Hopefully I can get the mold out of it

Yes, an aluminum trailer with tandem axles (tires) provides plenty of bouyancy to make it float when no boat on it.

I haven’t posted in a while, but the project continues. I took a break from the deck rebuild to launch the boat at Smith Lake, Alabama. I've been running the engines on a hose using gas spiked with Seafoam to clean out the carburetors (“Dunk’s method”), but part of the cleaning process involves running the engines under load. Also, I wanted to do some trailer repair that could only be accomplished while the boat was launched. I suspect this boat hasn’t seen water for several years.

Maiden voyage, sort of.


The event was a mixed bag – it was nice to see the boat in the water, no apparent leaks. The engines started easily with the throttles advanced, and the starboard engine ran well enough to allow us to putter around Smith Lake and almost get up on plane without any use of the trim tabs. However, I couldn’t get the port engine to idle, and it stalled every time I tried to put it in gear.

The trailer repair went well. I replaced the rusty galvanized steel bunk supports with aluminum brackets. Most of the bolts just had superficial corrosion, but the ones holding the bunks in place were severely damaged and got replaced with stainless steel. The trailer axles also had some rust, so I scraped them and sprayed on some zinc cold galvanizing compound.

Nice aluminum trailer, rusted-out bunk bracket.


Getting the boat off and on the trailer was good practice, but backing the empty trailer too deeply into the water caused it to float! Is this a characteristic of all aluminum trailers?

M

Lots of corners, crevices, tight spots to try and glass there. I've never had much luck with wood longevity in these situations unless each part was coated, glassed, then assembled.
Is that 1x4 going to stay as part of the permanent build? Looks like its yellow pine? If so might want to rethink that, probably won't last long. Spruce or Hickory would be better water resistant.

I have a 2003 Johnson 60hp 4 stroke with an old aluminum slightly beat up prop on it. I believe this is a 13 spline prop. My question is I have no idea what the pitch is on it (currently) or which pitch would be best for my 97 AQUSPORT STRIPER 165? There are no numbers stamped on it that I could find, probably the original prop I would imagine

Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks!

Casey