A boat a motor and a trailer

Discussion in 'Boatbuilding' started by Dave T, Nov 9, 2011.

  1. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    I'm glad we don't have sharks in the Mississippi and alligators never come this far North. People still seem to manage to die though usually from boat collisions or falling out of boats without life jackets. Seems most times a little too much alcohol has a lot to do with it. I'm definitely not against drinking and having a good time on the river but a little common sense goes along way.
     
  2. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    We built the permanent awning for our camper this last weekend. It cost me about four hundred for all new treated lumber and tin for the roof, a 30 pack of beer and my wife fixed everybody a good dinner. I couldn't bring the boat because I brought up the trailer with all the material. Had some real good help, what goes around comes around, it's good to have friends. It was about 90 degrees with high humidity so the cold beer went down real good. Did get out on the river Saturday on a friends boat. Had to replace the starter and ring gear on the skid loader I use it to move the boat in and out of the shop. Won't be able to go to the river this coming weekend have to get the skid loader back together do some dirt moving and try to catch up on some of the things I've been neglecting to work on the boat and play on the river.
     

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  3. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Last time on the mississippi for another summer

    Took the boat to the river a couple of weeks ago for the last time for this year. We were on the river most all day on the Friday but Friday night I wasn't feeling good so we spent the rest of the weekend just hanging around the camper. I had a yearly physical scheduled for the following Thursday but they didn't find anything wrong. I cut wood on the Sunday but wasn't feeling good. My wife called my doctor on the Monday and they promised to call back but never did. Tuesday my wife called them again and insisted that they get me in which they did. They took more blood tests and sent us home about an hour later they called me and said I needed to get to the hospital right away they found some kind of blood bug that might kill me if not treated right away. They put me in the ICU for a couple of days while they did some tests and loaded me up with a bunch of drugs. They let me out of the hospital the following Saturday morning I was feeling great and the drugs were working OK. The only problem was the docs said no dangerous or strenuous work for three to four weeks and even though I had enough wood cut to heat the shop this Winter it all needed to be split and put in the wood shed I figured this would take me 3 to four weekends to do by myself and I don't like working in the cold. Saturday night a couple of my buddies came over to watch the Nascar Charlotte night race but it was rained out. Sunday morning about 8:00 six of my buddies showed up with another wood splitter. With two guys on my splitter and two guys on the other splitter with their wives loading wood into the skid loader bucket all I had to do was drive the skid loader and dump wood in the shed. We were done in about six hours and they had also split a bunch of green wood that will be good if I run short by Spring and if not will be good for next Winter. My wife fixed every body a good dinner and then we all watched the rescheduled Nascar race that I had recorded on the DVR. Things like this make you appreciate the important things in life like close Family and good friends. My plans for the boat this Winter is to make a good cover for it so I can leave it a the campground next Summer unless it needs a major repair. In the last four years she probably has 6,000 miles on the road and about 500 on the river I also want to do a little work on the trailer other than that I think she,s ready for another Summer. Life is good what doesn't kill you makes you strong. Here are a few pics we took on the river.
     

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  4. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Boat Harbor and dock

    They finally dredged out the harbor behind my camper last Fall so I built a small dock and now I can dock my boat right behind my camper which makes it much easier to charge the batteries and load up the boat. I'm not sure how low the river can get before I won't be able to get up the creek that leads to the harbor also there is a low bridge I must be able to get under so if the river is two high I can't get to the harbor. we were on the river Memorial day weekend which is the earliest we've been able to get on the river since I moved the camper to the camp ground. I also made up some PVC pipe supports and put a cover on the boat so I can leave it at the camp ground. I'm not sure how it will hold up to the weather yet.
     

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  5. hoytedow
    Joined: Sep 2009
    Posts: 5,857
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    Location: Control Group

    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    The dock looks good, Dave. You might want to add a gangplank to go up the riverbank. Some are bolted to the side of the raft and some end on casters. You can give it a non skid surface. Here is an example.
     

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  6. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Just wanted to say Hi to everybody. Had to do some work on the boat trailer I didn't follow the golden rule of engineering when I built it. Guess I was in too big a hurry to get the boat in the water. After 5 summers of hauling the boat over rough roads the tubes that I used to widen the trailer frame were bending on one side. They were just 1 and 1/2" schedule 40 pipe. I rigged up a couple of chains on the ceiling support beam in the shop so I could lift the boat off the trailer and pull it out from underneath. I flipped it over, removed the axle and straightened the tubes with the skid loader bucket and then welded on some bridging so they won't bend again. I also checked the axle and adjusted the camber and toe in something else I didn't do when I built it, should help the tire wear. A question about deep cycle batteries, are they all AGM. I got a new charger last Christmas that has settings for standard and AGM batteries the instructions that came with it gives deep cycle batteries as an example of AGM batteries. I have two large deep cycle batteries in the boat wired in parallel to run my 12 volt trolling motor. I've always charged them without separating them and one of them went bad this Summer and I had to replace it the batteries were 5 years old and I don't think they were ever discharged below about 1/2 until the one went bad.
     

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  7. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Getting ready for another Summer on the Mississippi. Pulled the boat out and fired up the Merc it seemed to run OK. I installed a marine amp for the stereo and a couple of marine speakers. I was hoping to be on the river Memorial day weekend but river was up to 16.5 at Guttenberg about 5 feet above the boat ramp it's predicted to be down to about 10.5 by this coming weekend so it shouldn't be any problem. This will be her 6th Summer on the Mississippi. 100_1545.JPG . 100_1543.JPG 100_1544.JPG
     
  8. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Another Summer on the Mississippi over. Was on the river a lot this Summer we had two flash floods that went through the campground this year and 33 campers were totaled and several vehicles one camper was swept into the river and was completely destroyed when it got to the bridge that crosses the creek that leads to the harbor. One flood was during the week so there weren't many people at the campground but the second one 10 days later was on the weekend but luckily nobody was hurt or killed. We weren't at the campground for either one and our camper only received minor damage and my golf cart was up on our deck so other than a lot of mud and debris to clean up we came out pretty lucky. Everybody pitched in to get he campground back in shape and about a 100,000 bucks worth of gravel everything is back to normal. I worked on our dock this last couple of weekends adding a gang plank and three more plastic barrels to offset the weight of the walkway, just have to install some ropes for safety rails. I also changed it to dock on the side so it can handle two boats and I let one of my neighbors dock on one side. Here are a few pics.

    100_1578.JPG 100_1582.JPG 100_1583.JPG 100_1587.JPG 100_1599.JPG 100_1591.JPG
     

  9. Dave T
    Joined: Sep 2011
    Posts: 250
    Likes: 14, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 158
    Location: Anamosa Iowa and North Buena Vista on the Mississi

    Dave T Senior Member

    Mississippi Flooding. Was hoping to have the Julie Ann back on the river but right now the river is still about 3 feet over the boat ramp but it's down about two feet from where it was about a week and a half ago. We didn't have to pull our camper out but we did have to pull about all the campers on the other side of the creek and three on our side. The river is going down pretty steady now and it looks like we'll be able to use the boat ramp Memorial day weekend. Probably pull the boat out of the shop next Sunday after we get back from the campground and get her ready for water. This will be her 7th Summer on the Mississippi. Here are a few pics of the flooding.

    20180505_133200.jpg 20180506_114045.jpg 20180505_132959.jpg 20180508_192240.jpg 20180508_192423.jpg
     
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