Building a flat bottomed canoe

Progress so far. The coupler on the new tongue is a class II, rated for 3500 pounds. Since I can carry Blue Rose by grabbing the gunwale one-handed and hooking a chine on my hip, I think that's strong enough....

As far as demo'ing goes, all that's really left is to cut the ball cup (or whatever it's called) off the existing triangular coupler, so we can slide the new tongue on through and weld it in place. The back end of the new tongue will rest on the existing forward cross bar, and get beefed up.

You'll notice the bolts through the new coupler have the nuts on top, instead of on bottom. I did that at the suggestion of a coworker, whose theory is that it's easier to see if one starts backing off.

 

Went out during my lunch break, and cut the end off the old trailer tongue.

I was going to grab an oxy-acetylene torch, but decided it was just as simple to use a hacksaw. One sharp hacksaw blade, one squirt bottle of oil and ten minutes of work later, the job was done. I'd have been still setting up the torch....

Of course I also hit a few quick licks with a file, to kill the sharp edges of the cut. And I left the old chain for now, so I'd have something to move the trailer around with until the new tongue is installed.

 

Getting there slowly.... here's what we got done Monday afternoon, with the boat on top to check it for size.

The frame is extended and the tongue in place. But everything's welded just enough to hold it still.

Along with finishing the welds, we'll beef up the joints connecting the old frame and the extension with welded fish plates -- or scabs, or whatever you want to call them.







Time to start rounding up a tongue jack, fenders, wiring and tail lights, I guess.

I like the way the rocker of the bottom fits down inside the trailer frame. I'll use that when I start planning the boat supports, to keep the boat as low as possible

 

I haven't abandoned this project; it's just been stalled for a while. I'm waiting on George to do the serious welding, and between working overtime and taking care of his own projects and the school projects his schoolteacher wife and football coach son rope him into, he's stretched thin.

I could try doing it myself I suppose, but I haven't welded for almost forty years -- and I wasn't God's gift to the welding world even then. But if George can't shake loose in the next couple of weeks, I may have to get practiced up....

Meanwhile I bought a trailer jack, fenders and taillights. The trailer jack is the sort that has a stub welded onto the tongue. The jack is held in the up or stowed position by a pin. It's a much stronger setup than I need, but the price was right.

I bought a pair of fenders for $16.00 each, and a set of tail lights for a small fortune. They came with a license plate bracket, but I quickly realized that if I mounted them directly on the trailer frame and stuck the license plate under the left tail light assembly that's designed to light it, I'd probably fold the license plate the first time I lifted the tongue too high.

So I cut a couple of pieces of 4" square tubing, then cut one side out of each one. I drilled holes for mounting screws and wiring in the back side, and now my tail lights will nestle inside guards that are almost indestructible. I'll mount them on top of the trailer frame, and that should give me plenty of room for the license plate.

I also cut and bent a piece of 1" angle iron for a license plate surround, to weld onto the frame under the tail light assembly. Even if I dig the license plate into the sand while launching or recovering (or just shoving the boat around my back yard), it should survive just fine.

 

Still waiting on George... I may have to give up and pay someone to do the rest of the structural welding.

I haven't pushed him because I've been busy and haven't had a lot of time to use the boat anyway. But I have a couple of days off this week, and I'm not really thrilled about having to throw the Blue Rose on top of my pickup again if I go fishing.

 

Still building? Merry Christmas.

 

Troy' Too much trailer for that little boat. Could beat the boat to death.
Those big heavy wheels w no shock absorbers will allow some wild action.

Why not a little trailer w little wheels that offer low unsprung weight?

Ever thought of building a small boat trailer of wood?

 

Troy, are you around?

 

He pops up occasionally but ignores anyone who asks about his projects or how he is going.

 

Excellent observation. I have had issues with light hulls on heavy springs before.

 

I don't think he has posted since Independence Day(July 4) of 2015.

 

Last post i saw was on the cooking thread. Didn't realize it was so long ago.

 

Those springs look to have multiple leaves, so he can remove one or more, which will decrease the spring rate a lot.

 

I did that once on a little trailer for an 18' frieght canoe. Worked fine until I went way up into the Canadian wilderness on a very very long gravel road to Chilco Lk in BC. It fell apart (spring broke or?) and we left it in a local garbage dump. Put the big canoe on top of the Sububan and went home. Worked fine for quite awhile though.

But w Troy's trailer those big heavy tires and wheels would be all over the place w/o some carefully choosen shocks.

 

I used to have a manufacture trailer, that was the damn coolest thing ever. It had a "truck arm" suspension. Yep, just like many cars, two diagonally mounted trailing arms, and a set of coilovers. The coil overs were adjustable, so you could raise or lower the spring tension too. It went with an old White runabout I had and I was sorry to see the trailer go, when I sold the boat. The image shows the setup on a car.