bracket to attach to the guide-on for mounting the trailer lights. Took a simpson strong-tie for rafters and joists.

Used tin snips to cut off the sections I needed to fab my brackets.

Took my brackets to the drill press to enlarge the hole to accept the trailer light mounting post.

There's something that I've known for a long time, but never needed to articulate until I was making these brackets. One of the things that happens when you're drilling through metal is that, just as the drill bit breaks through the far side metal, the bit and the metal bind together. This either causes the drill to torque in your hand or, if your using a drill press, can cause a rather small piece of metal to start spinning at a fairly rapid pace....

....Resulting in this. That finished my work for that day.

 

[lbursell]

So, after licking my wounds and buying some bigger band-aids, I finished the brackets and mounted them at the top of the guide-ons.

See the hole in the guide-on for mounting the other side of the light post? What I failed to think through is the fact that both mounting posts need to be grounded to the trailer frame. That fact gave me the blues for about a day and a half trying to get the lights to work properly.

I wanted something a little more substantial that just running a wire between the mounting posts. So the fix was to take a short length of galvanized metal duct tape and mount the lights with the mounting posts through the holes in the duct tape.

Hook everything up and suddenly I have trailer lights that do what they're supposed to do.

You can see the galvanized duct tape on the left side of the light. If anybody's curious, the forward facing red reflectors are for backing up at night.

Then working on connections at the front end.

Every connection on the trailer got two coats of liquid tape, then sealed with at least one layer of heat-shrink tubing.

Final product on the front end.

Now we're getting towards the end on the trailer. A little more painting and mounting of some hardware. I'm starting to see a light at the end of this tunnel.

 

[rmzachar]

That looks fantastic!

 

[GaBassin]

I cant wait to see the progress of the boat. This is the same boat I have. If I can figure it out I will upload the pictures from my modification. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[fender66]

Dang.....project looks great. Your injury made things inside of me hurt. Have no idea what that was either...just hurt. :shock: Hope you heal fast.