Project Budget Build-Aquatic version(trailer portion)

[bcrewcaptain]

For the boat side, you can check out the thread at
https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?uid=9802&f=21&t=27679&start=0
As I say in that thread, I'm a cheap sucker, so expect this build to be done on a serious budget. The good news is, I'm starting off pretty well.
I've had the boat now for a month or so, and it hasn't seen water yet as it is about 2" too wide to fit inside my suv(silly fullsize spare tire). That wasn't really ideal anyway, so the hunt for the trailer was on. Scouring craigslist, put my buddies on the hunt, stopping and asking people about the trailer I have seen sitting in the weeds for yrs. nothing came up that seemed like the "right deal". Then finally a fellow emailed me saying he had one that had been sitting on his rental property for a couple years, and he wanted it gone. Gone for $150 though, which was out of the price range for a guy like me. I sorta blew it off, he sent a couple pics, it looked ok, but I kept looking. He sent another email and said he'd bring it within 10 miles of the house and only wanted $100 for it now.Ok, well let me look at those pics again, we're getting a little closer to speaking my language now. He sent a couple more pics, and I figured for $100 bucks, it's worth a shot, he was a good old retired guy who wanted me to check it out 100%, if I didn't like it, he'd drag it on home.
It looked fine to me, so back to the driveway it made it.
Here are a few pics from what he snapped for me.

A tad over 17' long total, 1' from the winch/roller to the rear of the frame. A little surface rust, but NOTHING beyond that. Couple rollers are rough. The winch and some of the brackets will be pulled and I'll drop them in my ghetto rust remover tank and see how they end up.
I have a few ideas for lights and bunks, but we'll see how it progresses. I tend to just do things, without much of a plan, so it's all subject to change depending on the mood or amount of frosty mugs are involved.
I actually really like the light mast/guides. They're made from some pretty thick wall 1" tubing welded i. I could yank on them pretty well and they didn't bend at all but it rocked the trailer quite a bit. Plus I can see them VERY well in the mirrors of the truck, another plus.

 

[bcrewcaptain]

Alright, I figured it's been home 12hrs now, so it was time to order some parts.
I winced at the thought of doing it, but I spent some money on some lights, the good news is, in typical Jeffstyle, it was done on the cheap.
these will be going on the rear facing side of the "uprights" as marker lights, amber colored ones will be going on the forward facing side.

I also will be putting 3 amber strips going down the side of the trailer as well as marker lights, and one red strip across the rear of the trailer as well.
I haven't decided what I want to do with the main lights, I have some regular trailer lights already I took off another project, but that's too simple, and just not my style. I may also end up making a set of backup lights on the trailer also, I just haven't worked that out in my mind yet either.
Tonight I will start disassembly, and doing an inventory of what nuts/bolts/etc need to be replaced, will prob pull the spring packs apart and clean them up and lube them as well.
The winch will come off and get dropped in the electrolysis can to be "derusted" and we'll see what I'm working with from there.

 

[FishinChips87]

I'm really interested in seeing where you're going with this. I have a similar project.

 

[bcrewcaptain]

Well, a little progess has been made. Most of my free time the last couple weeks has been spent finding my garage floor and making it useable for when the temps drop, so I can actually get something done in there.
Got a good afternoon in though, and was able to start cleaning up some of the mess.
Off came the old "bunks", and all the wiring. A lot of blood, sweat, air tools, damaged knuckles later, I got the winch and front jack off and ready to clean and paint.

Next I spent a good 30 min getting the front roller off so I could work on that a bit. It was frozen solid and wouldn't even come close to spinning.

With the right set of tools however, I convinced it to free itself.

a little sanding, a little grease and a new cotter pin, she'll spin like a top

Next step was to get the old guides and lights looking a little more presentable until I get the rest of the LED strips ordered and ready to go, I'm thinking now that will be a winter project, I just want to get this thing in the water right now.
The older guides/lights

The newer version

Last order of business was the license plate bracket and light. a piece of aluminum L bracket was trimmed and I attached one of my old LED strips to the top to shine down on the plate. A piece of rubber between the bracket and plate makes a nice hinge in case I get a little too carried away when backing the trailer up.
It's a cheap fix for a waterproof light, and ends up looking pretty good overall.

There is Round 1 of the fixing, more pics tomorrow after I finish attacking the axles/hardware.