things we are doing to our boats for this years fishing season

[dragonfly]

that is one of my winter projects along with changing the steering over to the flow tec steering for the jet, I have the st 80 I-pilot with a 60'' shaft and in the process of building the fin for it that will help keep me straight when the wind is really bad and the tr-1 won't hold. use the Yamaha for speed and thrust. and the minnkota for steering so I don't use as much power.
mike I have a Panduit set up on a piece of uhmw on my boat work table with the next ones to go in and put the old ones in when swapping out, its handy works great and every thing is in sight

 

[dragonfly]

well I sold my scotty 2106s this winter and picked up 2 digi-troll 5s to go with my digi-troll 10s and needed to replace the risers that went with the scottys. the cannons are to flimsy and I would of had to drill a smaller 4 hole pattern so I decided to make my own. so I started out with 1/2 plate and cut and milled 2 bottom at 6'' x 6'' and 2 top at 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 and cut 2, 4'' x 4'' x 1/4'' square tube


drilled and taped the holes


and counter sink the holes for the bottom ones

then I removed all the anodizing for welding. this is hazardous and not recommended if you are not familiar with the process, you can see it on u-tube if you decide to do it,

here they are de anodized and welded ready to be finished and polished

here is one polished and the other ready to be.

took them out and mounted them and put one of the 10s on to make sure every thing fit up

these are rock solid and not worried about them bending or coming off I just wish my pics of chrome came out like they really looked . dfly

 

[lowe1648mt]

Kokanee_slayer-Were thoe ACR's made by Blue Seas of Bellingham, Wa?

 

[Propnut69]

Dragonfly, nice job on the risers looks like some real skill to do that. Again well done.worthy12

 

[Mike]

Dfly, Looks great I don't know about the rest of you but I've got some serious cabin fever!

 

[bdogdt47]

http://www.poseidonbrand.com/store/product/view/1/14 . I just ordered a stick on tape measure for my boat from this web site. Pretty cheap.

 

[dragonfly]

I finally found the tape. I wanted a black back ground because it is going on aluminum and found it at sportsman's warehouse it is made by Berkley http://m.berkley-fishing.com/products/tools-and-equipment/classics/ruler-37-boat

 

[SuperD]

Let us know how the decal performs for durability. I went with an aluminum yardstick from Home Depot.

 

[Metal Manipulator]

I had the tape on my boat. It started looking ratty so I spent the entire day taking it off of the diamond plate. I too fastened an aluminum ruler to my transom area.

 

[SuperD]

My solution:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Johnson-36-in-Aluminum-Yardstick-J236/100353825

 

[kokanee_slayer]

Kokanee_slayer-Were thoe ACR's made by Blue Seas of Bellingham, Wa?

Yes, I believe so. It's been installed for over a year and no issues.

 

[dragonfly]

changing over to oil hubs........ because of pic limits this is part 1
let me start by saying that there is nothing wrong with grease packed bearings have been using them for decades with no problems if adjusted right. but I have been changing all our shop trailers over to oil hubs now for the past 3 years and really like the results so I decided to install them on my boat trailer now I that I feel confident with them. I only put about 2000 miles on my trailer a year, but I clean, repack and check every thing out every year so I know I will not have any problems coming or going during fishing season, and not having to deal with grease I thought would be nice. being a diesel mechanic all the semi trucks and trailers have been oil bath for over 40 years and always wondered why the small trailer industry hasn't done it except for a few, the cost is more to produce but if you add the cost of bearing buddies it is pretty much a wash . you have the advantage of cooler running bearings, with the synthetic oil, you can always see the lube level so you know if there is a problem, don't have to wonder if water is in your grease or worry about over greasing and getting into your breaks. the seal is a uniseal and doesn't rely on the axle surface to seal . it seals inside it self just like the semi's. the hub is solid aluminum with a threaded heavy polycarbonate cap with an o-ring seal, again just like the semi's. so I will show you how I changed mine over, first the parts.

this is what I have now.

I put tape around the SS bearing buddies so I don't scratch them up when removing.

then pull the cotter pin, nut, washer, and bearings then the drum assembly and clean every thing up. check bearings and races if anything looks questionable replace it now! bearings are cheep compared to sitting on the freeway half way to your fishing spot, waiting for a tow truck because a bearing spun on your axle.

I like every thing to look good so I wire brushed primed and repainted the drums. on some drums you will notice a plug and a hole in the face of the drum it is for adjusting the brakes if you don't want to crawl underneath the trailer. makes it easy on reassembly.

now check your brakes and hardware and make sure every thing is in good shape. clean and blow off now you are ready for re assembly.

 

[sawtooth]

Love my oil hubs. They are the only way to go in my opinion.

 

[dragonfly]

oil hubs part 2

first oil the inner bearing and race and drop in. now for the seal, lightly lube the outer surface and push in with a seal driver (there are 2 axle seal sizes the most common is 1.72 id x 2.56 od but if you have the less common which is 1.68 id x 2.56 od so make sure of your axle dia. whether you are doing grease or oil seal. the parts guy probably has never done this so always measure. the outside is the same but the wrong id will let water in and grease out on your brakes. just a word of caution)

lightly lube the inner seal and install drum on axle. lube the outer bearing, slide in then the washer and nut. adjust to rp618 practice ( .001-.005 end play ) and install a new cotter pin.

now you are ready to install the aluminum hub. I use red 272 red loctite ( it has a higher heat rating than the 271) and put it on the surface that drives into the drum and install, then wipe off any left over loctite. next screw in the cap and o-ring and fill with the synthetic oil


adj. breaks install the drum plug and mount the tire and check the tire psi ( just a suggestion but also check the year on the tire. http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/selec...our-needs/how-can-i-tell-how-old-my-tires-are if it is getting over 6 years old and doing a long hot trip you might want to be thinking about new ones. check your spare also ). this is how they look now. 3 more to go. now for spare parts this is what I used to carry


this is what I need now. all the parts now fit in a zip loc bag

dfly

 

[MackayGuy]

Dfly.....I had oil bath on my last boat trailer and liked em a lot. Have grease w/ bearing buddys on the new trailer....I'm never as confident in them after I let them sit a while, so always tear em down in the spring and repack. I've been thinking about changing to oil bath. I checked the price on the brand you used and that's pretty reasonable. I'll have to measure my hubs and order up a couple of sets. Thanks for the write up and excellent pics.....as always.

 

[Bduck]

SuperD got me into putting the aluminum rule on my boat after fishing off of his. Credit goes where credit is due. A good investment that's not gouging the pocket at all. I opted to use double sticky tape which has been holding for over 3yrs now and not to drill holes.

I've been kicking around the idea of oil hubs for a while now. I did have to change an axel after each side spun bearings twice. It got to the point where the inner seal was not lasting and allowing moisture in to mix with grease. Each time I was out I was on a long haul.

 

[dragonfly]

Bduck if your spindle in worn a quick and easy fix is a SS speedy sleeve that covers the worn surface and makes it like new. you can still run your same seal. we use them a lot to repair shaft seal areas instead of replacing them. CR/SKF makes them. or you can use a uniseal the seal surface doesn't matter as long as it is not to torn up. dfly

 

[Mharri333]

DFLY, My new trailer has the oil bath type. I was glad to see that you have had good experience with them over time. I was a little leery of them at first.

 

[dragonfly]

finished making my swing mount for the minn-kota heres the progression from paper

to making a model to make sure every thing works.

to the finished product


now mounted on the boat.

here's the 3 positions so I can swing it out of the way and stow it so I don't have to step over it when getting in and out of the boat when at the dock, it also can be deploy it in any of the 3 positions but I want mine in the center of the boat.



this is it diploid in the center, now I need to figure the batt situation.

dfly

 

[jhmh2ofowl]

Outboard Upgrade Question

In my self affirmation of thinking I was brilliant, I changed out the old 2 stroke outboard kicker on my jet for a 4 stroke. The newer kicker/troller is an 8 HP Evinrude. That being said, I went through the entire fuel system. New hoses, tank, bulb, fittings. The only used pieces are the mount and what is in the outboard.
So we take it out to the local lake today, Lucky Peak, and I fire it up. We troll around for about 35 minutes or so and it sputters and dies. It restarted (without the choke open) and it did the same thing shortly after I put it in gear. This went on until I gave up.
I know little to nothing about outboards, so I am turning my thoughts over to all the experts out here.
I am wondering if a good old fashioned tune up is in the future, or if I need to look at something else?
Is there any outboard mechanic that is in the Boise area worthy of you folks recommending, as I am mechanically slow on these motors?
Thanks to all. I appreciate the help.