14' JBoat Fixer Upper

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GAHunter

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Hello Everyone, new around here! Just recently bought a 14'... not sure of the make/model, Jon Boat. Unfortunately I have yet to find a HIN.. it has some registry #'s on the side. DNR told me it looks like it's not current and the numbers assigned were seemingly assigned to another vessel. They mentioned 1973 but that's all they would give me.

They are telling me I will need to find a HIN or run through without and have the boat inspected. I will be figuring all that out before moving much further into it this.

I will go ahead and post some pictures over the next couple days and hopefully I'll be able to get further into this.

I bought it from a coworker, 55lb minkota trolling motor, boat, trailer, 2 good batteries, couple cheap paddles, and trailer for $200.

Trailer made it the hour ride home, until the last 200 yards. Bearing went out on passenger side. Project #2. Have a bearing puller on the way to help get the rear race off. One is most the way but the other was stuck all the way back. I hammered on it for a while and got it to move about 1/4". Going to try and pull it before I roto it off.

Figured I'd go ahead and do both sides, it's an old trailer. Other one almost pulled off with the hub. I've cleaned up the spindles and those looks ok so far so hopefully all will go well.

Trailer has a serial/tag. Made in Mississippi by... Dixie Craft Trailers.

I will throw up some quick pics shortly.

Thanks!
 
20190730-192827.jpg


20190730-192959.jpg


20190730-192806.jpg


Transom board is decent. But I think I'm going to pull/replace it. Mainly to see if there might be a hin behind it somewhere... and also to clean up the bolts, there are some holes that I may try and clean out and refill. Once done (filling, replacing rusted screws, transom, strip/sand) I plan to epoxy the bottom and sides to try and dbl seal everything.

Thanks!
 
Not bad for the money.

Id say that transom is on its way out for sure.

Id remove that and while its off try and straighten out as much of the dents and boltholes as possible before replacing it.

Good call on the wheel bearings. Might as well go through the whole trailer at this point and save yourself grief later.
 
Ty! I will jump on that this weekend hopefully. I replaced the lights on the trailer, may replace some of the bolts too.. why not.

I have an old hand me down 10HP(I think it was) motor somewhere.. Evinrude. It was my grandfather's, it sat on an old john boat for 25+ years out in the weather. Me and a buddy opened her up, cleaned it a bit, dumped out the old gas, replaced some hoses and to my surprise it cranked up and ran pretty good. I just got to remember what I did with it lol. Its stored somewhere, just been 10 years +- since we did that. If not I may have to find me something else. Oh well, that will be down the road.

The paint is coming off, seems like it's just a single coat or 2 on the bottom. Going to see what a pressure washer will take off and then do some more stripping. Its scratched and dinged pretty good on the bottom. May just hit it with a wire brush/drill (something aluminum or something that wont get in there and start rusting).

I'll keep yall updated!
 
Races are off.. one chewed in pretty good(probably why it was so hard to move), ended up cutting a groove in the race (with rotozip) and laid a chisel side ways and 1 good wack broke it apart and it pulled right off. The new hubs I ordered dont seem to be right..

I'm afraid I measured the spindle wrong.. the hub slides on a couple inches then wont budge at all.. Thinking about punting on fixing this trailer. It's pretty old. May focus on the boat for now and send these hubs back to amazon.


Spindle measures 3-1/4" around.. I had initially thought it was 3 1/8, which I found a chart for that said 1" bearings.. I have no idea on 3 1/4.


Not going as well as I had hoped. But tomorrow is another day. Going to try and find a caliper tomorrow so I can get a better measurement just to be sure. Tomorrow is paint strip day, weather permitting.
 
Yesterday was semi productive. Got a lot of the paint off. Going to hit it with a pressure washer (especially around rivets etc) and should have her mostly done. I used a combination of paint stripper and a sanding wheel. Tried to not touch the rivets with the sand wheel.

Will then flip it over, pressure wash the inside and pull the transom board. No sign of a HIN still.

20190803-163154.jpg
 
GAHunter said:
Races are off.. one chewed in pretty good(probably why it was so hard to move), ended up cutting a groove in the race (with rotozip) and laid a chisel side ways and 1 good wack broke it apart and it pulled right off. The new hubs I ordered dont seem to be right..

I'm afraid I measured the spindle wrong.. the hub slides on a couple inches then wont budge at all.. Thinking about punting on fixing this trailer. It's pretty old. May focus on the boat for now and send these hubs back to amazon.


Spindle measures 3-1/4" around.. I had initially thought it was 3 1/8, which I found a chart for that said 1" bearings.. I have no idea on 3 1/4.


Not going as well as I had hoped. But tomorrow is another day. Going to try and find a caliper tomorrow so I can get a better measurement just to be sure. Tomorrow is paint strip day, weather permitting.
Might be 1-1/16th inch spindles and bearings.
 
lckstckn2smknbrls said:
GAHunter said:
Races are off.. one chewed in pretty good(probably why it was so hard to move), ended up cutting a groove in the race (with rotozip) and laid a chisel side ways and 1 good wack broke it apart and it pulled right off. The new hubs I ordered dont seem to be right..

I'm afraid I measured the spindle wrong.. the hub slides on a couple inches then wont budge at all.. Thinking about punting on fixing this trailer. It's pretty old. May focus on the boat for now and send these hubs back to amazon.


Spindle measures 3-1/4" around.. I had initially thought it was 3 1/8, which I found a chart for that said 1" bearings.. I have no idea on 3 1/4.


Not going as well as I had hoped. But tomorrow is another day. Going to try and find a caliper tomorrow so I can get a better measurement just to be sure. Tomorrow is paint strip day, weather permitting.
Might be 1-1/16th inch spindles and bearings.


Thank you! I'm going to measure them tomorrow to be sure then try and send these back and get thr right ones.(hopefully).

I am moving toward fixing the transoms next. I got all the bolts and screws removed. But I have a feeling I'm going to have to drill/ pull rivets:

Screenshot-20190807-111529-Gallery.jpg
 
Well the middle 2 arrows isn't a part I can remove. Just noticed it's part of the boat. Soo removing at least 1 (or both) of the brackets is probably my only option.
 
20190807-132149.jpg


Old transom board is out. Going to have a lot of holes to fill. They used drywall screws and the 3 bolts.

6 holes through the back of the boat. I plan on cleaning em up, flatten a bit and braze them closed I may keep 2 and use for 2 more smaller bolts to help hold the board. Unless the 3 + some light sealant (on the board around the bolt holes primarily) would work just fine?

No sign of a HIN anywhere. Looks like in going to have to go the inspection route when it comes time to register.
 
GAHunter said:
Well the middle 2 arrows isn't a part I can remove. Just noticed it's part of the boat. Soo removing at least 1 (or both) of the brackets is probably my only option.

By Brackets do you mean the corner support pieces?


I removed mine and the old wood, used Epoxy to sandwich two pieces of 3/4" ply together than reinstalled the transom with a 1.5" aluminum channel as a cap.


It is rock solid.
 
RaisedByWolves said:
GAHunter said:
Well the middle 2 arrows isn't a part I can remove. Just noticed it's part of the boat. Soo removing at least 1 (or both) of the brackets is probably my only option.

By Brackets do you mean the corner support pieces?


I removed mine and the old wood, used Epoxy to sandwich two pieces of 3/4" ply together than reinstalled the transom with a 1.5" aluminum channel as a cap.


It is rock solid.

Yes thank you, Corner supports. So you removed those completely? (If you added back afterwards what method did you use to reattach?) Sorry I tried looking at your posts to see if you might have a picture, if that's the same boat you are referring to? I appreciate the suggestions! I'm picturing a few things and they are prob all not what you have done lol.
 
Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to do that, hopefully I can get mine removed fairly eas. I will add some updates soon. I should have my caliper tomorrow. Hopefully you are right on the trailer spindle/bearings. I found the right ones so if it measures out I should be able to have her rolling again. We shall see. Thanks again!
 
No problem.

If I were you I would look at making a doubled transom like I did and cover all but maybe 4" of the lower transom with it.

Then again thats thinking about using a 25hp which should be the max for that hull. If you were going with a 9.9 you would be OK with just replacing whats there, but if you're already doing it......
 
RaisedByWolves said:
No problem.

If I were you I would look at making a doubled transom like I did and cover all but maybe 4" of the lower transom with it.

Then again thats thinking about using a 25hp which should be the max for that hull. If you were going with a 9.9 you would be OK with just replacing whats there, but if you're already doing it......

I'm not quite sure how big I'll go just yet, but hey why not make it so I can do whichever. I may just do that, I also got my caliper in today. The spindles on the trailer measure .99". So I dont really know what's up with the hubs. Unless I should have to really push it on there with a lot of force.. I expected a little resistance but it wont move at all once it gets to a certain point. The race I cut off measures the same ID.. One side is a little rough(spindle), I sanded it down as best I could, the other side is almost perfect but wont get any further either if I try the hub on that side.. I may try her again tomorrow
 
I got em on. They wouldn't move again so I pulled back off and went in hardcore with sanding. Sprayed some pb blaster and put a little grease and they almost jumped all the way on by themselves. Smh lol. Now to find something I can put around these caps.. they dont want to go on straight at all. Hoping I have a socket I can put over and tap on.
 

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