Blue's project boat

[Bluebasser86]

Thought I'd start this for anyone wanting to follow along. I'm not at all a professional repairman, not even very good at it, but I'm going to attempt to fix up the boat and trailer I recently stumbled across. I only gave $300 for it and all appears to be in pretty good shape, just needs a little TLC and it could be something pretty nice for the little lakes I often fish. 

This is what I'm starting with. Could be used as is, so I don't think it's in that poor of condition, but I want to make it a bit nicer and have something that will last a long time hopefully. It's a 16' MonArk semi-V johnboat.

It has obviously been sitting for quite some time and had a ton of leaves and debris in the bottom, that's all been removed as well as all the old foam and anything not welded to the boat to make things easier and so I don't damage anything that might be salvageable. 

It's a nice wide boat and pretty deep so I'll be able to take my boys out in it once it's fixed up.

Not the 14' it was listed as being.

I've removed the boat from the trailer and hosed the interior of it out to get all the debris out and let it dry really well before I start working on it. The trailer clearly has a lot of surface rust and the old paint looks bad so I'm planning on grinding the surface layer to remove it all. Going to be a lot of work, but I plan to break it down into hour or two blocks of grinding to make it more tolerable. I tried to start it yesterday but my grinder lasted about 5 minutes before it quit working. With a new one in hand, I got about an hours worth of work in on it this morning.

I decided I wasn't going to deal with switching my hitch every time I wanted to use it, so the 1 7/8" coupler had to go.

I got both sides and top of the tongue cleaned off and called it a morning. Probably won't get much of a chance to work on it the next few days at least with Christmas, but hopefully a couple mornings next week.

[Tim Kelly]

Great project. Look forward to seeing your progress. What a good Christmas pressie to get yourself!

[slonezp]

I bought a hitch with a 2" on one side and 1-7/8" on the other. I just need to flip it over when I use the little Lund

[Bluebasser86]

3 minutes ago, slonezp said:

I bought a hitch with a 2" on one side and 1-7/8" on the other. I just need to flip it over when I use the little Lund

I thought about that, but it's about twice as much for a double hitch as it is for a 2" coupler, and I don't have to worry about flipping it around each time this way. The locking mechanism on that coupler seemed like it wasn't working well anyways. 

[SWVABass]

Awesome little boat. I wish we had similar ponds close to here I would love to take on a project like that. Just wonder what size motor could you put on that? And would it be a tiller?

[senile1]

Thanks for the update on the boat, Clayton.  Looking forward to future updates.

[BigAngus752]

Wow, you've got yourself a great project there.  This is really going to pay off.  That is really going to be worth the effort, but that's a big project to strip it.  Have you considered abrasive blasting?  You have several options.  If you have a large shop compressor you could rent a pressurized blaster.  If you have a small compressor you could buy (or possibly rent) a gravity feed blaster.  The gravity feeds are slower and require lots of jiggling and stopping, but I once did an entire Jeep body tub with a gravity feed.  You should also be able to find someone in your area that does portable abrasive blasting.  Yes, that would be expensive but they would blast both your trailer and boat in just one morning using a couple different kinds of media that are appropriate for each of the different surfaces.  That would knock weeks off of your project. Using the correct media and the correct technique is imperative to prevent damage of your metal.  

 

Nice boat!  Looking forward to seeing the results!

[AC870]

You know this for sure, but I’d check that wood transom to make sure it’s solid. 

[Catt]

If ya lived closer I'd give ya a hand ?

[Bluebasser86]

17 hours ago, Swbass15 said:

Awesome little boat. I wish we had similar ponds close to here I would love to take on a project like that. Just wonder what size motor could you put on that? And would it be a tiller?

I have a 15ph tiller and a 9hp tiller. Probably going to end up putting the 9 on it, because the 15 is a short shaft that I don't think will be far enough in the water on this boat. 

 

16 hours ago, BigAngus752 said:

Wow, you've got yourself a great project there.  This is really going to pay off.  That is really going to be worth the effort, but that's a big project to strip it.  Have you considered abrasive blasting?  You have several options.  If you have a large shop compressor you could rent a pressurized blaster.  If you have a small compressor you could buy (or possibly rent) a gravity feed blaster.  The gravity feeds are slower and require lots of jiggling and stopping, but I once did an entire Jeep body tub with a gravity feed.  You should also be able to find someone in your area that does portable abrasive blasting.  Yes, that would be expensive but they would blast both your trailer and boat in just one morning using a couple different kinds of media that are appropriate for each of the different surfaces.  That would knock weeks off of your project. Using the correct media and the correct technique is imperative to prevent damage of your metal.  

 

Nice boat!  Looking forward to seeing the results!

I thought about the sand blasting option but trying to keep it as cheap as possible. Hadn't heard of the gravity fed type, and they're pretty inexpensive, so I might look into that option. Thanks for the suggestion. 

[Porkrind]

Awesome, I’m excited to see what direction you go with this boat. I bought that exact model and make of boat a few weeks ago and planned on doing a remodel on mine to. The only difference in yours and mine is that mine has a small console on it and the previous owner painted it green. I don’t know if Monark made it that way or if it was an add on buy the previous owner. You got a heck of a deal on it, I paid $600 for mine.

[tander]

Loved to watch projects like this. You got it for a steal which leaves more money to put in the project.

[Bluebasser86]

Well the extreme cold has made it difficult to get much work done on the boat. I've bought the new coupler, wiring and lights for the trailer, new jack, and a new trolling motor along with several small things to get ready for when things warm up enough that it's not dangerous to be outside more than 5 minutes. I got the trailer ready for primer, primed, and started painting today. I got the top and sides coated, just have to do the bottom side and it will be done. Took the tires off so I could paint the fenders as well, I'll take the time to replace the bearings and probably going to put new wheels and tires on it since the wheels look terrible and the tires are dry rotting.

[lo n slo]

how did i miss this? cant wait to see the finished product brother!

[tander]

It's a start !!!

[Bluebasser86]

14 minutes ago, tander said:

It's a start !!!

I've had boats with bad trailers, so I know how important it is to take care of them and have one that is in good operating order. It's not fun working on it as it will be with the boat, but I don't want to get the boat ready and not be able to go anywhere because the trailer is falling apart. 

[tander]

31 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I've had boats with bad trailers, so I know how important it is to take care of them and have one that is in good operating order. It's not fun working on it as it will be with the boat, but I don't want to get the boat ready and not be able to go anywhere because the trailer is falling apart. 

You are exactly right. Hard to fish out of a boat when you can get it to the water !!!

[Scarborough817]

definitely following this thread now can't wait to see how it turns out 

[boostr]

Coming along nicely. Reminds me that I have to do some maintenance on my trailer for the Stratos. New bunks and lag bolts.

[Bluebasser86]

Got the trailer all painted up and some of the old parts that were salvageable back on, and put some new pieces on. Probably swap the jack to the other side because the handle from it and the winch touch, and I know I'll end up bleeding from the knuckles at some point if I leave it where it is.

 

Took the hub apart on one side yesterday and cleaned the grease out (there was so much that it was falling out of the hub in big globs), and removed the bearings and seals. Bearings looked okay, seals were shot. I'm still going to replace the bearings as cheap insurance. Figure I have the hubs apart and have to repack bearings either way, might as well be new ones so there's no question on their condition. Undecided on the winch. It's ugly, but functions fine and the cable on it seems to be in pretty good condition also. Need to get a safety chain for the front of the boat, and chains for the coupler. Going to be ordering the tires and installing the light kit soon and then I'll be on to the boat! 

[Catt]

Looking good!  ?

[Scarborough817]

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Got the trailer all painted up and some of the old parts that were salvageable back on, and put some new pieces on. Probably swap the jack to the other side because the handle from it and the winch touch, and I know I'll end up bleeding from the knuckles at some point if I leave it where it is.

 

Took the hub apart on one side yesterday and cleaned the grease out (there was so much that it was falling out of the hub in big globs), and removed the bearings and seals. Bearings looked okay, seals were shot. I'm still going to replace the bearings as cheap insurance. Figure I have the hubs apart and have to repack bearings either way, might as well be new ones so there's no question on their condition. Undecided on the winch. It's ugly, but functions fine and the cable on it seems to be in pretty good condition also. Need to get a safety chain for the front of the boat, and chains for the coupler. Going to be ordering the tires and installing the light kit soon and then I'll be on to the boat! 

yes definitely replace the bearing i can tell you from experience having a bearing go on the highway is not fun

[Bluebasser86]

5 minutes ago, Scarborough817 said:

yes definitely replace the bearing i can tell you from experience having a bearing go on the highway is not fun

I've done it 3 times on 3 different trailers, it sucked every time.

[TheRodFather]

Looking good, when I was working on my project boat/trailer, I got a heck of a lot of satisfaction out of the work I did to the trailer.  I guess it was because of the drastic improvement from the surface rust and junk bunk boards and carpet, lights etc, to the black paint, bunks, lights, winch, jack, knowing the wiring was right and it all was going to last.

[Bluebasser86]

On 2/5/2018 at 9:45 PM, Bassy said:

nice work. is this project finish? what are other plans you have for it?

Thanks, it's far from finished. I haven't even started on the boat itself yet. Got to get the trailer squared away before I start work on that. Thankfully, the trailer is getting close and then I can start work on the boat. I did the dirty job I've been dreading on Monday. I pulled the hubs, cleaned the pounds of old grease out of them, removed the old bearings, races, and seals and replaced them with all new and got the hubs put back on. New tires and wheels are supposed to be here by Friday. Nothing fancy, just steel wheels and 13" tires. They're overkill for this boat and trailer, but tires are not the place to skimp on a boat trailer. The trailer just needs the wheels, lights and wiring that I already have, and a safety chain for the tongue and at the winch.